Why was it getting so hard to hold back...

The next afternoon, Sukuna yawned.

Itadori had probably been too excited the night before. He had kept Sukuna chatting away from last night all the way into the afternoon, until even Sukuna grew sleepy.

He told Itadori he was going to take a nap.

[Tiger... wake me when my three hours of freedom start tonight...]

"Okay."

Itadori agreed very happily.

And so, at eight that evening, Itadori's lovingly provided wake-up service went off right on schedule.

"Sukuna, Sukuna! It's time! You can get up now!"

Sukuna lazily got up and yawned, rubbing his eyes inside his inner world.

How did his kid have so much energy? He never slept at night. Didn't he get tired?

Ah, he really was getting old... He was over a thousand years old, after all. He just couldn't compete.

[Coming, coming.]

Sukuna shared Itadori's vision and saw Yuji walking toward his dorm room, telling him as he went, "You can take over now. Nobody else is around."

[...All right.]

Sukuna slowly took over and walked to the door, yawning as he rubbed his eyes and reached out to open it.

The moment his hand touched the doorknob, he paused.

Someone was inside...?

An extremely familiar presence drifted out from the room, and he relaxed.

Oh, it was Gojo...

...Why had he come so early today? What about his three hours of freedom?

He opened the door and walked in, feeling glum.

"Gojo, why are you here so..."

Pop, pop, pop!!-

Several loud pops rang out from the room the instant he opened the door, startling Sukuna.

Then a loud chorus of familiar voices rang out:

"Sukuna! Happy birthday!!-"

At those words, he froze for a moment.

Then, still holding the door open, he went completely still-

-Gojo wasn't the only one in the brightly lit room.

-Maki, Panda, Inumaki, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara... everyone was there.

They held little birthday party poppers and party blowers, with tiny birthday hats on their heads. The colorful confetti released by those pops drifted slowly down through the air, some of it landing on him.

They all looked at him with warm, well-wishing smiles, their eyes shining.

He stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at it all.

Th-this was...

Inside his head, Itadori's voice sounded gentle and full of a smile.

[Sukuna, your birthday probably isn't today, but...]

[-Happy birthday!-]

[I promised we'd celebrate the birthdays you missed. I hope you like it~]

[Teacher Gojo's here tonight too, so you don't have to worry about anything else. You can stay out the whole time.]

Sukuna's heart trembled faintly.

He finally understood why Itadori had kept him talking all day until he fell asleep...

...Only once he was asleep could Itadori tell everyone and get them involved.

He looked up at the familiar faces before him, each beaming with happiness-

A scorching warmth suddenly welled up in his heart-

His eyes abruptly stung-

...N-no... this wasn't good...

He quickly raised one hand and covered his eyes.

His other hand hung at his side, its trembling fingertips slowly curling into a fist-

Damn it...

These guys... really were...

His throat tightened, and he pressed his lips together, afraid to speak-

Afraid his voice would come out horribly distorted.

Hold it in!-

He was the mighty King of Curses!... How could he let these guys see him bursting into tears!

Damn it...

His breathing grew quick and shaky.

...Why was it getting so hard to hold back...

Everyone saw Sukuna's reaction.

But not a single person laughed at him.

They all raised their hands to cover their faces at the same time, silently screaming with excitement inside. Kugisaki even shed two thick streams of tears-

Help! ...

Their Sukuna...

...Was just too freaking cute!-

They'd thought he might be touched... but they hadn't expected him to be this touched!-

What kind of King of Curses was this... Could they please get a dozen Kings of Curses like him?! They wanted every last one!!

"All right, all right~ Come cut the cake!~"

Gojo cheerfully wheeled a small cart out from behind the others.

A huge three-tiered cake sat on it, giving off an enticingly sweet aroma.

The Gojo Clan's team of chefs had made the cake. With special instructions from the clan head himself, they had put their finest skills to work.

Gojo took a cake knife and paper plates out of the packaging and beckoned Sukuna over to blow out the candles.

After a long struggle to calm himself and hold back his tears, Sukuna lowered his hand-

His eyes were a little red, but he had more or less maintained his dignity. With a composed expression, he walked up to the cart.

-Then he saw the four number candles spelling out "1016" on the cake, and his expression went blank for a moment.

[Ahem...]

Itadori gave a soft cough inside his head and awkwardly explained.

[We didn't know how old you were, so we decided to start with my age, fifteen, add your thousand years, and then add one more for your birthday. That's how we got that number.]

Sukuna: ...All right, then. Fair enough.

The cake probably never imagined it would reach the pinnacle of cakehood, bearing the weight of so many years.

After blowing out the candles, Sukuna pulled them out somewhat clumsily.

-And saw the crooked message on the cake: "Happy birthday, Sukuna." Its characters had clearly been written by different people, and his heart trembled again.

Counting Itadori, there was exactly one character per person...

...Help. What was he supposed to do if he wanted to cover his face again...?

He quickly took a deep breath, suppressing the emotion rising inside him.

He raised the cake knife and lightly touched its tip to the center of the top tier.

An invisible Dismantle swept past, dividing the enormous cake into eight beautifully even slices.

One each, he thought. And one for his Tiger too. Nobody could be left out.

Of course, they couldn't finish a three-tiered cake. Everyone only ate the top tier. In the chaos that followed, all the rest ended up smeared across everyone's faces. Even Gojo wasn't spared.

They all tacitly refrained from using Cursed Energy, leaving Nobara and Megumi Fushiguro as the two most battered casualties.

Both of them: ...We were definitely going to work on our hand-to-hand combat!!!

"Come to think of it, this is my first time seeing Sukuna, isn't it?"

Maki remarked as she chased Sukuna with cake, while he dodged at lightning speed.

Nobara was shocked. "Huh?!-I thought I was the last one! You hadn't met him yet either, Maki?"

Maki: "...? Wait, all of you have met him?"

Everyone nodded in unison, then fell collectively silent as they looked at Maki.

Looking utterly betrayed, Maki turned to Inumaki and Panda in shock-

Fine, the blindfolded idiot and the first-years were one thing...

But why had you two secretly met him behind my back too?!

"Ahem... It was that time Sukuna first made a cake..."

Panda offered an awkward explanation, earning himself a heartbroken smack of cake in the face from Maki.

Then she turned to Sukuna, her eyes filled with murderous intent-

"Very good! Sukuna, stay right where you are! Let's have a 'friendly' first meeting!!"

Sukuna: ...

-Was he supposed to move or not?

...Waiting for answers. Urgent!