Chapter 11

His eyes snapped open.

Sukuna suddenly sat up, but was bowled over by Chusi.

"RYOMEN!" she cried and held on to him for dear life. It took him a moment to realize that he was back in the real world now. How he got there…

"Everything… okay?" Shellboy asked of him. "I do admit it felt rather weird with what was going on, but… are you doing better?"

Sukuna took a moment as he peered over himself, he wasn't in pain, and he didn't feel any different than before. "Nothing has altered." He said.

"Thank goodness, I was concerned. I have no idea where lady Tiamat got…" he suddenly paused.

"Got what?" Sukuna demanded of him. "Speak!"

Shellboy sighed. "I had figured I would need 200 souls to repair yours. Lady Tiamat brought them to me just a few hours ago…"

He froze, so did everyone else. "Souls? He had to take souls to make his whole!?" demanded Chusi.

"Apparently Lady Tiamat had no problem with this…" Shellboy said. "She is the one who provided the souls."

Sukuna was silent on the matter. He tried to remember what he witnessed when contained, but those memories are out of reach to him. "Am I whole?" he asked.

Shellboy peered him over. "Hmm, not yet. The souls are in place but they are arranging themselves accordingly. But so far you are about 20% complete. By the time you are 100%, you should notice a difference."

"He won't die now right?" Chusi asked.

"No, I don't think he will."

"That's all that matters!" she decreed. "Come Ryomen, let's have a family meal… as soon as I find Ryoto."

He pause. "Ryoto is missing?"

She snickered. "No, he got adopted into the fold with Toshi's group, they include him in everything. One is really stuck to him though…"

"Where is Toshi?" Shellboy asked offhandedly.

She snickered. "He took the kids to see their other grandma…"

#

He couldn't help but smirk.

Syrax was proudly leaning against his shoulder as they saw the children clamor and fall asleep upon Toshi's mother, even the triplets were leaning in for a cuddle!

"Hon… I didn't think you were having this many…" his mother said but laughed about it.

"I was just as surprised as you were mother." Toshi laughed awkwardly back. "I have a whole new respect for you, not to mention doing this for a pathetic man like my father…" she said and shook his head to it all.

"I got you out of it, didn't I?" she said with a smile. "You have made me so proud, I am going to have my handful for a while huh?"

"Until the next batch," Syrax decreed.

His mother's face dropped, she stared at Toshi with worry but, he merely smiled back and nodded to his mother. "Syrax would like a large family… and well… I am not exactly human anymore either, I can't help but share her desire for such a thing. At the same time, Syrax's mother is encouraging us to have more."

His mother's face didn't alter to the startled look she bore. "Toshi, my dear… you already have 11 children… If your old fart of a father saw this, he would be rolling in his grave out of jealousy that you had children so easily and sons for that matter!"

"I doubt he would unless they all had the family technique…" he said offhandedly.

"In which they do," chimed Syrax.

He snickered. "Then yes, the old man would have lost his collective… crap." He was minding his words around the children. Thankfully they were still out cold and asleep. "I still can't believe this…" he said with a smile.

"I'm your mother and I can't believe this, not to mention the sudden growth spurt you had! But that may explain Yig…"

"Something wrong with Yig?" Syrax asked.

"Well… he grew a little too…" Just as she was about to explain, the front door opened. Toshi's younger brother returned with Yig… who nearly looked as big and tall as Toshi does now.

When he came into the house, Yig froze as he turned to them. He smirked and rolled his eyes. "NOW it makes sense…" he muttered.

"I don't quite follow…" Toshi muttered.

"Lady Tiamat had connected me to you, to pose as you if the council ever came sniffing around here. I suppose now that things have altered, hardly anyone ever comes around here now."

This was surprising. Despite the fact that Sukuna took out the council elders and those who attacked Yua, the numbers from jujutsu society have dropped that much? Then again that culling game must have bit into their numbers too. "By the way, you heard about the restart of that school in Kyoto? That's not your doing right?" Yig asked.

"No, we are aware of it though. Yuuji and Suiryu are sending their kids there after they got a full tour of the place," he explained.

"Interesting place, I actually took a quick sneak peek at it. In all honest, they have everything out in the open, yet the smell these sorcerers have it rather odd to me. And stranger still, they all bare a very similar scent." Yig explained.

"They do?" Syrax asked.

"Yeah, like a fire pit, embers, burnt wood and such, rather strange for a mortal to have a scent like that."

"It is?" the room questioned.

Yig snickered. "Let me explain something, humans in general, sorcerers included have a unique smell to the divine, they are all different and yet they have the same profile. I have never come across a sorcerer or human who smells close to an element like those people there. Not looking down on it or anything, it's just… off to me."

"Should we be concerned?" Toshi asked.

Yig shrugged his shoulders. "Just be careful, I don't think these sorcerers are out to destroy you or those you care about… but they are hiding something." He said. "But, one needs to remember too… everyone has a secret for a reason."

He left shortly with the younger brother, since he promised him a snack when they returned from the park.

"Perhaps we should be heading back too, it's nearly the kids' dinner time." Toshi said.

His mother nodded yet peered down. None of the kids are willing to move just yet. "I think you might have to stay until their nap is done…" she whispered.