Give Me Back That Heartwarming Feeling!

Sukuna felt like he was having a heart attack.

This wasn't quite how he'd imagined himself...

No, it was completely different!!

He covered his face and rubbed it hard.

Then he looked at this world again-

The ceiling of vertebrae, the mountains of corpses, and the sea of blood were still there.

He wore the exact same white kimono as the "him" in his dream.

A faint bloody scent drifted through the air. Surprisingly, he didn't find it unpleasant. He even thought it smelled faintly sweet.

Like dew on plants in the early morning.

He agonized over it for a while, unsure whether he'd simply grown used to the smell or whether there really wasn't any bloody stench.

All he could do was reassure himself that at least staying here wouldn't be so unbearable...

So...

He thought, his head beginning to ache.

...What about Tiger?

The next time he switched in, would he end up here too?

If so...

How was he supposed to explain this... savage, bloody innate domain to Tiger...?

Sukuna let out a sorrowful sigh.

There was no hiding it, unless he never intended to switch out again.

After wallowing in misery for a while, he finally decided to come clean. As he thought it over, he gave a soft cough.

[Ahem...]

Hearing that familiar voice, Itadori, who had been worrying about him all this time, immediately cried out in delight.

"Sukuna, you're finally awake!"

[Yeah...]

Sukuna sounded rather listless. Anyone could tell he was in a bad mood.

Itadori instantly grew nervous.

"Sukuna, what's wrong?... Did something happen after you ate the third finger?"

Sukuna hesitated, then said in a muffled voice.

[...Um...]

He dragged his feet as he began.

[...There's something I want to tell you in advance.]

"What... is it?"

Itadori grew even more nervous. He swallowed and asked a little fearfully.

"...Did you get your memories back?"

...Memories?

[Oh, no, nothing like that.]

Sukuna answered quite naturally. After all, remembering a single image hardly counted as recovering his memories.

Phew...

Hearing that answer, Itadori breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, he hadn't recovered his memories... That meant he was still the same Sukuna he'd always known~

He couldn't help feeling a little happy deep down, then felt that wasn't right. Sukuna was his friend. How could he be happy that his friend still hadn't recovered his lost memories...?

He quickly distracted himself by asking, "Then what is it?"

Sukuna's voice in his head paused for a few seconds before speaking again.

[Well, I realized that the me from a thousand years ago really might have been... just a teensy, billion-sized bit savage...]

Sukuna spoke hesitantly.

Itadori froze. "...Huh?"

Sukuna lowered his head, nervously pinched his sleeve, and said quietly:

[My inner world isn't pitch-black like it was before...]

[Now it's become a little... uh...]

[...Full of nonrealist performance art and the aesthetics of violence...?]

Itadori: "...???"

What?

Utterly confused, Itadori turned that last sentence over in his mind several times before finally giving up.

"Sukuna... can you just say it plainly? I don't really understand."

Sukuna: [...]

He sighed.

[Fine... basically, I might really have killed a lot of people a thousand years ago...]

Itadori: "..."

A trace of sadness rose in Itadori's heart, weighing down his mood.

Though he'd been able to guess as much-after all, Sukuna was the terrifying King of Curses recorded in accounts from a thousand years ago-actually learning it still upset him.

Meanwhile, Sukuna thought again about the shape of that pile of bones he'd seen earlier-they were all cattle skulls-and hurriedly added something.

[Oh, and I killed a lot of animals too.]

Itadori: "...?"

He slowly produced a question mark.

His heavy mood suddenly struggled to stay heavy.

Sukuna kept speaking, letting out a sigh.

[Anyway, my inner world is kind of scary now...]

-Scary for cursed spirits, too.

Sukuna sounded dejected.

[...I just thought I should tell you in advance, so you won't get scared when you see it the next time you switch in...]

Itadori couldn't help swallowing.

"Then... roughly what does it look like in there now? Tell me, so I can prepare myself."

Sukuna: [...Mountains of corpses and a sea of blood...]

Itadori: "..."

Sukuna: [...Heaps of skeletal remains...]

Itadori: "..."

Sukuna: [Luckily, the air doesn't stink of blood, or I'd seriously keel over...]

Itadori had still been a little scared, but hearing that last sentence suddenly made him feel sorry for his Sukuna.

How could his neat-freak Sukuna stand being in a place like that?

Itadori took a deep breath.

"Got it... I'm mentally prepared. I'll switch in tonight and take a look."

[Then... all right...]

Feeling he'd more or less explained everything, Sukuna pulled himself together and perked up again.

[Speaking of which, what time is it now? How long was I asleep?]

As he spoke, he began sharing Itadori's vision and saw everyone training on the field.

"Two days. It's the afternoon of the third day since you fell asleep. Everyone's training."

Itadori sounded a little awkward.

Only heaven knew how he'd made it through those two days.

Every single moment, he'd been worrying that his Sukuna would never come back.

Thankfully, he had come back after all!

Compared with that, what did a change in his inner world even matter?

He let out a great sigh of relief.

[What? Two days?!-]

Sukuna's shocked cry suddenly rang out in his head.

[I thought only two hours had passed! It's already been that long?!]

[Then how many snacks did I miss over those two days?!-]

Itadori: "..."

...Give me back that heartwarming feeling!!