His Sukuna was just too cute...

With the happy thought that this house and bed had come from his birthday wish, Sukuna cheerfully accepted reality.

The house really wasn't large. The two-meter-square space held little more than a bed.

Rather than a room, it was more like a spacious sedan chair with a soft couch filling the interior.

The lighting inside was dim, with something resembling a luminous pearl in the corner giving off a gentle glow.

Sukuna walked over to the bed and pressed a hand against it.

The white bedding felt wonderful, with just the degree of softness he liked.

A white, fluffy blanket was neatly folded off to one side of the bed.

Sukuna's eyes lit up. Although his Innate Domain was neither cold nor hot, there was no way he would pass up a fluffy white blanket on his bed.

After confirming there was no danger, he carefully lay down.

The instant his body touched the soft bedding, he couldn't help letting out a sigh.

Ahh-

Now this was somewhere to sleep...

After spending days lying on a mountain of bones, Sukuna closed his eyes in comfort.

Then he happily rolled back and forth across the bed~

Tiger wasn't here anyway, so nobody could see him. He didn't have to keep up his King of Curses act!

With a bed two meters wide, he could roll around however he liked!

Although he'd suffered a terrifying nightmare, he'd gotten this bed out of it. Suddenly, it felt as though he'd come out ahead~

After all, the nightmare only happened once, but the bed-he could sleep in it countless times!

Sukuna happily pulled the blanket into his arms and buried his face in it.

The blanket was unbelievably soft, carrying an almost imperceptibly faint scent of fresh greenery.

Ahh-heaven...

He wanted to take a nap on the bed right away, but he was too excited to sleep. In the end, he simply got up and started calling his Tiger.

[Tiger, Tiger, Tiger-]

Itadori, who was lying in bed missing his Sukuna after two days without him, heard the familiar voice and nearly fell off the bed in delight.

"Sukuna!! You're finally awake!!!"

He was so excited that his voice almost cracked.

Sukuna's voice quickly rang out, interrupting his excitement:

[Tiger, get in here! Let me show you the new stuff in my Innate Domain! Wahahaha!-]

With permission to enter, Itadori rushed inside without another word.

Then his eyes went wide at the house that had suddenly appeared, and the bed inside it.

Sukuna showed off the bed with particular smugness-

The bed was now spotless and tidy, with even the blanket neatly folded to one side-

-Yes! He still had an image to maintain. Before calling Itadori, he'd quickly straightened the bed he'd messed up by lying on it.

"S-S-Sukuna!-You can actually have a house and a bed in here?!"

Itadori was delighted too. He finally didn't have to worry about where Sukuna slept.

Every time he'd offered to switch with Sukuna so Sukuna could sleep in the bed while he slept in here, Sukuna had refused.

Now everything was fine. There were beds both inside and out.

He let out a relieved breath, then thought of something else.

"Sukuna, does that mean something new will appear in here every time you eat another finger?"

Sukuna: ...?

Huh. He hadn't considered that question.

He imagined the scene-

...What was this, some magical card-collecting game?

-And once he'd collected all twenty cards, would he be able to summon a divine dragon?

Sukuna was itching to try.

For something this fun, he'd put up with the nightmares! Besides, they might not all be nightmares. Hadn't the third finger given him a nice dream?

Excellent! Sukuna excitedly rubbed his hands together. Let's do this!!

Itadori curiously felt one of the house's pillars.

He didn't touch the bed, concerned about his Sukuna's aversion to dirt.

"Speaking of which, now that you've got a bed, will a kitchen show up someday too?"

Sukuna: ...???

Kid, could we please avoid this subject? I even changed the names of my Innate Domain and innate Cursed Technique so nobody would mistake me for a cook!

The thought left him exhausted.

...Right... What were the new names of my Cursed Technique and domain again?

I'd better remember them before I accidentally give myself away...

Sukuna began trying hard to recall the names he'd made up back then. So much time had passed that he genuinely couldn't quite remember.

Only after Itadori finished his curious inspection of the house did Sukuna finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Great. I remembered.

They were "Demon Prison" and "Demon-Subduing Prison Heaven," I think.

He did still remember that he'd taken the Cursed Technique's name from parts of the domain's name!

...So why had I picked names that were so hard to remember?

"Sukuna, welcome back!"

Although this was the second time, Itadori still felt thrilled.

He'd grown so accustomed to Sukuna's presence. They could chat anytime, and never mind two days-even two hours without him would leave Itadori feeling out of sorts.

"...Pfft. So sentimental."

Although Sukuna said that, he felt a little emotional too.

He'd practically survived a brush with death-the nightmare this finger had triggered was every bit as potent as Three-Year-Old Satoru's spiked chocolate.

"What's going on outside right now?" he asked.

"It's nighttime. Everyone's asleep."

Itadori felt a little disappointed. Otherwise, he could have told everyone right away that Sukuna was back.

"I see..."

Sukuna murmured his acknowledgment.

So it was bedtime now?

In a good mood, he generously-and smugly-extended an invitation.

"How about you sleep in my Innate Domain tonight too?"

-With a new bed, he simply had to share it with his buddy!

"Huh? Can I really?!"

Itadori was excited, but he glanced uncertainly at his Sukuna-

Would his Sukuna's aversion to dirt let him allow someone else onto his bed?

"What's the big deal? There's no dust in my Innate Domain, and you're just a soul. What's there to worry about?"

Seeing through Itadori's thoughts, Sukuna immediately took his hand and pulled him into the house.

"Come on, come on. Time for bed!"

The bed was two meters long and wide, so the two of them could lie side by side without feeling cramped at all.

"Sukuna, this bed's really comfortable."

Itadori poked the bedding. It felt like he was lying in a five-star hotel.

Of course. If it weren't comfortable, I wouldn't have invited you to try it~

Sukuna thought smugly.

He lay comfortably on his back, legs crossed and hands folded behind his head.

"Oh, right. Did anything happen over the last two days? What happened to that curse called Mahito?"

Itadori stopped poking the bed, his voice subdued.

"We didn't find him... Nanamin, Mr. Ijichi, and the others searched all around the sewers, but they couldn't find Mahito. Since there weren't any more leads, I came back to school."

"These past two days have been the same as usual. Nothing special happened... But the Goodwill Event is in another two weeks, so everyone's been training really hard lately."

Sukuna sighed. It was just as well they hadn't found Mahito. With him still asleep, he would have worried about his kid going alone.

They could beat him up later, when Sukuna was around!

As for training... The corner of his mouth curled up.

"Looks like it's time for my Reverse Cursed Technique to take the stage!"

Hearing the smugness in Sukuna's voice, Itadori couldn't help smiling.

He really loved seeing his Sukuna act all pleased with himself~

"Sukuna..."

"Hm?"

"You kind of feel like my little... my big brother. If I had a big brother, I bet this is what it'd feel like."

Itadori rolled onto his side to look at his Sukuna.

Their faces looked almost identical, which made him feel close to Sukuna at a glance.

Sukuna froze for a moment.

...A big brother?

Hmm...

...Shouldn't I be his senior? I was over a thousand years old, after all, wasn't I?

But he turned his head and caught the trusting look in Itadori's eyes, bright as stars.

He shifted his shoulders awkwardly and turned his head the other way, his face growing a little warm.

...Fine...

A big brother it was...

...Young people had more in common anyway. I couldn't put myself in a different generation from my kid, could I?

It wouldn't be good if we ended up with a generation gap.

"Yeah, something like that."

There was an emotion in Sukuna's voice that even he couldn't quite describe.

Watching the red tips of Sukuna's ears as he turned away, Itadori silently broke into a grin.

...His Sukuna was just too cute...

What should I do... I wanted to pet him!

And so, the next morning, after the two of them had fallen asleep...

Sukuna opened his eyes and discovered, utterly bewildered, that Itadori had wrapped an arm and a leg around him and was holding him close, sleeping blissfully.

Hey! I wasn't a body pillow! What were you doing?

Get off-you're going to crush me, brat!-