Chapter Text
“You did what?!”
Satoru leaned back in his seat, stretching an arm around the back of the booth. It made Utahime’s ribbon ghost along his inner arm.
“I consumed Sukuna’s finger.”
“You idiot!” Utahime punched him in the side. Satoru grunted, putting his Infinity back up. He mourned the loss of feeling her ribbon against his skin.
“What? It’s a good idea. If I can defeat Sukuna, imagine how many less curses will spawn, right? He is a source of terrible cursed energy. I’m not sure we’ll be able to find all of the fingers, but even destroying the source of a few of them would be a good idea.”
“Gojo, you’re giving the strongest curse user ever known in our history access to your pool of cursed energy. It’s risky.” Nanami was frowning, fiddling with his watch. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Satoru shrugged. “It’ll be fine.”
Shoko sighed. “The higher-ups will love this. Have they condemned you to be executed yet, or—“
“No. They would be foolish to try.”
Utahime snorted, a couple beers taking away her inhibitions and making her more unladylike—Satoru’s favorite version of her. “I don’t think you deserve to call anyone foolish anymore, after this move.”
Satoru leaned in to her. She smelled like her beer, but closer to her hair he could catch a whiff of the scent of her shampoo. Something sweet.
“Utahimeeee,” he whined dramatically. “Don’t be mean. I am doing this for the greater good!”
She rolled her eyes, storm visible in them even through the haze of alcohol, taking another sip of her drink. “Anyone wanna place bets on how long before Sukuna kicks Gojo’s a—“
“Hey! Rude!”
“All jokes aside, Gojo, your stock is going down with this choice,” Mei Mei said, sliding her sharp nail along the edge of a wine glass.
“Well, should I have turned over Sukuna’s finger to the higher-ups?” Satoru demanded.
“Don’t you have a second one, hidden somewhere?” Nanami muttered. “Are you really . . .”
“Going to consume the second one? Yeah.”
“I need to be drunker for this,” Utahime said. She got up, making her way towards the bar. Satoru watched her walk away, too weak to do anything else. At least his blindfold made it difficult for people to tell where he was looking.
“Hey, stop checking Utahime out.” Shoko tried to punch him in the arm but Infinity blocked it.
Satoru scowled. “I was not.”
“Were too,” she smirked. “It’s so sad.”
“You’re sad.” He shut up as Utahime came back, two beers in hand. “Who’s that for?” he asked curiously.
She gave him a side-eye before taking a deep draught. “Me,” she declared. “Don’t say anything or I’ll make you drink it.”
He shuddered dramatically. “Anything but that.”
“Do you think they know how obvious they are?” Mei Mei murmured.
Satoru glared in her direction, losing the effect under his blindfold.
“Who, Mei Mei?” Utahime asked, oblivious to the end.
“Nothing, Uta. How’s that boyfriend working out?”
“Boyfriend?” Satoru wasn’t able to modulate his voice the way he planned to. He determinedly did not look at the others, keeping his gaze on Utahime. “I didn’t hear about this.”
Utahime’s ears were turning pink under everyone’s attention. “Ah, well. It’s not anything. I don’t think it’ll work out.”
“At least get a few good meals for free out of it, darling,” Mei Mei said.
“Who is he?” Satoru insisted. “I wanna know.”
Utahime turned to him. Satoru had made a mistake, demanding her focus. His heart stuttered at the fire in her eyes. “None of your business, Gojo! I just said it wasn’t going to work out, so drop it, idiot!”
“Sheesh, touchy.” Satoru couldn’t stop himself. “No wonder it isn’t working out, if you get all hysterical like this with him.”
“You two, stop ruining the night,” Shoko jumped in, saving Satoru from embarrassing himself further. “It’s been a long week. I’m sure with the new vessel of Sukuna among us, they’ll just get longer, so let’s just relax and enjoy ourselves.”
Nanami leaned forward. “Utahime, there’s a gap in the karaoke queue. You should go up there.”
Utahime blinked up at the stage, where a poor soul was butchering a song. “Oh. I guess I could, Nanami.” She ruffled his hair as she stood.
Satoru frowned. When had Nanami and Utahime started getting friendly?
“Go on, Uta, knock everyone’s socks off,” Mei Mei said. Her eyes were on Satoru, sly.
Utahime’s singing was Satoru’s weakness. He’d first heard her sing on accident. He’d been sneaking with Geto into the girl’s dorms, planning on covering their rooms in confetti.
She had been singing in the shower, voice light and heavenly. Geto had been forced to drag him out by his collar, as she’d almost caught them standing there when she had finished showering.
Satoru almost hadn’t forgiven Geto for taking the sight of Utahime in a towel away from him as a teenager.
Utahime was flushed from the alcohol she’d consumed, yet still sang perfectly. Satoru let it wash over him. The dark corner he could feel Sukuna lurking faded to the back.
“Honestly, Gojo, what are you waiting for?” Shoko sighed. “You two aren’t getting any younger, you know.”
“Some best friend you are,” he muttered. “Trying to hook up your friend to the vessel of Sukuna.”
“True.” She turned her gaze to Utahime. The entire place had gone quiet, listening to Utahime sing. “I suppose you’ve damned yourself to a shorter life, however it turns out. Better to keep Utahime away from that mess.”
Her words echoed a thought he’d had, before he’d swallowed the finger. Satoru forced himself to smile, propping his chin up on his fist as Utahime finished her song.
“I suppose so.”