Keisuke took a step back, his eyes wide in shock and fear. Megumi looked stunned as well, taking in the black tattoos on Yuji's face.
Holy hell, what is this cursed energy? He's only eaten two fingers, for fuck's sake! Keisuke raged in his mind, biting his own lip to force himself out of his frozen state. He grasped Megumi's arm and forced himself to look Sukuna dead in the eye, "What happened to Yuji?" He asked cautiously.
"Oh, the brat's just having trouble switching back. He hasn't made a pact with me, after all. It's what he gets." Sukuna said with a wide, toothy grin, "Now, now, don't be afraid, I'm in a good mood. At least... don't be afraid yet."
"Now, I say that, but he's probably going to switch back soon..." He said, ripping off Yuji's shirt, displaying black tattoos all over his torso, "So, I feel like doing something that would be... heartbreaking for you." He grinned darkly.
He raised his hand and plunged it into his chest, blood poured out of the hole and out of his mouth as Megumi and Keisuke's widened at the brutal act, the stench of blood filling the air. Sukuna rips out Yuji's still beating heart, "The brat needs this to live. I... however..." He applied force and crushed it.
Oh... no... Keisuke thought, his mind numb. Even if Yuji switches back... he... I... fuck! "You bastard..." He growled at him. His mind flashed back to images of his past that he'd kept buried since that day. Corpses... bodies mangled beyond recognition... blood trickling down onto the floor from a crib. He shook his head to get rid of the images in his head. No, not now!
Sukuna laughed uproariously, before then holding up a finger in his hands. More specifically, he held up one of the red fingers of his original body. That Special Grade that Yuji and Megumi fought must have consumed a finger. Sukuna must have taken it after exorcising it... "Just for good measure." Sukuna said, swallowing the finger easily, even chewing it like it was a particularly tasty snack.
This is bad. This is very, very bad. "There! Now you can worry. Like I said, I'm in a great mood, so I will improve it by killing you. For no reason whatsoever." Sukuna said casually.
Keisuke and Megumi looked at each other before taking up a defensive stance. Megumi was still relatively fresh, but Keisuke's back protested at the way he stood in his stance. His head was pounding and he felt faint. But he still refused to stay down.
"You underestimate Itadori, he'll still switch back, even if it kills him. That's just who he is." Megumi's voice faltered slightly as he spoke.
"You overestimate the brat. He's just a bit tougher and denser than the rest of you, but he's still pathetic. He was crying and begging not to die just a few minutes ago. I know for a fact that he doesn't have the guts to kill himself." Sukuna laughed evilly.
Keisuke couldn't help himself, "Who's more pathetic? A guy who was legit scared about dyin' or a guy who got suppressed by him?" He blurted out, snidely. The King of Curses narrowed his eyes, laughter dying out.
Then, he smirked, "Watch your mouth, Zenkatsujin." He drawled, "Now that I'm out, let's use the open space." He said, slicking his hair back, ready to face the two boys.
"Keisuke, I'll handle this." Megumi said flatly.
"As if." Keisuke scoffed, "Just get ready to fight, dumbass."
There was a tense stand-off between the two sides before Megumi made the first move. He charged Sukuna at an impressive speed, throwing kicks and punches that were easily dodged. So easily that Sukuna still had his hands in his pockets.
Keisuke chose the moment Sukuna's back was turned to attack, throwing a punch that was aimed at his head. He ducked, and using incredibly flexibility (and with his hands still in his pockets) he back-kicked Keisuke, who stumbled and barely managed to dodge a high kick aimed at his head. Megumi summoned his Shikigami, "Nue!"
The lightning bird charged Sukuna, who looked mildly surprised, but still dodged all of its attacks, "Interesting, you use Shikigami, yet still use close combat." He mused.
This time Megumi, Keisuke, and Nue all attacked Sukuna at the same time. Keisuke extended his chain spear, but making it small enough that he could use the blade as a dagger. He swiped diagonally, horizontally, and diagonally again, all of them were dodged with ease. Sukuna turned and grabbed Megumi's fist, "Pathetic. Put more cursed energy into your strikes!" He yelled, backhanding Megumi, who goes flying.
Keisuke infuses his Hellfire into the dagger, the blade getting encased in flames. Despite this, all of his strikes were dodged, "Disappointing, Zenkatsujin." Sukuna tsk'd like a disappointed teacher. He grabbed the blade, not at all caring about the flames that burned his fingers, and used it as leverage to pull Keisuke close. The boy gasped in surprise before being punched in the face repeatedly, "Why are you so weak?" Punch, "What a waste of talent!" Punch, "Is this all you can do?!" Sukuna snarled, grabbing the boy by the throat and headbutting him. Keisuke screamed in pain, feeling his skull rattling as blood started to trickle down his forehead.
He used his other hand to easily block Megumi's punches and kicks before grabbing Megumi by the throat as well, and slammed their heads together, causing Megumi to bleed from the head and Keisuke's head wound to get deeper. He chuckled darkly as both boys struggled in his grip, "This is a boring fight... I thought I told you to use the open space!" He suddenly yelled and threw Keisuke into the air, sending him flying and crashing into the building. More specifically, the building window. Glass shattered and dug into his back. Fuck, this is the second mission in a row where that's happened. He thought dazedly.
Megumi was also sent flying into the building, but his was much harder. He crashed through concrete, and actually went flying through the other side, but Nue managed to catch him, "Charge him!" Megumi snarled, blood trickling down his chin.
Standing up with a groan, Keisuke made a handsign, "Cursed Technique Amplification: Great Fireball!" He yelled, taking aim down at Sukuna, who simply watched with a bored expression.
"Yeah, now we're talkin'!" Sukuna laughed, as the massive blue fireball that charged his way. He jumped to avoid it, "C'mon, don't tell me you're at your limit! That barely had any cursed energy!"
He used cursed energy to jump up high to reach Keisuke, but Megumi used Nue to cut him off, actually taking him off-guard and jumped off just before Nue used its lightning attack to electrocute Sukuna. Unfortunately, the King of Curses simply grabbed the Shikigami's wings and threw it into the building, sending it crashing into the ground.
"Cursed Technique Amplification: Death Spin!" Sukuna heard Keisuke yell, and expertly dodged every single swipe of the chain spear, but Keisuke, right at the sixth spin of the chain, encased it in crimson flames and pulled. Sukuna, who was leaning right to avoid it, got burned by it, and also got a cut on his cheek, which started to bleed.
"Hah! Here, I thought you'd be more hesitant to strike down your friend... after all, this is his body..." Sukuna drawled menacingly. A sneer formed on his face when Keisuke faltered.
Keisuke looked at his hands in horror. What the hell was he doing?! He might be fighting Sukuna, but the body was Yuji's! What the fuck was he thinking, using Fireball and Death Spin on his body?!
Sukuna scoffed, charging at Keisuke with blazing speed, but both males heard Megumi yell, "Orochi!"
Megumi's snake Shikigami slithered behind Sukuna and bit his arm with its fangs. Just then, Nue appeared once again and struck him with its lightning over and over again. Sukuna looked irritated for a second before freeing himself from Orochi's grip, destroying it with ease, causing it to burst into pieces. The King of Curses ducked under Keisuke's roundhouse kick encased in flames, catching his foot, uncaring of the flames, and tossing him into Megumi.
The impact was so hard that Megumi actually spat out blood. Keisuke rolled off Megumi and formed a handsign, "Cursed Technique: Demon Fire!" He yelled, and flames erupted underneath Sukuna's foot, but the King of Curses jumped up, avoiding them. This was what Keisuke was hoping. He threw his chain spear towards him, and it wrapped itself around his foot.
"GET OVER HERE!" Keisuke growled, pulling the chain hard. Sukuna flew towards Keisuke at a blazing speed. The boy encased his fist in flames and Fire Punched him straight in the face. Sukuna flew back, only for Nue to appear behind him. The Shikigami wasted no time in zapping the King of Curses, who grunted at the feel.
He grabbed Nue, and plunged his hand into its chest, causing it to cry out. He threw it away carelessly and turned to face Keisuke, who helped Megumi up, even though he himself stumbled on his feet, "Impressive... you, Shikigami boy... you create them from your shadows, don't you?" He said.
"What about it...?" Megumi replied, panting. He sent Nue back into the shadows before the bird Shikigami could be destroyed, like his White Demon Dog and Orochi.
"I don't get it, why did you run?" said the King of Curses, placing a hand to his chin before scoffing, "Heh, what a waste of talent. And you, Zenkatsujin..." he sneered at Keisuke, who tensed, "In his prime, Hasashi Hanzo gave my one of the greatest battles of my life. Compared to him, you are pathetic."
Keisuke breathed hard, before he gave a bloody smirk, "...How do you feel about one last hurrah, 'gumi?" He said.
"You have a plan?"
"Nah, no time to form a plan." Keisuke said, standing up straight, wincing at the pain coursing through his body, the loss of blood combined with the pain making him dizzy, almost causing him to fall back onto the ground, "Just charge."
Megumi scoffed quietly, "Fine..."
Like it was on the beginning of the battle, there was a tense stand-off. This time, Sukuna charged first, just as Megumi readied himself and Keisuke used the blade of his chain spear like a dagger. The two attacked him in tandem, not managing to get a single hit in, while the King of Curses managed to land several at a time. Keisuke grit his teeth in irritation before he was kicked in the face, sending him flying.
Megumi exchanged blows with him, but only managed to get a few glancing blows, and that too only when Sukuna allowed it. He punched the boy full force, sending him flying through the air and crashing painfully on the ground.
Keisuke tried to sneak up on him, trying various combos, even trying his favorite leg scissor takedown, to no avail. Sukuna got tired of this, it seemed, and pulled him up by his collar, and charged his fist with cursed energy and slammed it into Keisuke's stomach, piercing all the way through.
The boy's eyes widened, slowly looking down. Keisuke looked at the arm that was all the way through his stomach before looking up to meet Sukuna's eyes.
"Keisuke!" Megumi's stricken scream was on deaf ears as blood poured out of Keisuke's mouth. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell, cracking his head on the floor.
His eyes drifted shut. Dazedly, he heard Megumi summon his Nue again, and he felt himself being carried, but that was all he saw before darkness engulfed him.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Satoru, who had just arrived back in Tokyo, glanced up sharply when he heard the cry of Megumi's Nue. He furrowed his brows when it landed in front of him and instantly dissipated into shadows. He inhaled sharply when he saw Keisuke, bleeding heavily from both a wound on his head and from a gaping hole in his stomach. His black-colored hair had a reddish tint to it due to all the blood.
Without wasting a second, Satoru picked the boy up bridal style and warped into the infirmary. Shoko, who had been in the process of healing Inumaki Toge, blinked in surprise at his sudden appearance. Her eyes landed on the boy in his arms, "Oh, my god! He's losing so much blood!"
"Holy shit..." Zenin Maki gasped in shock at Keisuke's state, as Panda and Toge simply gaped in horror.
"Heal him. Now." Satoru demanded angrily.
"On the bed." She said, as they both ran towards an empty bed. Satoru gently placed him on the bed as Shoko used her Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the larger wound on his stomach, "How the fuck did this happened?" Shoko demanded coldly.
"I'm about to find out." Satoru growled, "Heal him and keep him on medication. You three, out!" He said to the Second Years. They flinched at the tone of their usually childish and cheery sensei.
"Hey, we're his friends too, we're worried about him!" Panda protested as Maki and Toge nodded.
"Satoru's right, you need to get out. Keisuke's Hellfire goes out of control when he's not on medication, and I can't give it to him in this state." Shoko said, not even glancing at them. The three Second Years reluctantly left.
Satoru narrowed his eyes beneath his blindfold, pulling out his phone and calling Ijichi. There will be hell to pay.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Onii-chan, those things are outside again." A small, squeaky voice said, frightened.
A young Keisuke rolled his eyes fondly, turning around to face the six-year-old, "C'mon, you can't be that scared of bugs, can ya?" He teased the boy.
Hikaru huffed, pouting a bit as red tinted his cheeks, "I don't like any of 'em! They're all super creepy." He said, before whining as Keisuke pinched his cheek.
"You're so cute! Alright, come on then. You gotta go get flowers for kaa-chan before it gets dark. Also, bring some stuff for Suki-chan!" He said, grabbing the child's hand and leading him out. Outside were a few flyheads, all of them, turned to look at Keisuke the moment he stepped foot. He glanced at them sideways as Hikaru whimpered, moving close to the taller boy.
"They don't attack, ya dingus. Now go, I'll go buy the decorations." Keisuke said, patting the boy on the head.
"Okay, onii-chan! Don't waste time staring at the girls!"
"Ya brat!" Keisuke yelled at him, but he ran away, giggling to himself. A soft smile formed on Keisuke's face, "I don't stare at girls... that makes it sound so creepy. I admire 'em... yeah, that's it." He nodded to himself.
As it turns out, most girls didn't mind being stared at by him. Keisuke might have been caught a few times, staring at them, but most of them simply giggled when his face flushed at being caught. He bought all the decorations for the Hinamatsuri festival (he'd teased his little brother endlessly for being so interested in such a girly festival), but unfortunately, it had gotten dark by the time he was done. The decorations necessary were out of stock in most of the nearby stores, so he had to wander the entire town to find them. He also bought some gifts for his seven-month-old sister. Eventually, he did and ran back home.
"Shit, kaa-chan's gonna kill me for being so late!" He muttered to himself as he reached his home. He blinked in confusion when he saw the lights off, "That's... strange." He frowned to himself.
A bad feeling formed at the pit of his stomach, like he'd swallowed an ice cube. He opened the front door, "I'm home! Why are all the lights off?!" He yelled, hoping to get the attention of either his mother or little brother.
When he turned the lights on, though, he gasped, eyes widening. A massive monster with gray skin, veins bulging all over its body, a four glowing yellow eyes gazed at him as it turned to him, one of its hands had nails that were the side of Keisuke's head, that looked like blades. Horror felt Keisuke's being when he saw a tiny corpse, that looked unmistakably like his little brother being pinned by it, "HIKARU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He screamed, "HIKARU, PLEASE GET UP!"
He stumbled, falling down onto his knees. The stench of blood filled the air as he froze in place, staring at his little brother's body in horror. He managed to shake himself off just as the monster stood up and nearly fell over. His eyes suddenly saw his baby sister, his precious little seven-month-old sister's crib. Blood was dripping off the crib and onto the floor. His face turned green, and took a step back, not even wanting to look inside.
The monster took a step towards him, and Keisuke screamed, running to hide in the backyard, only to stumble and fall to his knees to see his mother, the lower half of her body gone, her spine sticking out and a massive pool of blood underneath her. Her wide, unseeing eyes looked straight into his.
Keisuke was silent for a second before he vomited, the stench of blood filling his nostrils. He closed his eyes and shivered.
"This is just a dream... it's just a dream... just a dream..." He chanted, his breath hitching. When he opened his eyes, however, he could only stare back at his mother's unseeing eyes.
He screamed, jumping back, tears streaming down his face. When he turned around, he saw the monster again, raising its arm to reveal its bladed hand. It grinned at him hideously. He curled up into a ball, "Don't kill me, please!" He sobbed, "PLEASE!"
"Keisuke!"
"STOP! DON'T KILL ME!"
"Keisuke!"
"KEISUKE!"
Keisuke gasped, sitting up, his eyes glowing and wide. His eyes roamed wildly, his breaths coming out in short pants. A pair of strong hands grasped him by the shoulders, causing him to flinch, "Keisuke, listen to me. Listen to my voice—Shoko get back!" Keisuke recognized the voice, but his mind couldn't quite place it, "Keisuke, listen to my voice. Just breathe, okay? With me. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Yeah, you're doing great, buddy. Just keep going." The voice soothingly said as Keisuke mindlessly obeyed, breathing as he said. His eyes fluttered close as he felt a tiny flare of pain in his arm, and sleep overtook him.
Satoru sighed as he slowly eased the boy back into a sleeping position, Shoko obligingly brought over another blanket and placed it on his body. He waved away some of the smoke that had lingered from the burning curtains and blanket. It had been a while since Keisuke has had an incident like this. He thought idly as he glanced at the damage done. Shoko was easily able to heal the small burns on her hands. The curtains, bedsheet, and even the bed itself were burned, and Satoru gently picked up the boy and placed him on another bed.
Yuji, who had just been revived (Satoru suspected that he had made some kind of pact with Sukuna, but he hadn't asked him yet) wasn't allowed to see Keisuke. The boy had simply sunk down and sobbed into his hands, cursing himself and mumbling 'sorry' over and over again.
Satoru had to console him, explaining that it isn't just him. No one had been allowed to see Keisuke except for Satoru. Despite Shoko's medication, Keisuke's nightmares were intense, and the boy had set things on fire for the past three days that he had been in a coma.
Megumi, on the other hand, had been nigh inconsolable ever since he returned. He blamed himself for being unable to stop Sukuna, Satoru had gathered, but the boy had been annoyingly closed off ever since then. All attempts at comforting him had been rebuffed, and he'd heard Nobara complain that Megumi had been in a foul mood ever since they'd returned. The only way Megumi would feel better if Keisuke himself woke up and talked to him about it.
As he exited the room, he saw Yuji slumped by the wall beside the door, with his head down and shoulders shaking. Satoru sighed again, kneeling down and placing his hand on his shoulder, "Yuji, it's okay." He said softly.
"It's not okay!" The boy suddenly exploded, tears streaming down his face, "Keisuke... he's been nothing but nice to me the moment we've met and how'd I repay him?!"
"None of what happened is your fault. It's Sukuna's." Satoru said firmly.
"And who let him out? Who let him take control?! WHO HAD BEEN TOO SCARED TO SWITCH OUT BECAUSE I WAS SCARED TO DIE?!" Yuji screamed.
Guilt ate away at him. He'd been too much of a coward to switch back, too scared of dying due to his heart being ripped out. Because of that, Keisuke had nearly died. And now he was in a coma! It was all his fucking fault!
"It was the higher-ups who sent you on a mission that you were unqualified for." Satoru said, his voice cold as he talked about those old assholes who nearly got all of his students killed, "They'd used the excuse that Keisuke was a semi-First Grade and Megumi was a Second Grade to send you on that mission that was completely out of your league. It was a convenient way to get rid of you and a window for them to harass me and my teaching methods."
Yuji's sobs quieted down, and eventually, he allowed the man to guide him back to a safe place where he wouldn't be seen, "Sensei, I know that you don't want me to tell anyone about me being alive... but can you tell Keisuke at least? Please?" He pleaded.
Satoru's lips pursed, before smiling, "Sure. Just him, though. In fact, it might be a good thing to let him know, as well. He could help you in your training." He said.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When Keisuke's eyes fluttered open, the first thing he saw was the fan spinning, along with white walls and curtains. Ah, the infirmary... guess I'm alive... He thought wryly.
"Awake, are we?" He heard Shoko's usual tired voice.
He raised his head slightly, only to wince at the sensation of pain that travelled down his neck, "Easy, Keisuke. You've taken quite a few blows to your head, one to the back of your head. You shouldn't move your head too much." She cautioned, placing a hand on his chest to push him back gently.
Keisuke grimaced, "...Right." He rasped. Then his mind travelled back... "MEGUMI! YUJI! ARE THEY—" He cut himself off by coughing violently.
"I told you to take it easy, didn't I?!" Shoko yelled, healing his reopened wounds as he pushed him back gently, "Megumi's fine. Yuji is..."
Keisuke felt his throat close up as he remembered Sukuna pulling out his friend's heart and crushing it. He took a deep breath and willed his tears away, "I-I see..." He said quietly.
Yuji... the poor guy... he'd been dragged into this mess because where he didn't belong. He was such a good guy, always bright, and smiling happily, despite the shit life tossed his way.
His strength and speed would have made him an amazing athlete, but now he was dead.
Yet another one I've let down... He thought numbly, "Can I please be alone for a while, Shoko-san?" He asked her politely in a quiet voice.
Shoko sighed, patting his shoulder, "Take it easy." She said, walking off to leave him alone.
He grabbed his head in his arms and grimaced at the pain in his stomach. He leaned back and placed his head back on the pillow. His mind flashed back to his little brother's corpse, blood pooling out of his infant little sister's crib and trickling down onto the floor, his mother's unseeing eyes staring at him in horror...
"Onii-chan... why didn't you save me?" Keisuke froze when he heared his long dead little brother's voice. He slowly glanced over to his left, and let out a choked noise when he saw his pale figure standing next to him, eyes gouged out, yet still somehow staring at him accusingly.
He started to shake, breath coming in short gasps, but he calmed himself down by performing a breathing exercise that he'd been taught by his therapist. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale... He closed his eyes shut tightly. You're just imagining things, your brother's dead... you... you got him killed...
The sound of a baby crying made your ears hurt. It's all in your head! Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...
Keisuke was eventually let go by Shoko after much begging and pleading. Thankfully, she seemed to understand his situation. He especially hated hospitals and morgues. She'd told him to stay for a little while longer, but he'd snuck out without her knowing.
As he neared the training grounds, he saw Megumi, Nobara, and the Second Years talking. He moved towards him. He tried his utter best to ignore the imaginary child that was trailing behind him. One only he could see.
"Having fun without me?" All of them turned their heads to look at the sound of the familiar voice of Keisuke.
"Keisuke..." Megumi breathed out, instantly ignoring all of them and moving towards them. He placed a hand on his shoulder, "H-how are you feeling?"
Keisuke smiled at him genuinely. He'd heard from Shoko that Megumi had been truly wretched ever since he'd returned. Both due to Yuji's death and from the state Keisuke is.
Thinking of Yuji made him close his eyes in pain, but he quickly opened them and smiled weakly, "Not too bad, Shoko-san told me to take it easy for a while, though." He answered, "Yo, Nobara, senpais." He said, waving at the others in his usual lazy manner. Though it came off as forced.
"Kelp." Toge said, relief flooding his body as he saw his kohai safe and mostly fine. The scene of Keisuke with a hole in his stomach, bleeding from his forehead simply refused to leave his mind for these past few days. He was thankful to see his favorite First Year alive and well. Okay, mostly well.
"Finally woke up, huh? Thank god, Fushiguro was fully on his way to embracing his inner emo the longer you stayed in the infirmary." Nobara said, crossing her arms, though her eyes quickly softened ever-so-slightly, "Should you even be out?"
She remembered their exceptional teamwork against the curses after they'd both been separated from the other two boys. He'd risked his life for her and had nearly died saving her classmate. So she supposed she'd cut him some slack.
N-not that she'd go soft on him or anything!
"Anyway, what were you guys talking about?" he asked lazily, avoiding the question.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Nobara yelled. Fuck that, he's still an annoying ass.
"We were talking about the Kyoto Goodwill Event that's coming up. You in?" Maki asked promptly, causing Nobara to grumble.
Keisuke blinked, "It's that time already?" He groaned. Putting in effort was a pain in the ass. Maki's eye twitched at his laziness.
"I was just about to ask, I thought it was for third years and second years only." Megumi remarked.
"Yeah, but the plans have changed, the stupid third years got themselves suspended, so it's only us three and you three." Maki answered with an irritated scowl.
"What do we even do in the event anyway? Smash Bros.? I'm good at the Wii version." Nobara said, pointing to herself with a smirk.
"Really? I have a Switch that I blackmailed Gojo-sensei into buying for me, we should play sometime!" Keisuke said, his lazy eyes turning to her, his lips quirked in a small grin, which she returned. The best way to get his mind off of Yuji's death and also to ignore the imaginary child that was smiling at him mockingly was to keep his mind occupied.
"Get ready to be meteor smashed, flame brain." She taunted.
"Sujiko." Toge said, pointing to himself.
"Sure, you can come along, senpai." Keisuke allowed, shrugging.
"On second thought, maybe the three of us are fine." Panda said, sweatdropping. Nobara pouted at the cursed puppet, while Keisuke clicked his tongue. Rude.
"What is the format of this event?" Megumi asked with a sigh.
"The event takes place over the span of two days. The first day is for teams. Usually, all the students work together to exorcise all the curses in a given location. The second day is for individual battles." Panda explained.
"Salmon." Toge agreed.
"Wait, we fight? As in, we fight other sorcerers?" Nobara's eyes widened with excitement.
"Yeah, it's everything goes, too. Except serious injury and, of course, death." Said Maki, nodding with a smirk at the gleam in the girl's eyes.
"This is a different Smash that I like to call Smesh." Keisuke mumbled, an unholy gleam replacing his usual laziness. A perfect way to get stronger. And to keep his mind occupied.
"Aren't we low on Jujutsu Sorcerers all the time?" Megumi interrupted, shivering at the glint in his classmates' eyes.
"That's true, but right now, the melancholy of human accumulates from the winter until spring and come crashing in the early summer materializing as curses. It's a busy season." Panda explained with a smile.
"I'll pretend I understood that." Keisuke said pleasantly.
"What he said." Nobara agreed, equally pleasantly.
"Idiots." Megumi rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, are you guys in or what? Do it for your dead teammate." Maki impatiently demanded, putting a hand on her hip. Her golden eyes bore into Keisuke, who gulped.
"Aye, aye, ma'am!" He almost saluted. Why the fuck is she so scary...? He knew why. She was strong enough to literally break him like a toothpick, and wasn't afraid to emphasize her point with a glare heated enough to single-handedly raise the sea levels by at least two meters.
"Now, Maki, you can't scare them into doing as we want. We should break their spirits first." Panda said brightly.
"Salmon." Toge offered his words of wisdom.
"I'll do it, but if I find this as a waste of time, I'm out." Nobara said.
"Same."
"And you, Keisuke? You wouldn't do that to me, right?" Maki said, raising an eyebrow at Keisuke, "Right?" she insisted with a frightening smile.
"Never, Maki-senpai." Keisuke said promptly, shivering dramatically. Then a thought occurred to him, "Actually, I was wondering if you could train me in kenjutsu." He said.
Maki raised both eyebrows, "Really? What's with the sudden interest?" she asked, happy that she could teach her kohais in close combat, especially with a weapon. She hadn't expected Keisuke, of all people, to show an interest in something that would require putting in effort. He was like Nanami, if he deems something can be done with moderate effort, then moderate effort is what he will put in.
So for the lazy ass to actually ask her for training...
Keisuke kept his face blank, but inwardly, there was a whole bunch of emotions swimming in his mind. The first thought was how easily Sukuna defeated him. Even him and Megumi together couldn't do anything to stop the King of Curses, and because of that, Yuji had died.
The second image was his dead little brother, a bloody crib, and his mother who had been mauled to death, the lower half of her body missing, and wide, horrified eyes staring into his own. He forced the thoughts out of his mind.
"It's all your fault!" said the imaginary Hikaru, sounding all to gleeful as he stood next to Maki. Keisuke stubbornly refused to look away from Maki.
"Satoru-sensei told me that I should branch out more, and he's right. I'm a bit too reliant on my Hellfire. Kenjutsu interested me, and I thought it could be useful for me to learn it." Keisuke explained his reasoning. It was technically true, Satoru had indeed told him that.
"We'll work that into your training." Maki said, nodding.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Again with the words...
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