Itadori Residence, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

  June 28th, 2018

  I watched Yuji pick up the phone, and give the Hospital a call as he often did to check up on his Grandpa. It rang a couple times before one of the nurses picked up. “Sugisawa Hospital.”

  “This is Itadori. I called earlier.”

  Nurse: "You're calling for Itadori Wasuke?"

  Yuji answered immediately. "Yes."

  "You're a relative?"

  "Yes. I'm sorry to keep calling, but how's my Grandfather doing?"

  The Nurse sounded confused. "Huh? I thought they already told you. Oh, nevermind. Just hold on a minute. I'll go find out for myself."

  Soon, a very, very grumpy Old Fart started using his Emergency Phone. "Leave me alone! Tell my Grandson not to come here! Go to his club! Go to his club!"

  The Nurse by the Phone asked the question. "I, uh... I guess you probably heard that. So what type of club are you in, Itadori?"

  I chuckled to myself. This is a prime opportunity to relieve some boredom. So I gave Yuji a mental nudge.

  “The Occult Research Cl–”

  The Nurse paused. "Oh, that's… Interesting."

  Yuji looked tomato red in the face. "Uh, thanks. We'll talk again soon." Yuji hangs up. “Why did I admit that?” Yuji asked himself, as I was silently snickering in the back of his mind.

  The rest of the day unfolded as it did originally.

  I watched Yuji return to the Occult Club, then casually embarrass the PE coach at shot put.

  I watched Yuji buy flowers for the nurses caring for his grandfather.

  I watched Wasuke leave Yuji his final words—'use your strength to help others'. Poetic, that Sukuna’s reincarnated twin would die shortly before his return.

  I watched Megumi arrive at the Hospital, cautious and probing. Yuji was skeptical at first, but cooperated.

  And finally, I watched Yuji understand the gravity of it all—before we sprinted back to Yuji's High School, cursed spirits in pursuit.

  Then we reached the rooftop…

  Sugisawa Municpal High School, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

  "Only a Curse can beat a Curse! You cannot defeat this!" Megumi warned.

  "Is that your idea of a pep talk? At this rate we're both gonna die! If I quit now, I'll be having this nightmare for weeks! Besides... I know what I have to do." Yuji remembered Wasuke's words about helping others.

  "I'm living with a rotten curse of my own already!" Yuji gets ensnared by the Curse, and Sukuna's Finger flies up before falling back down. Yuji managed to barely catch it with his teeth.

  "You idiot! Throw it down to me or you'll both get eaten!" Megumi ordered, as the Curse is trying to force Yuji down its mouth, and he's sticking it out by standing on its Teeth. Yuji threw the Finger up with his teeth.

  "There's a way I can save everyone. I just need to have my own cursed energy, don't I?"

  Megumi was stunned, before replying. This time desperately. "Don't do it!"

  Yuji caught it again, and swallowed it.

  I felt it. Not just the swallowing itself, but the surge in power from the moment it went into Yuji’s stomach. I attached myself to the fragment of Sukuna as the energy spread throughout Yuji’s body. Yuji’s finger nails turned purple and elongated, and tattoos appeared around his wrist as he tore himself free in a way that completely destroying the Curse's arms in the process.

  It then rushed towards Yuji, but Yuji swiped up at its upper mouth, completely blowing the top part of its head off effortlessly, exorcising it. But it wasn't Yuji in control anymore, with his arm still sizzling.

  Sukuna’s eyes opened, as did another pair. At first, Sukuna just chuckled a little, before then launching into a maniacal, unhinged laugh. “I knew it! The light feels best in the flesh!” Sukuna then tore Yuji’s yellow hoodie, revealing even more tattoos along his abdomen. “Cursed Flesh is so boring! So now, where are the children, the women?” Sukuna then stood on-top of the railing, with his arms stretched out to bask it all in, as he continued his edgy monologue. “What a wonderful era to be reawakened! Women and children are crawling everywhere like maggots! How marvelous! It’ll be a massacre!” Cue maniacal laughter track #10,000.

  Then Yuji’s right hand smacked Sukuna in the face, and grabbed it by the jaw. Sukuna was confused as he stumbled back. “What do you think you’re doing with my body? Give it back!”

  “Wait! How are you doing that?” Sukuna asked, perplexed.

  “Well, it’s my body!” Yuji responded, as if that explained everything before Sukuna was forced back into his domain.

  There was a thin veil between my Inner-World, and Sukuna’s, and so I heard everything. And Sukuna was not happy.

  “This is outrageous! How the hell did I get suppressed by some Brat who can’t even use Jujutsu!?” I stepped into Sukuna's domain. “Next time I meet with Kenjaku, he better have a good—” Sukuna saw the disturbance in the water, and turned to look in my direction. Sukuna was confused, not just at seeing me, but the way I looked. “Who the hell are you supposed to be?”

  “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just a fellow hitch-hiker.” I said non-chalantly with a shrug.

  Sukuna eyed me carefully, not sure what to think. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

  I paused. “Would you?”

  Sukuna’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not like anyone I’ve ever seen or heard before. You must be from across the… Pacific?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. And you must be from… China? China, right?”

  Sukuna looked at me, confused. “What?”

  I looked at him, feigning incomprehension at the confusion. “What, did China not exist back then? Or do you just not know what it is? It’s the country that borders North Korea and Russia, in-case you’re wondering.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Yeah, I know what fucking China is, idiot. I just… How do you arrive at that conclusion?”

  “Uhh, maybe because this place is red and the Chinese flag is red, so I figured that was the most obvious takeaway?” I offered.

  The good thing about being in Special Forces is that it forced me to develop an actual poker face, because the look on Sukuna’s… Was pure gold as he looked at me with a mixture of disdain and disbelief. “You’re screwing with me.”

  I smirked. “Maybe a little.”

  Sukuna just looked at me for a hard, scowling moment—arms crossed, jaw flexing slightly before sighing and rubbing his forehead. "Just my luck. One shit-stain wasn’t enough. Now I’ve got two."

  “Oh c'mon, we only just met!" I gasped in mock offense.

  “Exactly.” Sukuna deadpanned. “I think I know what you are now. You’re nothing but a leech. A Parasite.”

  I paused for a bit before smiling wider. He has me all figured out. “We’re giving nicknames now? I see, let me try! Uhmmm. How does ‘Four-Eyes’ sound?”

  Sukuna twitched. “‘Four-Eyes’?” He repeated as if tasting something absolutely vile.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I mean look at you, you literally have two sets of eyes. So 'Four-Eyes’ it is. Welcome aboard!”

  Sukuna just stares at me for a long, gruelling moment. I can tell he’s really contemplating whether or not he can vaporize my existence through sheer willpower. “…I never asked for company,” he growls, voice carrying that serrated edge like a knife being drawn across bone.

  I grinned wider. “Yeah, well, you also didn’t ask to get sealed in a teenager with impulse control issues and an even worse haircut, but here we are.”

  “Even worse when I’m also being accompanied by a Parasite I can’t rid myself of.”

  I nod with mock solemnity. “That’s fair. But I’m a polite Parasite. I’ll only occasionally invade your personal space and maybe comment on your taste in décor—seriously, all this blood and bone? You ever consider, I don’t know, a window?”

  Sukuna's eye twitches. “You're trying to get under my skin.”

  I lean in just slightly. “No. I'm living in it. Big difference.”

  Sukuna inhales through his nose slowly, then exhales through clenched teeth. “If I weren’t chained to this Brat’s soul, I’d have already ripped yours out and fed it to the curses groveling beneath me.”

  I smirk again, raising an eyebrow. “You say that like I’m not used to being Hated by Narcissistic Warlords with abandonment issues.”

  Sukuna's entire expression freezes. That flicker in his eyes—I hit something. Just for a second. But I keep it cool.

  “Look, I get it. You're the King of Curses, yadda yadda, ego taller than your Domain walls. But right now, we’re stuck together. So either we figure out how to not kill each other... or you’ll find out just how annoying I can be when I get bored.”

  Sukuna steps closer, with a towering presence. Voice drops, low and venomous.

  “You think I won’t find a way to crush you here?”

  I met Sukuna head-on, as I easily towered over him. “Try. Seriously. But if you fail—and you will—I get to rename one of your fingers. I’m thinking... ‘Reddy the Sad.’”

  Sukuna's mouth twitches again. I'm not sure if it's fury or laughter. Maybe both. Definitely both.

  Then Sukuna turns around. “Tch. You’ll break before I do.”

  I flopped onto a convenient chunk of floating rock like it’s a beanbag. “I’ve got popcorn made of your trauma and millennia of boredom to work with. I’ll be just fine, Four-Eyes.”

  Sukuna pauses mid-step. Doesn’t turn. Just mutters under his breath:

  “…I hate you already.”

  “Love you too, boo.”

  “Get the hell out.”

  Welcome to the worst roommate sitcom in the history of cursed energy. I suspect that he called me 'Parasite' instinctively, as he has no reason to keep quiet about it otherwise and he would’ve confronted me from the jump if he was fully aware of what I did. I returned to my own Inner-World. Not because he told me to leave, but because I felt something shift. And I was going to check it out.

  Meanwhile:

  "Stay right where you are! You're no longer Human!" Megumi ordered.

  "Huh?"

  Megumi then kneeled, preparing to use another technique. "Under Jujutsu regulation, Itadori Yuji, by law I will now exorcise you as a Curse!'

  Yuji steps back. "No, really, I'm fine! Besides, you and I are both pretty beat up." Yuji says as Sukuna's Tattoos start fading until his Skin returns to normal. "Shouldn't we see a Doctor?"

  Megumi now looked torn between what he knows he's legally supposed to do, and what feels right not to do.

  "What's the Situation?" Gojo said as he appeared out of thin air.

  "Huh? Gojo-sensei? What are you doing here?"

  Gojo waved "Hey. I wasn't planning on showing up, but you got kind of roughed up, kid." Gojo pulled out his phone to take a picture. "I'll show the Second-Years. Say Cheese." Gojo then starts taking shit tons of pictures, and guffawing. "I got an earful from the Higher-Ups 'cause the Special-Grade Cursed Object's still Missing. Thought I'd do a little sightseeing and stop by. So, did you find it yet?"

  Megumi lowered his head a bit.

  "Uh..." Yuji muttered, which got Gojo's attention. "Hmm"

  Yuji raised a hand. "Sorry, but I ate it." Yuji gestured to himself. It was dead quiet for a couple moments, as Gojo processed that bit of information.

  "Really?" Gojo deadpanned.

  "He did." "I did." Megumi and Yuji said in unison.

  Gojo tilts sideways, thinking there's something wrong with his ears. "Hmm?" He then approached Yuji, and got right up in his personal space, lowered his head, and put his hand on his chin to think. "Hmm." Gojo then Chuckled. "Damn, it really did combine with you. And…” Gojo paused as if he saw something else. “Are you sure all you ate was the Finger?”

  Yuji stammered, confused. “Uhh yeah, why?”

  Gojo hummed. “Anything weird about your body?"

  Yuji shakes his head. "Nah, seems okay."

  Gojo tilts his head. "Can you swap out with Sukuna at will?"

  "Sukuna?"

  "Yeah, the Curse you ate."

  "Oh? Yeah, I think I can do that."

  Gojo then takes a step back, and does a Horse Stance, and starts Stretching a little. "Okay, give us Ten Seconds and change right back into yourself."

  "Yeah, but..."

  Gojo grins a little. "Yeah, don't worry. I'm way too Strong for Sukuna."

  Gojo turns his head to Megumi's direction. "Megumi, hold on to this for me." Gojo tossed his bag to Megumi. "What is it?"

  Without a beat. "Kikufuku from Kikusuian." Gojo says, cracking his knuckles. "It's Sendai's Specialty and it's Super Good. I recommend the Zunda and Cream Flavor." Megumi was left flabbergasted.

  And, almost as if Gojo was reading Megumi's Mind. "Oh, it's no Souvenir. I'll be eating this on the bullet train ride home." Yuji swapped with Sukuna, who immediately leaped into the air. "Look Out!"

  Gojo didn’t even look up until the last second.

  “Kikufuku’s just the best,” he said lazily.

  Sukuna slammed down onto the rooftop in a spray of ash, already mid-attack—only to find himself kneeling in front of Megumi instead. Sukuna's jaw clenched.

  “I think it’s the whipped cream that really makes it different.”

  That did it.

  Sukuna lunged, claws out. Gojo caught his wrist effortlessly and tossed him aside. Sukuna recovered instantly, rushed him again—missed. Again. And again. They passed back-to-back in a blur.

  “Since my student’s watching,” Gojo said, almost bored, “I’ll show off a little.”

  Sukuna swung. Dodged. Countered. This time Gojo actually hit him.

  Sukuna flew back, skidding into the guardrails. He sneered.

  “For crying out loud—you Jujutsu Sorcerers are a real pain in the ass in any era!”

  Sukuna charged.

  The impact tore through the skybridge, blew out windows and split the structure clean through. Dust and debris filled the air.

  “Huh,” Sukuna muttered. “Time really doesn’t mean much to me—”

  Sukuna’s eyes widened.

  Gojo stood untouched. Megumi too. Gojo was grinning.

  “Seven. Eight. Nine,” Gojo said lightly. “That should do it.”

  Yuji then swapped back, much to Sukuna’s irritation.

  The switch was completed. "So, how did it go?" Yuj asked.

  Gojo Chuckles. "How about that? So you really can control that guy."

  “You’re going to pay for this one day! You and the Parasite both.” Sukuna hissed.

  Itadori started patting his head. "That guy's kind of Annoying though, to tell the Truth."

  "What the Hell did you just say, Brat!?" Sukuna yelled, and I snickered.

  "And he keeps ranting. Even called you a 'Parasite'." Yuji concluded.

  Gojo started approaching Yuji. "It's a miracle that's all Sukuna's doing to you."

  “I wasn’t talking about him.” Sukuna growled.

  Before Yuji could process it, Gojo tapped his forehead, leaving Yuji unconscious as Gojo caught him before he fell to the ground.

  “What’d you do?”

  “I just put him to sleep.” Gojo reassured.

  “If Yuji isn’t possessed by Sukuna when he wakes up, then he might have potential as a vessel. Now, I have a question for you. What do you think we should do with him?”

  “Well, even if he is a vessel, Jujutsu regulations demand Itadori be executed. However… I don’t want Itadori to die.”

  “Personal?”

  “I suppose. So, can you save Itadori?”

  Gojo laughed like the question itself was ridiculous. “A request from a precious student? Leave it to me!” Gojo said with a thumbs up, before hoisting an unconscious Yuji over his shoulder.

  Fushiguro blinked. “You’re taking him with you?”

  “Oh, absolutely,” Gojo grinned. “We’re gonna train him, teach him how to fight, eat weird food, piss off the elders. The usual.”

  “You’re insane.”

  Gojo just widened his smirk in response.

  “I’m gonna let the Higher-Ups know I’ll handle this personally. If they don’t like it, they can try prying Sukuna out of Yuji themselves. See how far that gets them. But before we do…”

  Gojo turned to look right at Yuji’s dangling head. But not to talk to Yuji.

  “By the way,” he said, eyes narrowing behind those ridiculous blindfolds, “you’ve been awfully quiet up there, stowaway.”