Chapter Text
Was he too late ?
Was he too late ?
Was he too late ?
Suguru Geto opened his eyes. He did not know how long he had been fighting this clone of his in front of the pillar made of curses,- Kenjaku was his name, wasn’t it ?- but he was sure he was running out of time. He did not even know how he had won or what that meant.
He had been strangling himself, but the pressure on his neck soon eased. Facing him was Satoru Gojo, the glow of his eyes dampened by the Prison Realm holding him captive. His white hair fell around his face, which was stained with blood.
“Well ?” He said. “Are you really going to let him manipulate you ?”
“It’s me, Satoru”, Suguru answered as he massaged his neck.
He retrieved the Prison Realm, freeing Satoru in the process, then waited. Surely Satoru would kill him again now ? But his former friend simply stared at him, eyes wide. Eventually, there was movement in the crowded metro station. The cursed spirit Mahito appeared behind Suguru, grinning as he held a dismebered arm.
“Geto ! You’re he-”
Suguru did not let him finish. He released his strongest curse, a shapeless abomination Kenjaku had made him swallow that tasted worse than any other curse. Suguru was sure this was how rotten human meat tasted. Thankfully, he did not have to taste it as he sent it towards the other curse.
“Ow, what gives ?” Mahito complained as the curse took a bite out of his shoulder. Blood spilled across the floor, but he did not look worried about it.
“My plans have changed”, Suguru said. “They don’t involve you anymore.”
Mahito’s mismatched eyes widened as his cursed energy surged. He lunged toward Suguru, his shoulder still destroyed, and formed his hand into a blade which he aimed at Suguru’s neck. Suguru batted his hand aside at the last second, coating his palm in cursed energy so he would not touch Mahito. With the other hand, which held the Prison Realm, he punched the cursed spirit in the face, giving him a satisfying nosebleed. Meanwhile, Satoru seemed to have recovered from the Prison Realm’s assault. He stood up slowly, staring at Suguru the entire time, and gathered his cursed energy into a small blue ball. He threw it at Mahito, who dodged it and laughed at is hit one of the unconscious humans, pulling them towards Satoru. Suguru’s curse took another bite out of Mahito, who finally decided to do something about his missing shoulder. He tried to heal it using cursed energy, but for some reason it did not happen. Suguru smiled for himself as he realised why : he was somehow able to damage Mahito’s soul ! Another bite of the curse, and only a mangled body was left out of Mahito, the head, shoulder and part of the belly eaten by the curse. Suguru used his cursed technique on him, then picked up the ball formed out of Mahito’s body and stared at it.
“Not fun, is it ?” Satoru asked him as he replaced his bandage around his eyes.
“What isn’t fun ?” Suguru replied, raising an eyebrow. The ball glowed bright blue.
“Eating those. That’s half the reason for your turn, isn’t it ?”
“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”
Suguru could tell Satoru had just rolled his eyes, even without seeing them.
“Just as narrow-minded as ever. So, what happens now ? Do I kill you ?”
“You neither have the time nor the will to do it”, Suguru said. “I have daughters to save.”
With that, he moved to leave, but he was held up. Satoru suddenly fell forward, all the anger gone from his face. Suguru caught him with his arms before he could faceplant on the ground. His Limitless was still activated, but it was weak. When Suguru lifted his blindfold, his eyes were closed. He could not touch him, but he could tell from the redness of his face that he was burning up with fever.
Suguru summoned his manta ray curse and jumped on top of it, carrying Satoru as best he could with the orb in one hand and the Prison Realm in the other. As he flew through the train station, he ate the orb, forcing it down his already pained throat. Filthy monkeys and their hatred of each other. At least that was something Suguru somewhat understood, but he was still having to pay the price for their actions. His new world could not come soon enough. As he processed what few memories of Mahito he had, he piloted the curse towards Nanako’s cursed energy, since hers was easier to detect from afar than Mimiko’s. It seemed his time as Kenjaku had fine-tuned his sense for cursed energy, as well as his ability to create barriers.
After a few minutes, Suguru found Nanako and Mimiko standing over an unconscious boy with pink hair. The garish red hood on his sorcerer uniform could only have been commissioned by Satoru -who else would pair pink with red ?-, and his clothes were wet and stained with blood. He had a gash near his forehead. The girls’s reaction was immediate and visceral upon seeing Suguru. He had never seen this mix of rage, disgust and hatred on Nanako’s face, nor this mix of grief, fear and horror on Mimiko’s face. He jumped off the curse, leaving Satoru on it.
“Kenjaku !” Nanako exclaimed, pulling out her phone. “And…” She frowned. “Who is this ?”
“This is Satoru Gojo”, Suguru introduced him. “But don’t worry about him yet. I’m back, girls. I fought Kenjaku and pulled through.”
Mimiko’s face brightened, making Suguru smile. Nanako put a hand on her arm, clearly defensive.
“Do you really think we would believe such an obvious trick ?” She asked, still holding her phone threateningly.
“There is no trick, Nanako”, Suguru said as soothingly as he could. “What can I do to make you believe me ?”
“Die”, Nanako spat. “Geto-sama is dead. If you’re really him, then die.”
“I’m sorry I left you, girls. You know no sorcerer dies without regrets, and I was no exception.”
He did not mention the fact that his regrets had more to do with Satoru and ridding the world of monkeys. To be fair, leaving the girls on their own had been among his regrets when he died. Mimiko took a step towards him, clutching her doll against her chest.
“Is it really you ?” She asked, looking apprehensively at Suguru.
“It is”, Suguru confirmed.
She hesitated a bit further, then threw herself at Suguru, wrapping her arms around him. He returned the hug, feeling her warmth. Sobs shook her body.
“Nanako ?” Suguru asked, looking up at the twin.
Her knuckles went white around her phone. A tear ran down her cheek.
“I don’t want to believe it and be wrong”, Nanako said. “If it’s him again, I…” She bit her lip. “I’ll do anything to kill him.”
Suguru noticed a small object in her other hand. It radiated cursed energy, a similar but different energy to that of the unconscious boy on the floor. As if the thought of him had summoned him, the pink-haired boy stirred.
“Give me my finger”, he said in a surprisingly deep voice as he stood up.
Black markings appeared on his face and he slicked back his hair. He had seemed young unconscious, but now he looked almost like an adult to Suguru. Nanako looked horrified, and hid the hand with the object behind her back, brandishing her phone in front of her.
“We’ll give it to you on one condition”, she said.
The boy’s cursed energy surged suddenly, prompting Suguru to summon a curse and put it in between him and Nanako. Suguru saw nothing happen, but purple blood suddenly covered the girl’s face as the curse had been cut in half.
“Is this Sukuna ?” Suguru asked, frowning as he put two and two together.
“Who made you think you had a choice ?” The boy, Sukuna then, said at the same time.
Mimiko let go of Suguru, looking up at him with worry. Suguru took a few steps forward to get in between Sukuna and Nanako.
“Kenjaku”, Sukuna said. “To what do I owe the displeasure ?”
“There seems to be a mistake”, Suguru replied. “Kenjaku is dead.”
“Interesting.” Then, in a different voice : “Gojo-sensei ?”
The boy blinked multiple times, looking disoriented, then balled his hands into fists. The markings on his face faded away.
“Who are you all ?” He asked, again in that higher-pitched voice. “Is that one of Sukuna’s fingers ?”
“You must be Sukuna’s vessel”, Suguru said. “You can really contain him ?”
“Who are you ?” The boy repeated. “And what happened to Gojo-sensei ?”
“My name is Suguru Geto. These are my adopted daughters, Mimiko and Nanako. What happened to your teacher is a long story, one I doubt you would believe.”
“Hit me anyways”, the boy said. “Or I’ll have to fight you.”
“Fight him and I’ll give you Sukuna’s finger”, Nanako said, still brandishing her phone.
“Isn’t he your dad ?”
“I don’t know who he is anymore.”
“Nanako, what will it take for you to believe me ?” Suguru asked. “Don’t you think Kenjaku would have done something to hurt you or Mimiko by now ?”
“I don’t know Kenjaku”, Nanako replied, voice hard as steel. “You could do anything for all I know.”
“Nana, I really think it’s him”, Mimiko said as she put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Why don’t we give him a chance, at least for now ?
The pink-haired boy suddenly threw a fist at Suguru. He dodged in time, but was caught off guard by the other fist. Pain exploded in his jaw. He released a snake curse that wrapped itself around the boy, immobilising him.
“That scar”, the boy said, narrowing his eyes at Suguru’s forehead. “I’ve seen you before, but where ?”
Suguru did not have any memory of him as Kenjaku, so he did not know where he had seen him. He however did not have access to Kenjaku’s memories from before he possessed Suguru. So maybe the boy had known him as a child.
“Let go of him !” Nanako yelled.
“Will you stop attacking if I release you ?” Suguru asked the boy.
“Maybe.”
That was enough for Suguru. He called back his curse and turned towards Nanako.
“I’ll do anything you ask of me”, he said. “Just please trust me.”
Nanako gave the finger to the boy, who nodded in thanks and swallowed it. From his grimace, Suguru could tell it tasted like a curse.
“Fine”, Nanako said. “For now, I’ll assume you’re Geto-sama. But I’ll be watching you. If you do anything out of place, I’ll find a way to kill you.”
“Thank you”, Suguru said gratefully. “Now we need to get out of here.”
“What about him ?” She asked, pointing to the still unconscious Satoru.
“Yeah, what about him ?” The boy agreed.
“A special grade curse will arrive soon, carrying half of Sukuna’s fingers”, Suguru replied. “I would suggest you find a way to wake him up before that happens. Anyway, see you !”
He carefully got Satoru off the manta ray curse, then climbed on and helped the girls climb on as well. Then he ordered the curse to get away fom the Shibuya train station.