The air was heavy with the scent of blood and cursed energy. The battlefield had finally stilled, silence replacing the once deafening clashes of power. Sukuna lay motionless on the ground, his reign of terror finally brought to an end by the combined strength of Gojo and the others. Gojo, his usual arrogance tempered by exhaustion, stood over Sukuna's lifeless form, his eyes scanning the area for Yuji.
Yuji had collapsed only moments after Sukuna fell, his body crumpling to the ground as if his strings had been cut. Gojo rushed over, panic blooming in his chest. Kneeling beside him, Gojo gently shook Yuji's shoulder. "Hey, kid. Wake up."
There was no response.
"Yuji?" Gojo called again, his voice tinged with worry. Megumi and Nobara rushed over, concern evident on their faces.
"Is he... okay?" Nobara asked, her voice small, which was unlike her.
"I don't know. He fainted right after Sukuna died. Something's not right..." Gojo murmured, his six eyes scanning Yuji's body, but he couldn't see anything physically wrong. It was as though the bond between Yuji and Sukuna had been severed entirely—and not just physically. "We need to get him back to Shoko. She'll know what to do."
Megumi, though shaken, remained calm as he gently scooped Yuji up, the unconscious boy's head resting against his chest. "Let's go."
When Yuji woke, he found himself lying in a bed in a room he didn't recognize. The sterile smell of antiseptic filled the air, and the faint hum of medical equipment reached his ears. He blinked against the harsh overhead lights, his body feeling sluggish as he sat up.
"Yuji?" A familiar voice spoke from the side. Yuji turned, his eyes meeting Megumi's concerned gaze.
Megumi stood up from the chair beside his bed, his face etched with worry. "How are you feeling?"
Yuji frowned, his head tilting slightly. "Uh... do I know you?"
Megumi froze. "What?"
"I... I don't remember..." Yuji rubbed his temples, trying to piece together the fragments of his memory, but it was all jumbled. "I don't know where I am, or who you are… What happened?"
Megumi took a slow step back, his face going pale. "Yuji… You don't remember me?"
"No." Yuji's voice was quiet, unsure. He searched his mind for answers but came up blank. The last thing he could remember was his grandpa—sick in the hospital, telling him to help people before passing away. But after that… nothing. It was as if someone had wiped away entire months of his life.
"Where's grandpa? I should be at the hospital, right?" Yuji's voice trembled, confusion mixing with fear. "Did I fall asleep? How long was I out?"
Megumi couldn't hide the shock that flickered across his face. His mouth opened and closed, words failing him. He turned toward the door. "Nobara! Gojo-sensei!"
Nobara came rushing in, followed by Gojo, both of them wearing equally worried expressions. Yuji's confusion deepened as more unfamiliar faces filled the room.
"Yuji, it's me—Nobara! You seriously don't know who we are?" Nobara asked, trying to mask the shakiness in her voice with a forced grin.
Yuji stared at her blankly, his brows furrowing. "I… I'm sorry. I don't."
Gojo sighed, stepping forward, trying his best to maintain his usual carefree tone, though the undercurrent of concern was evident. "Yuji, it's me, Gojo-sensei. We've been through a lot together."
"Gojo-sensei? What are you talking about?" Yuji's hands trembled. "Who are you people? Where's my grandpa? I need to go back to school… He's… He's waiting for me."
Nobara bit her lip, her usual brashness replaced by a softness that rarely surfaced. "Yuji… your grandpa's gone. You've been with us—at Jujutsu High. We're sorcerers. We fight curses…"
"Curses?" Yuji repeated, the word foreign and strange to his ears. "What do you mean? That doesn't make any sense."
Gojo exchanged a glance with Megumi and Nobara, and for the first time, the confident sorcerer seemed at a loss for words. "He really doesn't remember."
Over the next few days, they tried to explain things to Yuji—the existence of curses, their battles, Sukuna. But it was as if none of it had ever happened for him. His mind had erased everything. To Yuji, it was still that day in the hospital, still the grief of his grandpa's passing, still a world where none of this supernatural horror existed.
Megumi watched Yuji as he wandered the halls of Jujutsu High, lost and out of place. The boy he had come to know—the selfless, brave Yuji—was gone. In his place was a confused and scared teenager who didn't understand why he was here or why these strangers claimed to be his friends.
"It's like... he's back to the person he was before all of this," Nobara muttered, standing beside Megumi as they observed Yuji from afar.
"Yeah," Megumi whispered, his heart aching at the sight. "Like he was never touched by this world at all."
Gojo stood at the edge of the training grounds, staring out into the distance. His mind was replaying everything that had happened. Sukuna was gone, but in return, they had lost Yuji too. Not in the way they feared, but in a way they hadn't anticipated.
"You did everything you could," Shoko said, walking up beside Gojo.
"I don't know about that," Gojo replied, his voice unusually serious. "Maybe Sukuna's death took more than we thought."
"Do you think he'll ever remember?" she asked.
Gojo didn't answer right away, watching Yuji from a distance as the boy stumbled through their world like a stranger. "I don't know. But for now… we just have to help him find himself again."
As Yuji sat under a tree, looking up at the sky with a distant expression, Gojo sighed. "I just hope he still wants to be that person when he does."
Was it better that he didn't remember all that death..?