(Pov Maki)
9:58 pm
When Megumi came running back into the station without Satoshi, we got worried, but that only got worse when he said that Sukuna had shown up to fight him. I had wanted to help, but Nanami kept us back. His reasoning was simple: in a fight between forces like Satoshi and Sukuna, we'd get in the way and force Satoshi to split his attention, keeping us safe. So we waited, doing our best to keep the civilians who fled the destruction safe and moving along the planned evacuation route, until, after what felt like an eternity, things got quiet.
As we left the station's entrance, we finally saw the aftermath of the fight. The entire block had been destroyed; the streets had been sliced into ribbons, along with any street lamps, and every building had either a hole in it or more slash marks. The destruction led further off, and we followed it carefully, though none of the others could feel Sukuna's presence anymore.
As we followed the trail, we eventually came across an area that was somehow even more damaged than the other. Instead of slashes, though, there was a massive crater and scorched marks littering what hadn't been destroyed directly.
"Pair up and start searching for Gojo and Itadori. They could be anywhere." Nanami said. Then he and Megumi paired up, and I went with Mai as we began searching the area outside the crater. There weren't a lot of bodies left behind, but the occasional puddles and spatters of blood indicated not everybody had evacuated the area in time.
After a few minutes, we heard Megumi calling for us, and when we got over to them, we finally saw the two we had been looking for. Itadori was mostly ok there was some leftover blood, and his clothes were torn in many places, but he didn't have any visible wounds. He was also conscious but still out of it, just staring at the other figure on the ground.
The other figure was hard to identify at first, but on closer look, it was Satoshi, though he was in bad shape. Most of his body was covered in cuts of varying depths, including one deep one going vertically over his left eye. His arms were the worst, though, as they were not only cut up, but the outer parts had burns on them, and most of his shirt had been lost to the fire as well.
It wasn't until Nanami checked that we even realized he was still alive. The strangest part, though, was that despite the damage, he was still smiling like he had been told some dumb joke. That worm of his was somehow still alive and remained curled up on his body, letting out small whimpers every few seconds.
Nanami pressed his fingers to Satoshi's neck and seemed surprised by whatever he was feeling. "Mai, you need to get in contact with someone. He seems stable for now, but he can't stay in Shibuya anymore." He said that a large shadow covered the area.
"Don't worry about that, I can get Satoshi back into shape." A voice said, and when I looked up, there was a large gull-like bird with a huge mouth, and on its back was Geto Suguru. The Kyoto sorcerers had arrived.
"Geto-San, what took you so long?" Nanami questioned as the gull finally landed before opening its bill. From within came out multiple members of the Kyoto branch school, including Geto's two kids and that Kamo clan guy.
"Where's Todo?" Megumi asked, prompting Yuji to finally react as he began looking around for the older student.
Geto shrugged, then walked over to Satoshi's body and pressed his hand to his chest. Soon after, there was a chorus of gasps from the people around us, and then Satoshi's body began to heal itself, with most of the cuts closing up, and in just a few minutes, he opened his eye.
(Pov Satoshi)
This was an unfortunately familiar feeling. A dark void with the massive glowing blob that was my soul, I had been here before when Toji almost killed me. Though back then he had directly sliced my soul and I had to put it back together, but now my soul was undamaged. So why was I here?
Maybe I was dying again. I had tried playing it off, but that fire hurt, not to mention all the cuts that made it through at the end. I was operating on pure adrenaline. Hopefully, I'm not about to die again; that would be an issue. I still had stuff to do. Not like I could do much anyway, but wait for someone who will drag my body to Shoko so she can fix me up, hopefully, before the battle ends. I want to put Mahito down for good this time.
"Is this space unique to you, or is it so bare because you lack cursed energy?" A voice suddenly asked. I jumped up, turned toward the voice, and saw Sukuna standing there, though he was different now. He wore a white kimono with a black belt wrapped around his midsection, and his body had fully manifested the tattoos on his face and arms. He was also oddly relaxed, his face lacking the usual cruel hostility he had when facing opponents.
"I suppose you wouldn't know the answer, but it's something to think about." He continued, now focusing on the large form of my soul hovering nearby.
"What are you doing here? How are you here?" I asked, not fully relaxing, even if I couldn't sense any danger from him.
"When you hit me at the end, I latched onto your soul. I can't do much, but I wanted to see what makes you able to fight like that." He answered.
"So, what you wanted was a peek under the hood?" I asked, and he seemed genuinely curious, an odd feeling from someone like him.
"I spent most of my life learning all I could about Jujutsu. I have seen various techniques and cursed energy traits, yet never someone with nothing. Now, though, there are two of you; it's fascinating, and I need to understand how this could happen." He said with a surprising amount of earnestness.
"This is weird, seeing you not acting all evil and murderous," I said, deciding he wasn't going to try anything.
"You are an anomaly, and you fought well. Stand proud, Gojo Satoshi. You are strong." He said it, and it took all my self-control not to laugh.
He didn't say anything else, just continued to observe my soul. It was a weird feeling having someone watch your soul like that. Though he suddenly became startled and got even closer before turning to me with a wicked smile on his face as the space around us began to brighten.
"How interesting, I shall see you again, Gojo Satoshi, or should I call you James?" He said that before the light surrounded us, I suddenly felt myself rising very quickly.
(Pov Suguru)
10:00 pm
Satoshi shot up rather quickly after his wounds closed, though his breathing was fast, and he looked more panicked than I had seen him in years, not since he prevented that assassin from killing Riko.
"Welcome back, Satoshi. You had us worried." I said, trying to lighten the mood. His eyes sharpened considerably as he began looking around.
"How long was I out?" He asked after a moment, having finally relaxed a little. Did he have a nightmare while unconscious? "Wait, where's Shoko?" He suddenly asked.
"She's off somewhere else, dealing with others. I was the one who healed you." I said with a small smirk. I hadn't told anyone outside my family that I could emit reverse-cursed energy, yet I wanted to brag to Satoru about it because I knew he couldn't.
Satoshi looked like he wanted to say something, but gave up with a sigh. "Sure, I guess, thanks for showing up even if you are late." He said, though, without any anger in it.
"Gojo-Sensei, you're ok!" A voice called out before a black and red object slammed into Satoshi's side, almost knocking him over.
"Relax, Yuji, I'm fine, told you I'd win against him," Satoshi said, though win may have been a stretch. Despite my best efforts, he was still covered in scars and burns. I had managed to save his eye at least and his motor functions, but there wasn't much to do for the skin.
"Don't do such reckless stuff like that, Satoshi," Maki said, but she seemed relieved as well.
"So now that Sukuna's been stopped, what's next, clean up?" I asked, earning a sudden gasp from the student still wrapped around Satoshi.
"My brothers were with me when that weird guy showed up. I don't know what happened to them, but they might still be in the subway!" The young boy shouted. "We have to find them; they tried protecting me earlier."
"Alright then, I'll help you look, Suguru, Nanami, take the others here and look for any survivors. Also, keep your eyes peeled for someone who looks like me but is a bit older. If you see him, let me know." Satoshi said a little cryptically.
"You sure, Satoshi? You seem pretty beat up still." I said, pointing at the burns on the outside of his arms.
"Yeah, I'm fine well enough for tonight anyway, just keep my students safe." He said before turning and following the young Yuji towards the main station entrance. It seemed like this night wasn't quite over yet.
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I managed to get this done Monday but I have good news. My two major papers are now done and only need editing so I will have much more time to write from now on. Also I don't know how Sukuna entered Jogo's mind after their fight so random explanation mostly I just wanted an excuse to use the line. See you next time for round two of Mahito jumping.