"I would've preferred we did this the easy way, Itadori Yuji." Those words were followed by footsteps that echoed in the empty room. Yuji lay tired, his head heavy and drooping. His body hung suspended from chains that bit into his wrists, blood trickling down his arms to stain his torn cloth. But the physical pain was nothing to him. He was resilient enough to shrug it off as the owner of the voice continued to speak.
"Some subconscious part of the maternal instinct Kaori Itadori possesses urged it, so I did it. I put up a farce, I tried to befriend you, play as your mother, friend, and teacher; however, you're just too stubborn. Too close-minded. I had hoped that with the influence of the Gojos far from us, you would've been more pliable. Tell me, why do you struggle, Itadori Yuji, why do you reject and deny this?"
Yuji forced his heavy head to look up into the face of his mother. Gone was the soft smile and bright eyes that Kenjaku had used earlier. He had discarded that air of manipulation, that false facade. Now there was no K, no Kaori, more than ever, Itadori Yuji could see it. All that was there was Kenjaku.
The monster wearing his mother's skin stretched a hand to caress his face, then as quick as a viper, Kenjaku held his jaw hard and squeezed. Squeezed till Itadori felt burning pain as vice-like hands gripped his jaw tight. Just as it had happened over a dozen times now, Kenjaku's hands twitched, the pressure eased, before the hand suddenly jerked back. Kenjaku stared at the hand with annoyance. The first few times it had happened Kenjaku had been more curious, even amused, now all that was gone.
"I've never had a body that rebelled as much as this." Kenjaku mused to himself. "I've swapped bodies countless times, yet this is a first. She reacts and revolts at the sheer thought of hurting you. She is not even present; her brain and mind are gone, but considering how closely intertwined the body and soul are, it is understandable that she has some presence here." Kenjaku took a step back, Intellectual musing trailing off and suddenly he regained control of the hand. He allowed the appendage to fall, but his eyes followed it.
"I was the one who gave birth to you. I was the one who slept with Jin. I was the one who carried you for nine months. I was the one who spent over an hour in the labor room pushing you out. You are my child as much as hers, so why does she fight me!" Kenjaku punctuated his statement with a blow to the wall that formed a little crater.
Itadori looked on with heavy eyes and a heavier breath. He watched his mother's body still. A mother he never got to know, a mother he never got to experience or play with as a child. A mother who was stolen from him. Itadori did not know hate, yet there was something bubbling at the pit of his stomach that drew close to that, that was close to what he imagined it to be.
Kenjaku straightened up. Gone was the anger and aggression. In its place was a false mask with a fake smile. Kenjaku straightened his clothes, then hair, before refocusing on Itadori once more. "I'm going to ask one last time. Enter a binding vow with Sukuna, child."
Itadori remained silent; however, his occupant wasn't content to. He felt his body change, muscle, skin, and bone reshape as a mouth formed on his cheek. "Don't be stupid, Kenjaku. The boy is too stubborn. You can't break him with such half-hearted measures. You're wasting time. How long do you think it would take before either Gojo catches you?"
Kenjaku let out a sigh before shrugging. "You're right." Then he raised his voice a bit higher and with a clap called out. "Mahito! Time for Plan B!"
Plan B?
The heavy metal door groaned open with a rusty screech, and two figures stumbled through the threshold, their forms hidden partially in the dark room. Yet it was clear enough that Yuji knew they were a boy and a girl, both wearing the familiar black uniforms of Sugisawa Third Municipal High School. Their clothes were torn and stained, their movements unsteady as they were roughly shoved forward by Mahito.
Itadori's breath caught in his throat. His eyes widened to pinpricks as a wave of nausea crashed over him, recognition hitting like a physical blow to his chest. The familiar sight of those uniforms, the way one of the boys favored his left leg, the girl's distinctive hair clips, everything about them screamed of a life he'd been forced to leave behind.
In the depths of his mind, Sukuna's realization came first, swift and merciless. The King of Curses understood Kenjaku's twisted game before Yuji could even process what he was seeing. Sukuna's laughter erupted like thunder, reverberating through both the chamber and Itadori's skull.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, how deliciously cruel!"
"W-what is this?" Yuji's voice cracked like breaking glass, the words barely escaping his constricted throat. His whole body began to tremble as the three figures came to a halt before him.
From behind the students, Mahito waved at him, his patchwork face twisted into a delighted grin. The curse's heterochromatic eyes gleamed with sadistic pleasure as he observed Itadori's mounting horror.
Kenjaku moved with deliberate slowness, crouching down until he was at eye level with the bound teenager. When he spoke, his voice carried that same mock gentleness of a mother explaining things to a child.
"This, my dear vessel, is motivation in its purest form."
The sharp click of a light switch cut through the oppressive darkness. Harsh fluorescent bulbs flickered to life, casting everything in stark, unforgiving illumination. The shadows that had mercifully hidden the worst details fled, leaving nowhere for horror to hide.
Kenjaku's borrowed hand shot out, fingers digging into Yuji's jaw with bruising force. He wrenched the boy's head around, ensuring he couldn't look away from the two figures now fully visible in the cruel light.
"Look at them, Itadori Yuji. Really look."
Yuji's gaze met the terrified eyes of Setsuko and Takeshi, his former classmates, his friends from what felt like another lifetime. Their eyes were bloodshot and swollen from hours of crying, pupils dilated with fear and confusion. But it was their faces that made Yuji's world tilt on its axis.
Where their mouths should have been, there was only smooth, unnatural skin. No lips, no opening, just smooth flesh sealed. Dark bruises littered their arms and faces like they had been beaten up, and their entire bodies shook with barely contained terror.
"Please…" The word tore from Itadori's throat like a prayer, like a plea to any god who might still be listening. "Please don't—"
Kenjaku's grip tightened, fingernails biting into skin as he forced Yuji to maintain eye contact with his tortured friends. "You seem distracted. Allow me to help you focus."
He jerked Yuji's head back to face him. "Begin, Mahito. Don't forget to restore their ability to speak, temporarily, of course. I believe Itadori would very much like to hear what his dear classmates have to say about their current situation. I'm certain they have quite a lot they'd like to share with their old friend."
Mahito clapped his hands together with childlike glee. "Understood, boss! This is going to be so much fun!"
The curse's technique activated with a sickening squelch of reforming flesh. As soon as Setsuko's mouth reformed, her voice exploded into the chamber, a raw, primal scream that seemed to contain every nightmare she'd experienced, every moment of terror and confusion since she'd been taken.
The sound hit Yuji like a physical force, and somewhere in the depths of his soul, something fundamental began to break.
x
Yuji screamed until his voice was hoarse, until the sound broke into dry sobs that echoed around the blood-slick walls of the chamber. He begged, threatened, and pleaded, but nothing moved the ancient sorcerer. Nor Mahito, who whistled and giggled as he twisted his former classmates' bodies like clay.
His friends' pain and cries became a weight that crushed his spirit piece by piece. Then there was their confusion; they didn't understand why this was happening, couldn't comprehend the world of curses and sorcery that had stolen their friend and now threatened their lives.
The worst part was Sukuna's laughter. It was a cruel sound that nearly drowned out the cries of pain from his previous classmates. He had never seen them like this. Not Setsuko, who used to kick the back of his chair in history class. Not Takeshi, who always shared his fries. Members of his tiny, peaceful bubble that had once felt like the whole world.
Now, they hung suspended by tendrils of their own entrails, their skin twisted and reshaped till they could barely be called human. However, despite all that Mahito had done to them, despite how much he had changed them, he had left their faces. Humanoid faces in monstrous and disfigured bodies. They looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, but they had lost the strength left to speak or even talk. Only their eyes spoke of their pain.
Their pain was an ocean, and Yuji was drowning in it.
Kenjaku stood in front of them, hands clasped behind his back like a teacher in front of a display. His smile was patient, almost kind, as if he was showing Yuji a piece of art he had personally helped to craft.
"You've done so well, Yuji," Kenjaku said softly, like a parent praising a child who tried very, very hard. "But you're still human. You still need… reminders."
Yuji didn't speak. Couldn't. His brain was a mess. He could not understand. He could not fathom or comprehend why all this was happening. Why they had to go through this. Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why.
"However, I am not needlessly cruel, my dear child." Kenjaku continued, crouching till he was in front of Yuji once more as he continued to speak. "All it would take is a snap of my fingers, and Mahito would be able to reverse the changes. I'll let them live. Every scar healed. Their lives returned. They won't even remember the past few minutes."
Yuji looked up at him through the haze of tears and madness.
"You're lying."
Kenjaku smiled, tilting his head slightly.
"Maybe. But will you take that chance?"
He turned, gesturing at Sasaki, whose lips trembled as she tried to whisper something. Yuji could barely hear it over the buzzing in his ears.
"…Yuji… please…"
He immediately went limp in his bonds, hands shaking.
He would be giving up everything he stood for. Breaking his promise to Satoru sensei. To Ijichi senpai. However, Setsuko and Takeshi would live. They would live without memories of how truly horrible this world was. Without any experience or memories of the past few minutes.
His resolve shattered like glass.
"I'll do it," he rasped.
Kenjaku smiled. "Then you're due for a meeting then. Bring the fingers, Mahito."
Sukuna's laughter continued in the background, a haunting prelude.
x
She could always tell when she was dreaming, or having a nightmare, in this case. She was seven years old again, small and helpless, trapped in that terrible basement where the cursed spirit had kept her. Days had blurred together in that all too real nightmare, where the monster had fed on her fear and despair.
The thing had been enormous, and they had simply known it as Mother. It took care of them just as much as it used them, both to lure in unsuspecting victims and to feed on any of them who proved unruly. It wasn't until she was rescued that she realized she had been in that darkness for over a year. However, like all nightmares, it came to an end.
The door to her prison had exploded inward, and through the smoke and debris stepped three figures with a lackadaisical air to them. The man in the center was tall and had his long black hair tied back, his dark eyes surveyed the area while his hands were hidden inside his monk robes. To his left stood a woman with light hair and kind eyes, Manami, though Hana wouldn't learn her name until later. And to his right was Larue, massive and imposing but with a surprisingly soft voice when he spoke to her.
"It's alright, little one," the dark-haired man had said, his voice like warm honey as he knelt beside her trembling form. "You're safe now. My name is Suguru Geto, and I'm going to take you somewhere monsters can never hurt you again."
The cursed spirit had shrieked and lashed out from above, but Geto did not even bother to move. Instead, a black portal had opened above the curse's head and a giant fanged maw shot out, clamping over the curse and swallowing it in a single breath, and that was the end. The cursed spirit that had terrorized her for so long was dead. They had gathered her into their arms with infinite gentleness.
"You have a strong spirit," he had told her as Manami wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. "Surviving in such a place for so long… you're braver than most adults I know."
The rest of the orphans around immediately burst into tears at the death of the curse they called Mother. However, the three figures did not as much as spare them a glance. No, they only had eyes for her.
Then the man spoke once more. "My name is Geto, Suguru Geto. With me here are Manami Suda and Larue." He continued, gesturing to the man and woman before focusing back on her. "What is your name?"
She stared up at them and gave a shaky smile. "My name is—"
Hana Kurusu bolted upright from her futon to the sound of a scream, her body jerking as if struck by lightning. The morning sunlight streaming through her window felt like mockery against the terror flooding her veins.
"HE'S AWAKE! HE'S AWAKE! THE FALLEN ONE HAS INCARNATED!"
Angel's voice wasn't just speaking in her mind; Hana could feel where skin, muscle, and bones had twisted to form a mouth along her neck. A mouth that let out such screaming, a sound like breaking glass and dying stars that forced Hana to clutch her head and bite back a cry of pain. The ancient sorcerer's panic was so raw, so primal, that it sent waves of nausea through Hana's body.
"Wha- what do you mean, incarnated?" Hana gasped, stumbling out of bed as the world tilted around her. Her legs felt like water, barely supporting her weight as she pressed her palms against her temples. "And can you stop with the screaming, please, I'm awake already."
"It means he is back. It's hidden, but we're intricately linked. Ryomen Sukuna is not simply sharing the body anymore; his vessel has been completely suppressed. Sukuna has complete dominion!" Angel's voice cracked with something Hana had never heard from the ancient being before: genuine terror, yet mixed with that was a righteous anger that burned.
"With this, a new era shall begin. Do you understand that, Hana Kurusu? We must prepare to strike him down before he regains his full power. Do not forget our deal."
Hana released a sigh of relief as she staggered her way to the bathroom connected to her room before sprinkling water on her face. When she looked into the mirror she was greeted by dark bags under green eyes, blonde hair matted with water, and a mouth along her neck.
"I've not forgotten, Angel. When the time comes, I know what to do. Still, if Sukuna is back, don't you think Manami should know?"
Angel let out a grumble in reply, something about uppity old hags. Hana let out a chuckle before drying her face, popping a tablet of painkillers, and washing down the medicine with water from the tap. That should dull the headache at least. Then she turned. Now that she didn't have an ancient sorcerer literally screaming in her ears, she could feel something.
It was vague owing to the distance, but there was a certain… flavor to the cursed energy. A flavor that spoke of pure, utter malevolence. Hana let out a shudder as she immediately went about looking for a shirt. Hopefully, Manami was already awake.
Their group's current headquarters was only a twenty-minute train ride away. They had relocated several times since Geto's death, and they had gone from plotting world change to simply taking on jobs while also looking for sorcerers like her. People that had been wronged and exploited by either curses or humans.
The building looked unremarkable from the outside, just another office complex in Paris's sprawling urban landscape. But Hana could see the barrier techniques woven around it, the careful wards that kept unwanted attention away. As she approached the entrance, the security system recognized her cursed energy signature and allowed her passage.
She found Manami Suda in her office, bent over a collection of reports and surveillance photos with a cup of tea on the table. The woman looked up as Hana entered, her expression immediately shifting to concern.
"Hana? You look terrible. What's wrong?"
Manami Suda had been one of Geto's most trusted lieutenants, a woman whose quiet competence and unwavering loyalty had made her the natural choice to lead their group after his passing.
"Sukuna," Hana started, a frown on her face. "Angel is certain he's incarnated with complete control of his vessel's body."
Manami eased into her seat, then reached for her tea before taking a sip, frowning slightly. "I cannot sense him, I expect his return should've had more of an influence?"
"Angel says it's being masked. The only reason i can is because of their connections with each other."
Minami hummed in reply, "i'll take your word for it. Still, how is this our problem? The Jujutsu society would take care of it."
"Angel is… worried. Have you forgotten our agreement? I promised her that if Sukuna ever returned I'll help her to kill him."
Manami frowned as she stared back at her. "Now that's a problem. While I have faith in Angel's capabilities, I do not believe sending you to face a sorcerer as powerful as Sukuna alone is the best option. Can this wait? Yuta and Miguel are still unreachable; they're somewhere in Africa on that extended mission. While the others are all deployed on various operations across Europe." She paused, considering their limited options. "I could try to recall Nanako or Larue, but that would take a week at minimum."
"We cannot wait days!" Angel immediately formed a mouth on her cheek to voice her opinion. "This incarnation was not by chance. No doubt Kenjaku has a hand in it, which means they will most likely move faster than we'd like. Tracking them with my faint connection would be hard enough, hidden under the barrier as they are."
"So you can't wait," Manami replied, sounding annoyed. Then she went quiet for another moment, clearly weighing their options. Finally, she looked up at Hana with determination in her eyes.
"Then we'll have to work with what we have. I still can't send you alone, but…" She reached for her phone, scrolling through her contacts. "Junpei. He's still in the city, and he knows Tokyo better than any of us here, and unlike the rest of us, neither of you had anything to do with the Parade, which means they won't be on the lookout for you."
Hana felt a flutter of nervousness. Junpei Yoshino was a few years older than her, a former victim of bullying who had stumbled upon Manami online and made his way to Korea, where the group had been at the moment. Manami had taken a liking to him, and just like that, he had joined them.
"That's alright then, let's get prepared to leave," Angel replied, and this time the fear and worry that had filled the ancient sorcerer previously were gone. In its place was a righteous anger that Hana felt surprised to sense.