Ann.: mentions of Makima, smoking; mild language. Character spoilers about Geto and his girls during Shibuya Incident Arc at the end (after the line, "the group of curses wanted a society"); light character spoilers about why Aki hates devils.

2: Heyyy, even in this universe everybody wants a piece of Denji the way he doesn't want to be wanted LOL

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Did anybody still believe in the bullshit that people became devil hunters to make the world a better place? To kill in the name of justice … phrases said to cover darker motivations like revenge, a death wish, blood lust, the thrill of battle.

Devil hunters needed to be a little bit crazy to survive this job.

They had to be a little bit crazy to continue doing their job day in and day out, to not drop out, to resign; a little bit crazy to stare daily into the abyss or the eyes of nightmares and still wake up in the morning the next day, stand up from bed and go repeat the cycle of Hell; crazy to move on even after the most gut-turning experience imaginable on Earth.

Pretty phrases for the public didn't keep devil hunters alive. A screw loose, a burning hatred, or similar feelings did - a lot, at least.

Sometimes, Aki wasn't sure if that wasn't another lie told to them by Public Safety. Because even though he knew his obsession with revenge edged on mania, drove him after the slightest hint of pieces of the Gun Devil, Aki hadn't changed otherwise.

Still cared for the cruelty of devils against humans. Still felt his guts clench at the sight of bloodstained rooms and streets in neighbourhoods where a devil had run rampage, slaughtering innocent people, families, bystanders. Not that Aki thought to himself that he could've prevented any of this by being faster, better, stronger, no.

This job blunted parts of his empathy but sharpened his hate of devils into a deadly edge, powered him differently than his anger at the Gun Devil did - sharper where his anger was deeper.

Devils were a pest for humankind, and the ones fighting against it were too few to end them all.

Aki walked out of the bloodstained room, turned his back to the wall and hit against it, hand fumbling for his pack of cigarettes in his jacket. He sank down the wall until he sat on the floor, one knee drawn in, fingers fumbling for a cigarette - the last one. Why was it always the last one?

He put it between his lips, careful not wet the paper because he hated the cold taste of it on his tongue. Hands rummaged through his pockets, found the lighter, lit the cigarette's end. Aki took a deep inhale, lay his head back against the wall, and blew smoke up to the ceiling.

The crime scene was a mess, and from his spot against the hallway's hall, Aki could still see the dead devil's arm midst comics that littered every inch of the floor. The rest of the body was out of sight, but Aki wouldn't be able to forget its sight until he closed his eyes to sleep dreamlessly tonight. Killing this devil had been laughably easy, just a shot from the gun, just a routine emergency during city patrol.

Just - it hadn't been.

Otherwise, Aki wouldn't have felt the need to light a cigarette to relieve some of his stress, wouldn't sit on the floor in a house full of murdered people, wouldn't feel so tired physically.

Footsteps came down the hall and stopped next to Aki. A face framed by chin-length black hair leaned down into Aki's field of vision, smiling lightly in an easy way Himeno owned.

"Brooding again, Aki?" She crouched down next to him and wrapped her arms around her knees, betraying that she wasn't feeling as easy as she pretended to. Her eyes followed to where Aki was looking, saw the bloody arm.

A visible shiver ran through Himeno.

"It's been tough lately, hasn't it? So many attacks, so much work to do." She turned back to look at Aki, to consider the blank state of his face.

"Yeah," he grumbled. Himeno reached out, picked the cigarette from between his lips and took a swipe of the cigarette without averting her eye from Aki's face. She held the cigarette between two fingers then, burning end pointed downwards, arm resting on her knee, making no move to give the cig back.

Aki minimally turned his head to look at her. How many years had they been like this, just Himeno and Aki, both fighting their own battles?

"I spoke to Miss Makima yesterday." Aki watched Himeno wordlessly lift his cigarette to her lips again, drew a grimace and made a grab for it. "Hey, it's my last one. Take your own!"

"Sharing is caring." She evaded Aki's grab, made a kissy mouth, and when Aki finally mirrored her with narrowed eyes, Himeno pushed the rest of the smoke between Aki's lips, ignoring his protesting grumble and the furrow of his brows.

Himeno dropped from her feet to her ass and robbed to sit against the wall, next to Aki. "What did she say?" Himeno asked. "More work?"

"The Fiend is joining our division," Aki mumbled, and Himeno gave a little scream, head and upper body whipping around to Aki.

"No way!"

"Yes way. I'm no longer partnered with you for future missions."

"You're forced to babysit a fiend?" Himeno stared at Aki, searching for a punchline, for hints that he was joking. He wasn't. Of course not. "Hell no. Why?"

Aki shrugged, but Himeno pushed off the wall with one arm, anger bubbling up in her. She knew that Aki was taking these orders without question, never complained, saw them through and done. All devil hunters were crazy in their own ways, but Himeno would be damned if this was Aki's.

"First Makima asks you to shoulder the hunt for the Soul Devil from that hospital, then she wants you to look into the guy from Jujutsu High and to top it all off you get a fiend hanging around your throat? Aki, you're not the only one in Division 4. Go to Makima, tell her that -"

"No," Aki cut her off, snipped the cigarette butt at his feet and stubbed it out with his shoe sole. Nobody would care about a bit of ashes.

He hung his head and tiredly ran a hand over his neck, rolled his head and shoulders with closed eyes. Makima's words still rang in his ears, resonating deeply with a fear Aki had: that one day, he might not get his revenge.

"It's possible that Jujutsu High isn't just collecting Sukuna's fingers anymore but is in for the Gun Devil too. They already were on the heels of Mahito the other day, messing with our job, no qualms about that it's Public Safety's. Crossed up at the hospital, were about to leave with the transfigured souls if not for Makima. They claim it's a coincidence."

"So you mean …?" Himeno thought about it, rocking back and forth, eyes on the ashes stain and cig butt. She slowly shook her head. "But we never got into Jujutsu High's business and they never in ours. Why now?"

"A new member. A hybrid, maybe, or a devil. Definitely not human. Joined Jujutsu High just some days ago, right after the slaughter in the abandoned warehouse that we arrived too late at. Something about him changed their attitude. I can't put my finger on it."

Aki lifted his head, made eye contact with Himeno. "I'm not dumb, Himeno. There might be a third or fourth group in the running for the Gun Devil, for the profit or the fame. I'm not taking any chances with this mission."

You clearly do, Himeno thought bitterly. This wasn't just about the Gun Devil, was it? Yet Makima had burdened everything on Aki's shoulders as if Division 4 didn't have more members than just him.

Fuck that woman.

"You know you can't die," Himeno said out loud, in a stressed cheerful manner. "So it's best you come off your high horse and let me help you. Stick your 'we're not partners anymore' in your dark place, because really Aki, who else is going to provide you with cigarettes if not me?"

Aki huffed. A lop-sided smile grew on his lips.

"Yeah, sure."

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The group of curses wanted a society where curses could wander the Earth as "true humans". Geto had wanted to kill off all non-sorcerers to create a perfect society where curses didn't exist anymore.

Geto's and the group's dreams were like oil and water - no matter how hard you mixed them, they'd never agree with each other.

And yet here they sat: the black-haired man with stitches across his forehead, the curse with the volcano on his head, the weird walking blue corpse with more stitches than anyone could count, and the one with branches instead of eyes.

Mimiko and Nanako held each other's hand under the table, lips pressed into a thin line, taking comfort in each other's presence. They hated being here. They'd rather infiltrate some place that held Sukuna's fingers so that they could ask the King of Curses to help them free Master Geto's body from the parasite.

But the parasite had insisted that today, Mimiko and Nanako came here, into this hidden domain. They had plans. Plans the real Geto would've never had.

"We have a job for you," Geto said, and the girls would do anything for Geto - Geto, not the parasite inside of him. Yes, he protected them from the other curses, told them that "these two humans were valuable to their plans", but it wasn't right. This "Geto" harboured no love for the girls.

"And you think that this Denji will help us? I honestly doubt it," volcano curse said, tapping his pointing finger against his leg. "He's too deep in with the bloody curse hunters. We have better chances helping Sukuna. You know, like we originally planned."

Mimiko and Nanako exchanged glances. When they didn't make progress alone, they had the group of curses to gather intel from: where were Sukuna's fingers, where his vessel? What did the group have planned, what crimes were needed to prepare for Sukuna's return? This was the only reason why they could stand this group of curses at all.

(This, and because the parasite had Geto's body.)

Fortunately, no one here knew that the girls had their own plans for when Sukuna was back again. The group thought they were using the girls, but in truth, the girls were using the curses too.

"I don't care for the boy," Geto (Not-Geto) said. Geto would've cared for the boy, would've cared for a hunted sorcerer in contract with a curse and met with him on friendly terms. He would've convinced him of his plan for the world, the girls were sure of that.

"Romantic Geto only cares for the boy's heart," blue-stitches-man said with rippling laughter that made Nanako grab harder onto Mimiko's hand with a shiver.

"There is nothing romantic in what I plan to do with it," Geto (Not-Geto) said silkily. His eyes turned to the girls in their round, lips pulling into a smile. "Now that's where you two come in. I have a job for you, girls. Don't you like a little bit of shopping?"