Hana, Panda, and I are in an abandoned sky scraper in the city. Hana rescued Megumi not long ago while Panda and I found this place to hold out in while we plan our next move. It's night time now and Hana is keeping watch over Megumi as he sleeps. She said she found him lying on the ground, exhausted from battle. No doubt he fought hard. It isn't in his nature to give up.
Itadori found a player in the Culling Games named Takaba. He's dressed in some cheesy super hero costume and his ability apparently has something to do with comedy. And the dad joke kind. But he helped Itadori in his battle from earlier and now he's on our side. I spoke with him earlier and he seems like a good addition to our team. He's very nice and genuine, I feel I could trust him. But only time will tell if he'll stab us in the back. Suguru taught me that.
I look out the window at the ruined city below. There are fires everywhere from the chaos of the Culling Games. People scream as battles and fights riddle the city, sewing it with death. I look on in disgust as I imagine the type of people happy with killing the innocent trapped in this 'game'. Makes me want to go hunting.
"Sensei?" I hear behind me.
As usual, Itadori finds me as I hide myself away from the others. I want to be along with my thoughts. I can't ever sleep. So I think, and I plan my next moves.
"Hey Yuji." I say.
"Can't sleep?" He asks.
"You should know the answer to that." I say.
He chuckles, "yeah, stupid question I guess."
We sit in silence for a minute and watch the destruction below.
"Sukuna must be happy." I say.
"Yeah, he is." Itadori says sadly.
"Yeah well, once we figure out this Culling Game stuff after we break Satoru out we'll deal with Sukuna." I tell him.
"There's only one way to deal with it." He says.
I look at him and he sighs looking out at the city seriously, "you guys have to kill me."
"Itadori." I say.
"No Sensei, it's the truth. And i'm okay with it. As long as everyone I love lives, and I die taking Sukuna with me, then that's all I can ever hope for." He says looking at me more mature than ever.
"There has to be another way." I say.
"There isn't. It's been pretty clear from the start." He says.
I sigh, "well how about we just cross that bridge when we get there yeah? I don't want to think of losing someone else right now." I say.
He's silent for a moment, "yeah, right." He says solemnly.
"Can I ask you a question?" He says after a minute.
"Sure." I say.
"You were a recon sorcerer right?" He asks.
"Yeah." I say.
"Why did you stop doing recon and become a teacher?" He asks.
I sigh and look away from him, a tear threatening to come down my face thinking of that day. My hands begin to tremble as I recall her face. Her innocent angelic face...
"Sensei?" I hear as Itadori lays a hand on my shoulder.
I jump at the touch and grab his wrist hard.
"Sensei!" He says firmly.
I blink the memory away and see Itadori's concerned face. I look over and see Panda and Hana have stopped what they're doing to ready themselves.
"I'm- I'm sorry." I say letting his arm go.
"It's fine, I shouldn't have asked." He says rubbing his wrist.
Panda and Hana relax once they see me let go and look away.
"It's okay, I just..." I say rubbing my face and looking away shamefully, "it just isn't necessarily a story i'd like to remember." I say wiping a tear forming in the corner of my eye. "But, what matters now is that I did begin teaching because I wanted to be a good influence on future generations. Hopefully to make a difference and teach them compassion and good morals."
"Oh." He says, "that's a pretty good reason." He says smirking.
I scoff, "yeah. Glad I chose this honestly. Otherwise I wouldn't get to teach dorky little punks like you and Megumi." I say punching him in the arm.
"Hey." He says chuckling rubbing his arm and punching me back.
We both laugh and look out to the city again.
We sit in silence for a while again watching the city destroy itself. I look over at Itadori after a while and see he's fallen asleep. I smirk and let him sleep until morning. He deserves it. The boy has been through too much.
After Itadori wakes up, we gather some breakfast and wait for Megumi to wake up. Itadori took a shower in the very nice bathroom that I only assume belonged to a very wealthy individual. He is wearing a bath robe and is drinking soda from a wine glass. I chuckle as I watch him being goofy, acting like he's fancy and talking to us with an accent. He reminds me so much of Satoru. He always tries to goof off to lighten the mood in the room.
We wait in the master bedroom where Megumi is resting for him to wake up. It doesn't take long Megumi to wake up, but when he does, he looks around confused.
"Good morning, did you sleep well Destined One?" Hana says.
I scoff at the name. She really does have a huge crush.
Megumi sits up in the bed we made for him and rubs his head, "how long was I out?"
"About a day. It's the night of the fourteenth." Itadori says looking out the window.
"Oh! You're awake! I brought ice cream!" I hear Takaba say loudly as he bursts in the room.
I roll my eyes as he passes out some ice creams to everyone.
"Wow, crazy there's still power, but I shouldn't be surprised I guess." Panda says as he takes one happily.
"Yeah, good thing. One less thing to worry about. Why don't we get down to business." I say as everyone eats.
"Right." Megumi says as everyone gathers around me.
"So, by now we should have enough points to save Tsumiki right?" Itadori asks.
"Yup." Megumi says.
"Good. That step one on the agenda. It's the easiest play. Add the rules and save Tsumiki." Panda says.
"Right. And step two is you." I say nodding to Hana.
"So I assume you're the Angel we're looking for?" Megumi asks.
"Yes," says the mouth that pops up on Hana's cheek. I see Itadori's raise as he see's she's like him. "I assume you know of my technique if you've been looking for me. I negate cursed techniques. Barrier techniques, including seals are no exception. So we can go in and out of barriers. Your Sensei and I spoke of our agreement to use this technique before Hana rescued you." She says.
"And what is this agreement?" He asks.
"My main objective is to eliminate all curse users who have reincarnated. Most of them can do this by suppressing the vessels original soul. Whether intentional or subconsciously. Either way this goes against god's laws, so it is wrong. But I need help finding one, the disgraced one. And I must be the one to eliminate him." She says.
"Are you able to separate the curse users from the possessed players?" Megumi asks.
"It isn't impossible, but the likelihood of them dying is high. They begin to fuse once the curse user takes control. It's extremely difficult to rip them away from one another." Angel explains.
"But unsealing the Prison Realm and rescuing Satoru should work right?" I ask eagerly.
"Yeah, I can do that." Angel says.
I smile and look to Megumi happily. I'm getting him back. I'm reuniting our family.
"But I need your full cooperation. If you allow me to butcher the disgraced one, then I won't hesitate to help you." She says.
Itadori's eyes go wide and I raise an eyebrow. Something's wrong. He looks worried and makes eye contact with me. Megumi asks her more questions but I make my way to him and pull him aside where no one can hear us.
"What is it?" I ask.
Itadori sighs and looks at me, "Sukuna is the disgraced one."