Chapter Text
When Gojo Satoru‘s best friend left him, he was given a box containing the finger of the King of Curses.
Not exactly a good gift to give to a grieving person, but lately all that Satoru is given these days are missions so at least the box was something different.
Yuki Tsukumo was the one who gave the box. She explained it was the Prison Realm. The final remains of the Buddhist Monk Genshin. Its barrier is so powerful that it can keep any being sealed inside.
Including apparently the King of Curses.
“The best course of action would be to gather all of Sukuna’s fingers and seal it within this box.” Yuki proposed to the council. “The prison realm is impossible to escape from the inside and it would prevent curses from consuming a finger to become more powerful.”
They were all in the Elders’ meeting room. A room filled with seniors aged 30 and up. Yuki. Yaga. The council.
There was only one young adult, Gojo Satoru, newly 20, the strongest sorcerer of their generation.
“The only way for the imprisoned to escape is from the outside or from the back gate. Once all twenty fingers are gathered, it would be a breeze to destroy Ryoumen Sukuna.” The blonde woman tosses the box in her hand like it was a toy. “The box immobilizes the prisoner from using cursed energy.”
“And what do you propose to make sure nothing from the outside will try to free Sukuna?” One of the elders questioned.
A pink fingernail pointed at Satoru. “The Six Eyes might be the only one who can defeat Sukuna in case anything happens. He’s strong enough to fend off anyone while hunting for the other fingers.”
And so it was decided. The back gate will still be kept with Tengen. The only two weapons that can forcefully open the prison realm(the Inverted Spear of Heaven and the Black Rope) will be kept in a hidden guarded location till Gojo has gathered all the fingers.
The front gate of the prison realm will be with Satoru at all times, so now he had to wear a coat big enough to keep the box in his inner pocket.
Yuki and Satoru sat beside each other in a gray room. They were the only two in the room as this was a conversation that can not be spilled to the public.
“I found it with a team of curses in a temple.” Yuki hands the cube to Satoru. “I killed them all of course before taking it.”
Satoru takes it with both hands. The prison realm was oddly light. The weight of a woman’s purse. Its exterior was red with black lines and oddly there were multiple mouths extruding from it.
“My theory is that the more cursed energy it gets, the heavier it gets.” Yuki sounds fascinated for someone who was dealing with what was basically a nuclear bomb.
“Great. I have a new barbell now.” Satoru scoffs.
Yuki laughs. “I’ll show you how it works. Say ‘gate open’.”
Satoru does as he is told. His breath touched the skin of the box as he whispered the words.
The prison realm opened in tendrils of red flesh. The starfish of crimson was small in his hand as its little arms wrapped around a single rotting finger.
“Every time you get a finger, you simply open the box and throw a finger in. For now, the council has decided to observe the prison realm before putting the fingers in their disposal.”
The Gojo heir half-listens to her words before he whispers to the object in his palm. “Gate closed.”
Scarlet tendrils morph into a cube again. The finger is no longer in sight.
“Now you’re getting the hang of it.” Yuki stands from the bench. “Guess my work here is done. I’ll be back in….well not sure, but you know I’ll check for an update some time.”
Typical Yuki Tsukumo. The Special Grade Sorcerer who ignores her responsibilities and does whatever she wants without thinking of the consequences. She’ll flee to another foreign country while sorcerers in Japan struggle to kill curses.
‘Geez, I’m starting to think like Sug-’ Satoru cuts off his own thoughts.
“You know, Suguru told me he spoke to you before he defected…” His own voice ended up blurting out before he could think.
That had caught Yuki’s attention and for a while she left her own world. Her brown eyes met Satoru’s blue ones. Although, there wasn’t a drip of regret in her face but there was sympathy.
“Yeah, your classmate who ran off to his maniac genocide quest.”
It made his blood boil that Yuki thought of Suguru as just another maniac.
“You’re the one who put the idea of a curseless world in his head! You’re the one who suggested to him-!” Satoru practically whined.
“Listen.” Yuki’s voice lost any bravado and her serious tone made Satoru pause. “That friend of yours isn’t the only one who I brought up that topic to and as far as I’m concerned he’s the only one who decided to become a lunatic.”
Satoru isn’t sure on what to reply so he clutches the prison realm in his hands. Oddly, no matter how hard he gripped, the box stayed perfectly intact.
“I’ve been in this field a lot longer than you.” Yuki’s old age was showing, which was rare for her usual youthful demeanor. “Jujutsu sorcerers can’t be idealists. You have to be realistic. You can’t care for every helpless puppy you see. You’ll go insane.”
Yuki actually sounded like the scientist she is. A cold calculated woman who only focused on her goal.
“People who care too much become like that friend of yours. They can’t handle a logical slow route to a better world, so they latch onto easy black white ideals. They become extremists.” She hides her hands in her pockets.
The Six Eyes was left speechless, still unable to speak. It seemed the older woman’s words had frozen him.
“Although Gojo Satoru, I have a feeling I don’t have to worry about you.” Her face looks away and she opens the door of the exit. “It seems you only get really affected when it's only something personal to you.”
Yuki exits the room, and Satoru is left alone as usual.
Satoru looks down and maybe it’s his hallucination but one of the mouths on the box gives a cruel smile.
When one receives an ancient relic holding a literal demon, you would expect your life to change, but no, everything goes back to normal.
Normal is fucking exhausting.
Satoru goes on to his usual routine of being a Jujutsu College Student. He would wander empty halls, get an abnormal amount of missions, and sit in his classroom while not listening to his teacher. He no longer felt a need to take note of Yaga’s lessons. Ever since he had learned the reverse curse technique, everything became easy for him. No matter what complicated test they threw at him, he’d ace it in a couple of seconds.
Rarely when he had time, Shoko and him would eat cup noodles while watching a movie. They don’t talk about the empty presence in the room but they do always think of a certain freshman isolating himself in his room.
“You think we should invite Nanami?” Shoko brings up one day while they were watching an american romantic comedy, 27 dresses.
“Huh?” Nanami had slipped Satoru’s mind. “…would he even want to join us?”
They don’t ponder on it after all in their old trio, Suguru was the one who was the best with people while others generally avoided the other two. Shoko for her nonchalant demeanor and Satoru for his rudeness.
But most days, Shoko was busy with a pile of the injured and the dead to take care of. Nanami naturally avoids Satoru every chance he has.
So Satoru is mostly alone these days.
The quiet in the school halls sucks.
Then there were the curses Satoru had to hunt. Good lord, they were all so boring.
All Satoru had to do was hit them with red or blue and they'd disappear in a flash. Sometimes, they’ll try to hide but his six eyes could easily spot them.
He comes back from missions with his uniform clean. He doesn’t even drench with sweat as he is assigned another curse to hunt down.
Normalcy was tiring cause everyday was the same.
In the life and death game of sorcery, this mundanity should’ve been luxury so he doesn’t bring up this feeling to anyone.
(Somedays, the routine would get to him and he didn’t worry about offending weaker beings.)
It was all a blur of nothing till something as miniscule as a black hair tie on a bedside table would make him feel everything.
Suguru had told him on that street in Shinjuku that if he were him, he could achieve even the impossible, but Satoru already thinks that Suguru could do the impossible. He had after all reduced the so called strongest into a pathetic heartbroken boy crying over their first boyfriend.
After two days with the prison realm, something did change.
His dreams.
He once dreamt of Suguru every night. Suguru being kind. Suguru being cruel. Suguru being loving. Suguru being hateful. Suguru stayed with him. Suguru leaving him.
But now, his dreams were pitch black. Empty, but he sensed they were forming into something.
There are skeletons under his feet and surrounding him. Their bones would clash with each other creating a constant clunking sound.
It was a few seconds of the void.
Till a sharp pain came to the back of his throat.
A hand suddenly chokes him from behind.
That shouldn’t be possible. The last time someone managed to cross infinity was when Toji tore him neck to thigh and he had die-
He remembers to activate infinity. The hand was pushed away.
His head turns to watch his attacker. There was only a wall of limbs. All of them with purple sharp nails and black lines running along their skin.
The arms start trying to grab him.
With infinity, none of them could.
A particular pair of hands then touch their three middle fingers together with the remaining two’s knuckles touching.
The Enma ten sign. The King of Hell.
Otherwise known as the sign of Sukuna’s domain expansion. Malevolent Shrine.
Satoru wakes up before anything happens.
His heart beats loud. For the first time in the year, he feels fear.
He was supposed to report what happened to the Higher Ups. He was ordered to say if anything weird had happened while with the box.
But he didn’t want to face those old dirt bags, so he settled on speaking with Yaga privately in his office.
“And was there any physical damage on you when you woke up?” Yaga asked. In his hand, he was still stitching another cursed corpse.
“None.” Gojo had woken up completely fine. (At least his body did.)
“How is Sukuna intercepting your dreams?” Yaga asks. “The abilities we know from him are only Cleave, Dismantle and his Domain Expansion.”
“I don’t know. Although it seems he wasn’t complete, he’s still trying to form.”
Yaga had tapped his chin and stared at the falling sun through his window before his left hand reached out and held Satoru’s shoulder.
“Satoru.” His teacher said in a rather warm tone. “I’ll report to the higher ups on what happened, but tell me if the box is bothering you. There is damage that can be caused to the mind after all.”
The older man’s eyes went sideways. Satoru’s mouth tightened. He knew his teacher was still feeling the sting of Suguru’s defection. If Satoru was feeling the guilt of being incapable of helping his best friend’s pain, then what more of the mentor figure who was assigned to take care of their student.
“Yeah, I’ll tell you.” His voice was nonchalant but his mind was racing a million thoughts.
He then subconsciously felt the heavy weight of the Prison Realm in his pocket. Even if in reality it was quite light, it seemed like it could rip through his jacket any minute.
Then his vision shifted to the hand on his shoulder. Yaga’s fingers were tan and big. He couldn’t feel their usual warmness and he realized the teacher’s hold was slightly floating above his uniform.
He didn’t mean to leave his infinity on.
The Higher Ups had determined that the Prison Realm should be given another finger. Their reason is that Sukuna seems unable to commit a real attack on Satoru.
It was analyzed that at Satoru’s current power level, he was equivalent to Sukuna with 10 fingers. In the future, with even more years of training and experience, he’d be equal to the King of Curses at full power.
Satoru whispers ‘Gate Open.’ to the box. He feeds the red flesh another finger as Nanami gives a disgusted look.
The two of them were assigned partners for a mission. It was reported a Special Grade was lurking in an abandoned hospital.
“How do you carry that creepy thing around?” Nanami asks as Gojo places the box of mouths in his pocket.
“Ehh, not like I have a choice.” Satoru shrugs. “Comes with being the only one who has a chance of beating the guy.”
After their car stops in front of a gray building, the assistant manager explains that the Special Grade is reported to be the most powerful one they’ve encountered in a year. The two students were assigned as Gojo was the only special grade in their disposal while Nanami is a semi grade 1 sorcerer.
Nanami appeared nervous with his hand tight on his weapon while Satoru still casually kept his hands in his pocket. Honestly, Satoru’s hoping that the curse is able to distract him from his thoughts for a few minutes at least.
“At least take this seriously.” Nanami growls at Gojo. The blonde second year was scavenging through the building trying to find the curse while the white haired senior was just following him.
Satoru only whistles and says. “This curse seems like it's a scaredy cat.”
“No. This means the curse must be agile. It’s really good at hiding itself.”
To be fair, Nanami was right. Even with his six eyes, Gojo had a hard time spotting the curse.
But the building was quiet and everything was at a standstill, Gojo doesn’t want more of this mundanity.
A smirk widens on his lips. “Maybe we need something to bring it out.”
“Wait, Gojo before you do anyth-”
Satoru takes a small pocket knife in his pocket and slices a line on his wrist. The smell of blood erupts through the room and an immense curse presence was starting to head towards them.
Nanami’s eyes widened in fear and he was stuck in his frozen position. Clearly, something must have triggered him and he was not mentally fit to fight.
“Get out!” Satoru pushes the younger student.
“What?!”
“I’ll handle this guy! You go back to the car.” Satoru faces the upcoming curse. His right arm is ready to aim red. “Besides, it’s been a while since I had a decent one.”
His kouhai’s face was blank and unreadable before following Gojo’s order and running out.
The Special Grade that came out was an alright one. It was a giant black snake that could slither through walls. The monster held against Gojo for a good whole ten minutes before the sorcerer sliced its head off. A manic grin was on Gojo’s face. He was just happy that something had managed to keep up with him even if it was just short.
“You’re not bad. I actually had fun.” Satoru comments watching as the snake’s corpse disintegrates in front of him.
He turns and walks to the exit with a refreshed mind.
“Aren’t you a pitiful thing?”
A voice emits from his pocket.
It was rough and deep. A voice that is surer than Gojo’s ever sounded in his whole life.
Immediately in shock, Gojo takes the Prison Realm from his jacket and checks the box. It was back to silent closed mouth state but the sorcerer can’t help but slightly sweat in nervousness.
He decides to deal with the issue later.
When Satoru meets with Nanami waiting at the exit, his kouhai comments. “Only someone like you can find satisfaction in this.”
Nanami walks to the car before providing more explanation. His eyes were cold towards Satoru.
The strongest felt a rip in his heart string.
Before he goes to sleep, he double checks the Prison Realm he plops down on his bedside table.
It still looks the same as before with its protruding mouths and red skin. Although Satoru thinks maybe the black lines have made a more complicated pattern of arrows. Its mass got a bit heavier.
He’ll report to Yaga what happened tomorrow morning.
Sleep takes over him fast. He’s not sure why.
In his dream, he was greeted by a throne of bones. The void was still black and everything around him were still skeletons, but something was sitting perched on top of the mountain in front of him.
“Well. Well. If it isn’t the sorcerer who is guarding my cell.”
It was the same deep voice and its four red eyes were glaring at him.
Satoru had seen paintings of the King of Curses in the Gojo compound. A giant half-monster half-man with four arms and a mask covering half its face, but the Sukuna in front of him looked fairly human with only two arms and his height is only an inch taller than Gojo. Although the ink on his face and limbs were visible shining in contrast with his white kimono.
Immediately, Satoru points two of fingers at the curse and shouts. “Red!”
A ball of crimson shoots from his hand. It crashes to the top of the hill of bones. The skulls shatter into small pieces and once the smoke clears, Satoru gasps when he sees there was no sign of the King of Curses in front of him.
Kick! A foot hits his infinity from behind and immediately he turns around to find the demon smirking at him ruthlessly.
“Your barrier’s not bad.” Sukuna grins as he lowers his foot back on the ground. “Although you need to work on your Six Eyes. You should have seen me coming.”
Satoru raises his hand ready to fire another Red, but the curse immediately says. “Why are you even bothering? It’s not like you can do any real damage to my physical body.”
The sorcerer isn’t sure whether to believe the curse’s words, but Sukuna seemed right after all Gojo had no bruises on his neck when the other’s hand managed to choke him from last night’s dream.
“What is this place? Why are you intercepting my dreams?” Gojo demands an answer as he still keeps his hand up ready for assault.
Sukuna laughs. “You think I’m the one getting in your head?! That’s hilarious! I have a number of abilities and hijacking the mind is not one of them.”
“Then why am I seeing you?” Satoru’s hand was shaking. He felt a pit in his stomach.
The curse raises his arms and gestures around. His purple nails glowed in the dark. “Look around! This isn’t my innate domain! If it was, it would at least have a nice temple. Come on, think. Where are we?”
Satori’s thoughts race for a while before he concludes.
“.....if we’re inside the prison realm, then why can I feel curse energy on you? Shouldn’t this place nullify it?” Satoru asks. He’s not sure if the King will answer honestly but it's worth a shot especially since Gojo has the upper hand now.
“It’s all mental, Six Eyes.” Sukuna points a finger at the side of his forehead. “Think of this place as a pocket dimension where we can keep beating each other bloody but it won’t affect our bodies in the real world.”
“That still doesn’t explain how my mind is inside this thing?” Satoru said coldly.
“You still haven’t figured it out.” Sukuna crossed his arms, and his face looked very amused. “Which one of us has the technique to see through anything? To see the six dimensions of everything? To see the flow of cursed energy?”
Satoru’s heart sank. No. No. That can’t be right. Why? Why is his six eyes making him look inside the prison realm? Making him see Sukuna?
Sukuna inspects his nails as he says. “If anything, you’re the one hijacking me, Six Eyes.”
Before Sukuna can continue more of his monologue, Satoru runs forward and delivers a punch to the four-eyed man’s face. Sukuna manages to dodge by the split second but Satoru spins and kicks the other in the chest. Blood spurts out of the curse’s mouth and his opponent has sunk to his knees.
Gojo had a satisfied smirk on his face, but he felt a liquid drip down his neck. He looked down and there was a cut on the front of his throat. He brings his palm up to stop the bleeding. Sukuna must have cleaved him while his infinity was down for a second to kick the curse.
That’s impressive. Even at 10% of his power, Sukuna was able to discern the exact microsecond to cut him.
“Did I hit a nerve? Does the thought of wanting to see me disgust you that much?” Sukuna mocks through the gurgle of blood spilling from his mouth.
“Wanting to see you? Do you think that highly of yourself?” Satoru retorts back even with the pain in his throat. “This is just an accident.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.” Sukuna laughs. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Gojo Satoru.”
See you tomorrow? Gojo thinks, before his eyes open and he looks around. And, how does he know my name?
He was back in his dorm room. His pillow and mattress were soft underneath him. The sun was peeking through his window. His hand immediately clutches the black hair tie beside the prison realm on his bedside table. He still had nervous sweats and he wished Suguru was here beside him.
Then after a few seconds of thought, Gojo had a conclusion. Sukuna could see and hear him from inside the box.