Big Brother, Time to Take Your Medicine

*Note: The younger brother mistook Sukuna for his older brother's alternate personality.

*Note: Sukuna regarded Haruka as "an interesting human with potential."

*Note: In a sense, Yuji, Haruka, and Sukuna joined forces.

Now they were three brothers☆

I used to be an ordinary student. A student at an ordinary public high school.

But somehow, on a whim, I fell victim to that troublesome thing called motivation and ended up at a high-level school. I worked hard after enrolling, too. I studied like mad, scored high on exams, and wore out my vocabulary book memorizing English words.

While my classmates went home, finished their homework, and played games or watched videos, I went in the exact opposite direction, studying at cram school until night.

...But really, if all that effort didn't pay off in the future, it was all for nothing.

"Sorry~ There was a little-no, a huge mistake, and it got you killed."

The so-called god standing before me in a white lab coat delivered that merciless announcement of my death.

I remembered someone pushing me from behind while I waited at the bus stop to go home last night, but I hadn't expected to actually get run over and die.

Maybe I'd just been unlucky, and the bus arrived right as I fell.

Ha... Just my luck.

"Oh, right! It's not much of an apology, but how about reincarnation? What do you think of the world of Jujutsu Kaisen? It's all the rage lately.

"That one's pretty popular. Until recently, Naruto was the big thing."

So he was the type to kill someone without asking, then move the conversation along without asking, either. What a pain.

Facing the old man who wouldn't stop talking, I silently held up one finger.

"I don't care where, as long as I can take it easy."

For once, I'd put so much effort into studying, and dying made it all pointless. All that effort, down the drain.

...So I didn't want to stay on edge anymore. I didn't want to keep trying.

When I told him that, the old man widened his eyes in surprise, then said, "It's fine, it's fine. That world has a protagonist who loves taking care of people," and pushed my back.

Somehow... that hand felt about the same size as the one that pushed me at the bus stop.

I really should've taken that god down with me.

Even with my mind slackening, that one thought crossed it.

And so I was born as the younger twin brother of the Itadori Family.

My older brother, Yuji, was bursting with energy and had outstanding athletic ability. Then there was me: utterly unmotivated, one hundred percent lazy, and zero athletic ability.

With our parents gone, it was my older brother, Yuji, who woke me up, cooked for me, carried me to school, and fought for food for me in the cafeteria.

Yuji would say, "What am I going to do with you?" as he carried me around and helped me, letting me live the ultimate slacker's life.

"...But, Grandpa."

I rushed into the hospital room, gasping for breath, and faced him.

"What is it, lazybones?"

Grandpa called me "lazybones." Fair enough. Unlike Yuji, I didn't do chores, exercise, or study. I was just the little brother who did nothing but laze around.

I dragged my stiff legs forward one step at a time until I reached his bedside. Then I sat in the chair beside it.

Phew-I caught my breath.

"Couldn't you at least let me know when you're about to die?"

I held Grandpa's wrist, which had somehow grown as thin as a dead branch. There was still a pulse, but I didn't know when it might stop.

Feeling the warmth just a little greater than my own, I stroked his wrinkled hand.

"You little brat. Can't you let me look cool before I die? Besides, how could I die and leave a lazybones like you behind?"

"And Yuji isn't here yet."

At that, Grandpa laughed. He laughed just like Yuji did when he said, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Haruka."

I didn't answer when he called my name. I rested my head on his bed.

For once, I'd walked on my own, and I was tired. I wanted to sleep.

I tried to take a breath before sleeping, but a sharp smell hit my nose. Oh, right. This was a hospital.

The grassy scent of tatami suited Grandpa so much better than sheets smelling of disinfectant.

"You've been taking naps here all the time since I was hospitalized, haven't you? Even though you hate the smell of disinfectant."

Yeah, that's right. I hate that sharp smell. It forces people awake.

So sleepy... I want to sleep. Ah... I can't stay awake anymore.

"You're a kind person."

Rustle.

With those words, I felt a hand settle on my head. His bony fingers were rough, not particularly comfortable.

But the shape of that hand was one I knew all too well.

"Use that kindness to save people. Save lonely people like me, and be someone warm."

Don't say things that sound like last words.

My eyes, mouth, hands, and feet wouldn't move. Even though I'd run so far just a moment ago.

As irresistible sleepiness washed over me, I desperately tried to remember the feel of that hand.

"-Hey, Haruka. Haruka."

The sensation of someone patting my head a little roughly woke me.

Of course I knew that hand wasn't Grandpa's. But my eyes grew a little hot.

"...Mm."

I blamed what welled up on sleepiness, wiped it away with my fingers to cover it up, then slumped down again.

But Yuji didn't seem inclined to let me off this time. I felt him lift me under my arms, pulling me away from Grandpa's body, which I'd been using as a cushion.

"Grandpa died."

Those two words said everything.

I raised my eyelids slightly and murmured, "I see." I'd vaguely sensed it, which was why I hadn't wanted to sleep.

I'd wanted to become listless myself, but now I didn't want to be like this.

In a voice with little emotion, I asked my twin brother beside me.

"What did Grandpa say?"

"He said I'm strong, so I should save people. What about you?"

"He said I'm kind, so I should save people."

After we shared the last words he'd left us, Yuji snorted with laughter.

"That's basically the same thing!"

"He wanted to look cool so badly, but he didn't put any thought into it."

Yuji laughed until tears fell. I held back a yawn with all my might and cried, too.

Now we only had each other. Realizing that made me unbearably lonely.

Afterward, I fell asleep on a couch near the hospital reception desk. Yuji was filling out paperwork, and it would be a problem if no one carried me home, so I had to wait.

I searched for a comfortable position on the hospital's hard couch, occasionally getting squashed by children at the hospital or whoever else, and slept in a daze. There was no disinfectant smell at reception, and the air-conditioning was just right. It was very comfortable.

I was drifting, letting sleep have its way with me.

Then, suddenly, breath tickled my ear, and I sensed someone nearby.

"Haruka, Haruka, I'm going to school for a bit. Wait a little longer."

Yuji's voice delivered that message without even shaking me awake.

Seriously. If I hadn't woken up, was he planning to leave me alone in the hospital at night?

I was so sleepy. So lazy.

Ah... Let's sleep some more, I whispered inside.

I got up from the couch by reception.

Something troublesome was definitely going to happen.

It was one of those "very accurate hunches" of mine.

Yuji was supposed to carry me home, feed me dinner he'd cooked, run my bath, and then let me sleep.

But wave after wave of bad feelings came over me, urging me onward.

"I'm not kind at all, Grandpa."

I took that self-defense thing out of the school bag on my back and hung it at my waist... then whispered to my grandfather, who was no longer in this world, as though making a vow.

"But I want to become kind."

I'd come because I heard he'd gone to school, but... why was the school building broken?

I'd reached the place where Yuji was, but something felt wrong.

It had looked perfectly normal this morning, but now a huge chunk had been gouged out, as though a typhoon had hit. Maybe some major disaster had happened while I was at the hospital, and I hadn't noticed.

I tilted my head slightly and dragged my heavy legs into the school building.

Exploring a school alone at night was pretty thrilling. It even felt a little illicit.

My clogs slapped against the floor as I walked around checking classrooms. Along the way, I ran into a weird white-haired security guard patrolling with a blindfold on and hid from him once. Maybe he wanted some excitement to liven up his boring job. That deserved a call to the police.

I'd report him tomorrow if I remembered.

Thinking about those irrelevant things, I climbed the exhausting stairs.

Then I reached the rooftop, where loud rattles and crashes were coming from.

"What a wonderful era."

Beyond the open door, that thing was there.

He looked like Yuji, but that wasn't Yuji's voice. Not Yuji's personality. Not Yuji's words.

"Women and children swarming like maggots.

"...Marvelous."

That wasn't Yuji.

The instant I reached that conclusion, my body moved on its own.

"Eighty percent release."

The sound of my limiter disengaging.

My feet slammed into the ground, making my footing crack. Then I lunged into the chest of the Yuji who wasn't Yuji.

"Slaughter-" "Shut up. You're too loud."

One hand seized that face, so unlike the person I knew, like an eagle's talons... and yanked him down.

I won't let you say "slaughter" with that mouth.

But perhaps because I wasn't used to doing this, my leg muscles screamed, and I felt my fingers cramp. It hurt.

His reactions were fast, too. He immediately swatted my hand away and darted backward.

"Are you the first one here to die?"

He sneered, but apparently failed to break his fall, spectacularly crashing through part of the school building.

Before he got up, I drew the thing at my waist.

It gleamed dully in the moonlight. At first glance, it looked like a survival knife.

"Wh-why do you have a Cursed Tool?!"

Just as the man behind me shouted, this self-defense weapon was something called a Cursed Tool... apparently.

I'd found it under the floor of our house while playing pirates with Yuji years ago. The box had "Cursed Tool" written on it, and it even came with an appraisal certificate.

Holding it in one hand, I shattered the ground underfoot.

One step closed half the distance, and the moment he saw me, I leaped upward.

Immediately afterward, with a thunderous crash, a crater appeared where I'd just been.

"Ha-ha!"

The something wearing Yuji's form laughed and raised his fist directly beneath me.

I wouldn't let this chance slip away. I swung my weapon down at the top of his head.

This should have been a guaranteed hit.

"What's this, brat? Is that all you've got?"

Instead, those were the words I heard.

He caught my descending weapon with one hand.

Even with my body weight pressing down on it, I hadn't cut his hand off.

As I marveled at that, his other hand reached toward me.

"Boring."

With that word, a hand identical to Yuji's touched my head. He was going to crush my skull...

At that instant.

"It's bait."

The hand opposite the one holding the weapon he'd caught.

My left hand, which I'd kept hidden behind my back, lashed out.

That's right. I had more than one weapon. The other blade hanging at my waist all along was the real thing.

The one I'd shown him before was purely a feint. Lunging at him had been a feint, too.

Everything had been preparation to get within close range easily.

I seized Yuji's neck.

Those eyes, which had gone blank as he said "boring," flew wide open, and my blade was just about to touch him...

"What are you doing with someone else's body? Give it back."

The instant I heard that voice, I stopped my weapon mere centimeters away.

After that, Yuji started playing out a split personality all on his own and left me out of it, so I sat down right where I was.

Ah- I was exhausted.

Though I held a "blunt weapon" called a Cursed Tool in both hands, it really was only insurance.

I hated suspicious people showing up at school at night, so I had brought the bare minimum blunt weapon I needed to protect myself. I never expected to use it on my brother.

Normally, a blow to the head or neck with a blunt weapon would do the trick when subduing someone who had gone berserk. Who would have thought I would need it here? I had never experienced anything this bloody in my previous life, either.

"Yuji."

I was so tired I could barely get my tongue to work.

I called out to my brother, whose job was to carry me, and he came over, half-naked and looking cold.

"Sorry, Haruka. I have no idea what's going on, either."

Then he picked me up from where I was practically sprawled on the ground.

"I'm sleepy and exhausted, so just... stop playing at having a split personality. You're too old for that."

"It's not a split personality..."

As we bickered like that-

"I will exorcise you as a curse."

This time, a low voice accompanied the words. For some reason, the black-haired man who had yet to make a move crouched down and took a stance.

Was he going to play finger games? On the school roof at night? Was he the lonely type?

Yuji looked back at him as though nothing had happened and said,

"No, it's fine now."

As he said that, he held me up and swung both hands around.

I was getting swung around with them. Stop it, Yuji.

I hurriedly patted his arm. "Ah, sorry." He apologized and stopped moving.

I really wanted Yuji to haul me home already. I wanted to laze around at home as much as humanly possible. I was so sleepy.

I lay limp in his arms, completely drained.

But perhaps it was because I had made that wish.

Those things called flags could pop up at any moment. I still had no idea this would become a turning point in the world I had been reincarnated into.

"What's the situation?"

Whoosh.

With a sound effect like that, a tall, white-haired man wearing a blindfold appeared.

I no longer even had the strength to look up. I melted like slime into the reassuring cradle of my brother's arms.

Meanwhile, Yuji and that man chatted on and off.

A few minutes must have passed.

"Haruka, sorry, I need to put you down for a bit."

With that, I was set down like unloaded cargo.

Naturally, he put me on the rooftop floor. In summer, its coolness would probably have felt nice, but unfortunately, at this time of year, it was just cold. It was also a little uneven and uncomfortable.

"I don't have the energy, but this won't do... Yuji taxi, pick me up."

I reached toward my brother like a giant salamander abandoned on the asphalt.

"Ah, sorry. Just wait a second."

For once, he turned me down.

My mood didn't merely plummet. It took a super-express nosedive.

My joy at finally getting to go home, which had soared as high as Everest, now sank deeper than the Mariana Trench.

I pressed my face against the ground and sulked, my lips pushed out in a pout.

"...I worked really hard today, you know. Yuji suddenly went berserk with a split personality, and I tried my best to fix it by beating him up."

"Huh? Did you almost kill me?"

"You can fix broken things by hitting the head and neck. Grandpa said so."

"I'm not one of your childhood toys."

Not a single muscle in my face moved, but Yuji understood exactly what I meant.

Then he let out a small sigh.

"I want to carry you home, but Fushiguro over there and this guy here need something from me.

Apparently, because I swallowed something called a curse, there are complications.

So wait for me a bit."

He stroked my head as though reasoning with a willful child.

Including my previous life, Grandpa and Yuji were the only people who had ever stroked my head. Just those two.

So it made me happy. Normally, this would have soothed me right away.

"..."

"Hey, Haruka?"

I pushed up my body, which felt heavier than lead, and grabbed Yuji.

With what little strength my hand had, I gripped my brother's arm and tugged.

"Stay away from religion and organized crime. You promised Grandpa, too, remember?"

That white-haired guy with the blindfold was definitely some religious nut. I had seen people like that inside the school building earlier, too.

Some white-haired blindfolded school-patrol cult had to be all the rage.

"I told you, it's not like that." I ignored Yuji's denial and kept tugging... tugging... Yuji was overwhelmingly strong. I couldn't budge him.

Then-

"Wow, that's a pretty harsh accusation."

A drawn-out voice reached my ears.

I stopped pulling his arm and raised my face toward the voice. The suspicious individual-white-haired version-was watching me with a faint smile.

"We just want to ask about the curse your brother swallowed."

I looked up at him. He was at least twenty-five centimeters taller than me.

And thought-

"No, you definitely don't have an 'I just want to ask' face."

"Ah, you caught me?"

...I wasn't good at dealing with people like him.

I whipped around toward my brother.

"Yuji, go home right now. I won't throw up no matter how much you jostle me now, and I won't complain about anything. It's a great deal."

I said it all in one breath.

But immediately afterward-

"You probably don't know this, but under Jujutsu regulations, Itadori is subject to execution! He has to be taken into custody."

The black-haired man's words made me freeze.

Yuji said nothing. Neither did the white-haired man with the blindfold. Nor the black-haired man.

Ah. So that was it. I see.

I leaned my exhausted, boneless body against Yuji. He easily caught his 165-centimeter-tall younger brother.

"Yuji."

I spoke to my twin brother. He stayed silent.

"No matter how important someone is, people forget them once they die."

I leaned limply against him, my arms, as slender as cherry blossom branches, hanging uselessly at my sides.

"They say the voice goes first, then the face, and finally the memories."

My brother was normally so good at looking after people, yet he was far too selfish at times like this.

"I can't remember Grandpa's smell anymore..."

Grandpa had gone off and left us behind without asking.

"Are you planning to end up like that too, Yuji?"

"...Haruka."

"Don't just believe some weird religious nut's nonsense and hand over your life. With this body, I won't survive unless you take care of me for the rest of my life."

"...Yeah."

Having said that much, things should be all right now.

I put strength into my legs and stood up. Sure enough, Yuji stood there looking relieved.

"So, have you worked it out?"

The man broke the mood with his casual tone, and we looked at him.

...Even if they aren't broken things, the way to deal with suspicious people is still the head and neck, right? Yeah. Good.

I shielded Yuji behind me and took a reverse grip on my weapon.

"...So, does that mean you're not willing to talk?"

"There's no room to make peace with suspicious people.

Religious nuts are all sick in the head. I hate them."

Hey, so-called god.

The reason I could relax seemed to be under threat. Wasn't that a breach of contract?

So at least, let me... get serious like I did back then.

"80% release."

Sorry, Grandpa.

It looked like I still couldn't become gentle.