Brothers born of the same parents

Yuji Itadori's understanding of brothers seemed limited to the relationship Choso kept talking about. Honestly, he didn't seem to understand the affection between blood relatives. Perhaps his idea of "brothers" was closer to good friends he knew from school.

As for his parents...

The Yuji Itadori of the main world had nowhere near as many memories of his parents as he did in the Special Simulation.

Practically none.

Kenjaku had left while Yuji was still a baby to continue his terrible plan.

He had taken Yuji's nominal father, Jin Itadori, along with him.

After all, Jin Itadori also had the Anti-Gravity Cursed Technique. No matter how he looked at it, there was no reason to give that up.

Yuji had lived with his grandfather since childhood, learning to cook and do housework at an early age. Later, when his grandfather grew old and bedridden, Yuji took good care of him too.

In a way, he was like an orphan.

But some things simply couldn't be erased.

Yuji Itadori had never really resisted Choso's concern, because he could feel the pure care and goodwill coming from him. That untainted affection made him feel at ease.

An older brother was an older brother. Whatever Choso had done before, whether he really was his brother or merely a friend, Yuji Itadori was willing to walk beside him.

Only...

"My mother is Kaori Itadori."

"My father is Jin Itadori."

"If you're curious about who I am, just think of me as our father and mother's illegitimate son."

Xia Xia, the stranger who had suddenly appeared, said things Yuji Itadori struggled to understand. For a moment, he thought his parents had abandoned him to raise this older brother who shared both his father and mother. But after thinking a little longer, he felt the situation couldn't be that simple.

The fingers pressed against his forehead felt warm and brought him a deep, heartfelt sense of peace. The gesture was far too intimate, yet Yuji actually wanted it to continue. It was so strange.

And so, memories that had never existed began to grow.

Xia Xia used Cursed Technique Reversal.

The reversal of his Innate Cursed Technique, Akashic Records.

Its normal application automatically collected information and knowledge through physical contact. Its reversal allowed him to select some of the knowledge and information he possessed and, under the right conditions, give it to someone he was touching.

Could it even do that?

Yes.

As long as he was willing to pay any price to save and preserve this relationship, these feelings as precious as diamonds and gold, he could do it.

He had hesitated, but he did it anyway.

Because Yuji was Yuji.

He could consider it fulfilling Itadori Xia Xia's dying repentance. Even though the memories of people in the simulation wouldn't carry over to the main world, Xia Xia still refused to abandon this one-of-a-kind family member.

He didn't want to become an empty shell again.

All those beautiful memories from before the tragedy on their ninth birthday, all that warmth and longing etched into his soul.

They're all yours now, my dear, foolish little brother.

"Yuji, forgive me."

Yuji Itadori became a firsthand participant in those memories. He could have refused, but he didn't.

Those were nine years of life with his twin brother.

A beautiful childhood with a few small regrets.

Playing Aeroplane Chess together, eating meals their mother had made, browsing markets together, secretly slipping an extra box of fruit gummies into the shopping cart for each other, playing on the slide in the little park, walking to school with his brother...

The confusion in his eyes gradually softened.

In that moment, the lonely child named Yuji Itadori understood what it felt like to be loved, what it felt like to have a complete family.

The warmth of one heart warmed another cold, lonely soul. Because that was what family meant. No one would be abandoned. No one would be forgotten.

Twins, their soul and flesh split in two. Another self in the world, a missing half destined to live and die together.

"Thank you, Xia Xia."

He knew he wasn't the twin from that story, and the Xia Xia before him probably wasn't the one from the story either. But that didn't stop them from believing they were, or from choosing to acknowledge it.

Choso watched from the side without stopping them, regarding their interaction with something like a "benevolent" gaze.

As their older brother, watching his two younger brothers get along so harmoniously was deeply satisfying-so long as he could protect this sight, their big brother would hold up the sky for them, even at the cost of his life.

He wouldn't let anyone stop this from happening.

"Big brother."

Yuji Itadori finally said those words.

Just as he had in Xia Xia's memories.

This child was still the same.

Like a silly dog that had just woken up, shaking his head, ears drooping on either side, tail gently swaying. His pink hair held the warmth and scent of sunshine and clean hay.

You're really doing a number on me. I'm such a coldhearted bastard, someone who can commit brutal acts without batting an eye-and now I've suddenly gained such an obvious weakness.

This is an obvious weakness.

That was what Xia Xia thought.

Sukuna thought so too.

What a perfect chance!

While Yuji Itadori was lost in his memories and his mental defenses were down, Lord Sukuna, who had been stuck squatting in his inner world, launched an unexpected surprise attack.

"Enchain."

Once that word was spoken, the course of events could no longer be reversed.

A second pair of bloodthirsty, cruel eyes opened on Yuji Itadori's face. Under their agreement, Yuji Itadori's body belonged to Ryomen Sukuna for one minute. How wonderful. The air smelled of freedom!

"No!"

Inside his mind, Yuji Itadori let out a despairing roar. But now, like a powerless husband, all he could do was watch Ryomen Sukuna forcibly control his body and attack his two beloved older brothers.

"Run! I'll handle this!"

Choso reacted immediately, stepping in front of Xia Xia without hesitation. He used his own body as a shield to block that lethal Slashing Cursed Technique.

A brother was someone you could trust to watch your back. As the older brother, he had to protect his younger brother, no matter what.

Xia Xia didn't move.

With strength that even Choso found inconceivable, the man he had just accepted as his younger brother yanked him aside and sheltered him behind his back.

"I acknowledge you, Choso. We're brothers."

"But that's how the struggle to become heir has always been."

Xia Xia smiled as he faced the slash coming at him from point-blank range.

Ryomen Sukuna?

I'm supposed to avoid his edge?

Sukuna must be drunk. How many fingers did he have now, to be hissing like that? Including the one Yuji Itadori had possessed since birth, he'd only gathered sixteen.

As long as he hadn't reached twenty, he wasn't impossible to handle.

One minute. Thirty seconds must have passed by now.

[Domain Expansion: Death-Bound Curse!]

A pitch-black canopy enveloped them as Xia Xia activated his first Innate Cursed Technique. Then...

In his right hand was the Demon Blade Raikiri, generously supplied by Hajime Kashimo.

A crimson Crystal Engraving Knife appeared in his left.

Sukuna felt nothing in particular when he saw the Demon Blade. It was merely a decent cursed tool, not even as good as the ones he had used back in his day. Nothing special.

But something was wrong with that engraving knife.

If it hit him... he might die.

Xia Xia didn't know all that much about Sukuna. Even including the original work, he could only piece together a basic character profile. But with the memories from the Special Simulation added in-Itadori Xia Xia's memories of desperately destroying the fingers-Akashic Records had somehow reached eighty or ninety percent charge.

What a joke. When it came to fighting Sukuna, he was a professional.

The Executioner's Sword was ready.

Sukuna, long time no see.

As Xia Xia's lips stretched into a savage grin, Sukuna inexplicably felt his heart skip a beat.

Bad memories, memories that had never existed, surged into his mind.

No! It's a trap!

"Say goodbye to one of your fingers, Your Majesty, King of Curses..."

Xia Xia took a slash head-on with his formidable body. Amid the spraying blood, that lethal engraving knife cut across Yuji Itadori's body, which Sukuna controlled. Although Sukuna dodged quickly enough to keep it from piercing his chest, it still sliced his left arm.

Unbearable, searing pain.

An ominous premonition that he was about to lose a part of himself.

Finally, a shrill, inhuman death scream that could shatter a soul.

"Brat, what did you do?!"

Sukuna roared, no longer in any mood to play. Cursed energy surged, heralding the arrival of a lethal finishing move.

Barring any surprises, his next move would be [Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine], followed by a free barrage of his Slashing Cursed Technique that would dice Xia Xia into mango cubes at close range, with no escape route.

But his time was up.

His time was up.

One minute. Unlike in Shibuya, Sukuna had acted on a whim this time and hadn't made proper preparations. He only had one minute. Worse still, Yuji Itadori was frantically interfering, and Xia Xia's sneak attack had left Sukuna himself badly injured.

"Brat..."

"The next time we meet, I'll make you regret living in this world. I'll make you regret being born."

The King of Curses no longer raged hysterically. Instead, he calmed down, forcing all four eyes wide open as though determined to remember Xia Xia's face clearly.

"Sure. I'll be waiting anytime."

Xia Xia smiled, leisurely wiping the fresh blood from the engraving knife with the glasses cloth he carried.

He held a finger in his hand.

A finger belonging to the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna.

With that cut, Xia Xia had worked like a surgeon skilled in dissection. Taking advantage of Sukuna's carelessness, he had extracted this finger from Yuji Itadori's body, then used the connection between the finger and Sukuna himself to inflict severe damage on Sukuna's mind with his cursed technique.

Thanks to the technique's unique nature, even if Sukuna gathered all his fingers afterward, this minute injury would permanently rob him of any chance to return to his peak.

Because the connection between this finger and Sukuna had been severed. Its owner was Xia Xia.

Yuji Itadori finally regained control of his body and pressed a hand over the wound on his arm to stop the bleeding. Beside him, Choso, whom Xia Xia had forcibly kept on the sidelines, also looked deeply concerned.

Then their expressions turned to shock.

Right before their eyes, Xia Xia ate the finger belonging to Ryomen Sukuna.

"Tastes pretty good."

"Want some? Shame there's only one."

"Aged cured meat. Delicious."