Chapter 22
He woke to his room.
The whole place was a blur at first, but then wondered how he got back. "Huh?" he tried to sit up, but couldn't. With a sigh, he figured he was tied down again for good measures.
Peering down, there was no rope that bounded him! In fact, there wasn't even a blanket on his body that would explain the lack of ability to move. He tried to turn himself over, but that alone was a task! "What's happening to me?" he muttered.
It took every bit of strength he had to roll on to his stomach, from there, he shifted his weight until he slid off the bed and sat up against it. His face dripped in sweat already as he looked about. His arms felt like led weights, his legs as if they weren't even there. "What's going on?" he muttered.
But there was no time to delay, he had to get some breakfast and go to class!
He began to drag himself across the floor, slowly but surely he managed to make it to the door and get it open, from there, he slinked.
Megumi happened to have woken up at that time, when he stepped out of his dorm his eyes came upon Yuuji. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
Yuuji tried to play it cool as he laid there in a relaxed pose. "Oh you know… admiring the hardwood floor. The detail in it, you can't appreciate until you get up close…"
However he wasn't buying it. Fushiguro reached down and offered him a hand up off the floor. With a sigh Itadori took it, the two combined their strengths, yet despite it, neither one could use the leverage to get Yuuji to his feet! "What the hell did you do?!"
"I don't know!" Yuuji shouted back. "I woke up and couldn't get out of bed!" he paused. "How did I get back last night?"
"Sensei found you passed out up against the wall on the street, he took you back right away."
"Oh…"
"Well we got to get something to eat before class right?"
"Right!"
#
It was an awkward morning for everyone.
Yuuji spent his breakfast on the floor, yet thanks to Megumi, he was still able to get something to eat, from there, he continued to drag his way to class and make it on time.
"What the hell is he doing?" whispered Nobara.
Fushiguro shrugged.
Sensei Gojo soon entered the room. "Morning…"
"MORNING SENSEI!" Yuuji called from the ground and yet had his hand in the air as high as it could go.
Gojo paused and peered over to see Yuuji on the floor. "Can't make it to your desk?" he asked.
"Uh… no…" he said meekly. "Sensei… I can't really move myself this morning… I feel heavy…"
"Not only that, but the curse energy in him is massive…" said Megumi.
"Huh? I thought it went down to nearly nothing!"
"It was, now it's gotten massive again."
Yuuji went face first into the ground. "What's going on with me now!" he demanded. "I can't seem to get anything right as of late…"
However, smiling as always Gojo sensei approached him and tapped Yuuji gently on the head. "Perhaps you shouldn't see this as a sigh of weakness, but as a sign of opportunity. You can get yourself stronger if you are stuck like this, correct?" he asked.
Itadori's eyes shined. "I COULD!" he said with great enthusiasm.
"Good, I want 40 laps around the compound from you right now, go!"
"YES SENSEI!" he said with great passion.
Mustering his strength, Yuuji began to drag himself out of the room and out onto the school grounds…
#
'It happened a lot faster than what Yua predicted…' Gojo thought.
"Uh, Sensei… is this really smart? I mean, what happened to him? He can't move, and yet he is full of curse energy he hasn't had since… you know…" said Nobara.
"Oh it's fine, he's just going through a growth spurt…" he said and waved off the concern. "He's still a young kid too, so, I wouldn't worry too much…"
"But to go from nothing to a massive amount of curse energy in 24 hours?" asked Megumi.
"It does happen, I assure you." Gojo insisted. "Besides, this is Itadori we're talking about here…"
"Former demon vessel, not to mention there is no evidence that Sukuna is gone from him… seriously…" Nobara proclaimed.
He only smiled to them.
He went on with the lesson of the day before stopping for lunch. He found Itadori just passing the classroom outside, but he was getting faster and starting to crawl. "ITADORI! HOW MANY LAPS?" he shouted from the window.
"OH SENSEI…. 10!" He shouted back proudly.
"Not bad…" he muttered, "BREAK FOR LUNCH!"
"YES SIR!" he moved with a little more speed with the anticipation of food, yet as he did, the massive amount of curse energy in him went down.
"I wonder what Yua meant by this flux…" he turned to his notebook. Everything she told him to expect with Yuuji to the best of her knowledge. "Ok, we can cross the first one off, sleeping a lot, hungry a lot," he rattled off. But it was the flux in energy he was most curious about.
"Constantly shifting to and fro, his energy will constantly shift. One day he will have a lot of it, the next he won't. Then he will regain the energy and then some, constantly growing and containing more as it works its way through…"
He paused. "It's like wrenching out a sponge, only to give it more than it can handle and yet the sponge grows with the burden," he muttered. "Hmmm, that does explain a few things, but not everything. I'm the only one noticing he is leaving in the middle of the night…"
He closed the book up for now and tucked it away into his jacket. Venturing down the to the yard he found Yuuji half way to the cafeteria. He began to walk slower but kept at his side. "Sensei… you can go on ahead without me, I maybe a while…" Yuuji said as he continued to grit through his training.
"I rather work up my appetite…" he said and laughed. "You are going to be starving after this!"
Itadori was silent. Suddenly he stopped crawling. "Sensei… I keep having weird dreams…"
"Oh?" he asked curiously. "Care to talk about them?"
"The thing is, I don't know what's a dream and what's real anymore. I mean, I've seen this odd looking fox, gorgeous, but strange, it's white with red markings on it. It's like it's leading me to places, and then, I hear bells and fall into a trance. I don't… really remember what I do, but I feel like it's something drastic."
Gojo paused as he became serious. "Do you have any dreams that involved Sukuna?" he asked.
"No," he said with confidence. "He hasn't been in my dreams or my head since the day of the execution… well… supposed execution…" he started to crawl again until a look of determination came over his face. Forcing his right leg to his chest, he used the leverage to push up and stand. He was on shaky legs and nearly stumbled face first into the ground but caught himself. From there, he was dragging his feet across the ground trying to make up for lost time. "I… I really want to know what's wrong with me…" he said. "I just worry that if this is Sukuna at work, I don't want people getting hurt again. He's done that enough, and I… I nearly can't live with the thought he did that using my body…"
Gojo gently placed his hand on Yuuji's head, from there. They warped to the cafeteria. "Let's talk about that later, you need your energy if you are going to finish those laps." He said.
People stopped and stared as Yuuji dragged his feet across the ground towards a table, he collapsed on to it and caught his breath. "Oh God, I can't believe this is SO HARD!" he protested as he went face first into the table.
Gojo smirked as he gathered up a good meal. He needs protein and carbs, so eggs and rice would be perfect.
He ate like a mad man, polishing off six bowls alone of rice and eggs before feeling satisfied. Yet he laid on the table to rest up before going back out. "Sensei… is this really okay for me to do? I mean, am I not skipping class?" he asked.
"Who is your teacher?" he asked with a grin on his lips.
Itadori smiled back. "Oh yeah… Okay… back to the laps!" he said in a determined voice. People watched on as he dragged his feet across the ground and back outside. Then, their eyes set on Gojo.
"What the hell is with that boy now?!" principal Yaga demanded.
Gojo sat there and ate his meal like it was nothing new. "Well, he couldn't move this morning, so I have him do laps until he can move with confidence again. He went from dragging himself, to crawling to an upright position in a matter of three hours. Rather an accomplishment if I do say so."
Yaga however wasn't buying it. "And his curse energy?" he questioned. "Why does he have so much of it now? Before he was nearly coming across human, now… it's like he has Sukuna in him with two fingers worth of power!"
Gojo shrugged. "He is still growing… puberty?" he suggested.
"Are you hindering this or helping us on deciding what to do with him!"
"I am neither right now, but too many of you want to jump the gun in a sense on him. You haven't even seen his potential yet."
"Either way Gojo, keep an eye on this kid or else the elders will do away with him to be safe than sorry!"
He gave a playful salute to Yaga who went on his way, Gojo however knows he has to keep an eye on his student. Yua warned him too.
It was the preverbal calm before the storm…