Pressure on Megumi Fushiguro?

"Huh? Shiratori, how did you get in here?"

Itadori looked puzzled.

"When Sukuna nearly killed me earlier, my consciousness sank into my own 'Innate Domain,' and I came into contact with part of my soul."

"Based on that experience, when you were hitting Sukuna just now, I hitched a ride with you through physical contact."

Shiratori Gotsu briefly explained, then turned back to Megumi Fushiguro.

"Oi, you're Megumi Fushiguro, right? I've heard about you from the others."

Megumi Fushiguro didn't respond.

"Everyone's risking their lives trying to save you, and you're just giving up in here?"

"Nothing... matters anymore..."

Fushiguro replied in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.

"I just wanted to create a world where Tsumiki wouldn't suffer any undeserved misfortune."

"Even if I couldn't do that, I at least wanted to make sure that, while I was alive and could keep an eye on her, her precious, happy life wouldn't be so easily destroyed."

"Eating the meals she made out of habit, looking at the laundry hanging out to dry, watching her walk side by side with someone like Itadori in the setting sun..."

"...That would have made me happy, I'm sure..."

"But nothing... matters anymore..."

"Shiratori Gotsu... I saw everything you did to Sukuna... Please, don't worry about me anymore."

"Let everyone kill me and Sukuna together."

After listening to all that, Shiratori Gotsu ran a hand through his hair, a little irritated.

Before transmigrating, when he had read the original manga, he had discussed the part where Megumi Fushiguro gave up with many fellow fans in a chat group.

Now, he just wanted to let loose with everything he'd wanted to say since before he transmigrated.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"A Curse User took over your sister's body, and Sukuna killed that Curse User using your body."

"Just because of that, you think you killed your sister with your own hands, and now you've lost the will to live?"

Megumi Fushiguro swayed slightly a couple of times. His lips moved, but he said nothing, only curling up tighter.

There was a note of frustration in Shiratori Gotsu's voice.

"Wake up! Your sister was killed by Kenjaku a long time ago!"

"All Sukuna killed earlier was a Curse User who had taken over her body!"

"But if you keep giving up like this, those companions of yours who are genuinely risking their lives to save you might get killed by Sukuna one after another!"

"Do you really think you can just say something as easy as 'kill me and Sukuna together' and take it for granted that you don't have to do anything?"

"Even if you don't want to live anymore, you'd better get up and fight Sukuna, even if you have to take him down with you!"

"And what made you think we could defeat Sukuna in the first place while he was free to use your body however he pleased?"

"Leaving everything to other people like that is way too selfish!"

"Shiratori... you..." Looking worried, Itadori placed his right hand on Shiratori Gotsu's shoulder.

"Itadori, tell him off too!"

Shiratori Gotsu glared in displeasure at Megumi Fushiguro, who was curled up on the ground like a giant black maggot.

"Sigh..." Itadori sighed.

"My grandpa's illness was diagnosed as lung cancer from the start."

"But right from the start, he refused aggressive treatment because it would have serious side effects.

"I've always been healthy, so I'd never even thought about refusing treatment."

"When I heard people talk about things like euthanasia, I thought they were a long way removed from me, too."

"Or rather, I didn't think they had anything to do with me at all... At most, I'd just think that if it were me, I'd probably bear it."

"Maybe those people really were suffering."

A trace of sadness appeared on Itadori's face.

"But after I entered Jujutsu Society, I went through so many terrible things."

"When I thought about how all of it might go on without end, I started to understand the choices people like Grandpa made when they faced a reality they could do nothing about..."

Fushiguro's huddled figure suddenly stiffened for a moment...

"So..."

"So I can't say things like 'keep living' or 'fight with all you've got' to you as you are now, Fushiguro."

"It's just... if you're not here, I'll be lonely, Fushiguro..."

Itadori held back his tears, a bitter smile on his lips.

Though they had held a long conversation in the soul space, in reality, it had taken no more than the blink of an eye.

On the battlefield, Sukuna suddenly stumbled, unable to keep his balance.

He looked at the shadow that had suddenly appeared beneath his feet, his mind already in turmoil.

After Mahoraga was destroyed, I made a Binding Vow to abandon the Ten Shadows Technique...

This is... Megumi Fushiguro's!

Could the constant damage to my soul have reduced my synchronization with the body, allowing Megumi Fushiguro's soul to break free from the Bath?!

Before Sukuna could get an answer, Itadori's fist slammed into his face again.

"Black Flash!!!"

Black lightning burst forth with a roar. The bridge of Sukuna's nose caved in, and he was sent flying more than ten meters.

Itadori looked at the shadow on the ground and smiled in relief.

So did Shiratori Gotsu.

Or rather, everyone on the battlefield did.

They all knew what that shadow meant.

The instant Sukuna landed, Straw Doll Technique: Resonance erupted once more.

Itadori also lunged forward again, throwing another punch at Sukuna's abdomen.

"Black Flash!"

The powerful blow struck Sukuna directly in the soul, making him spit out two of the fingers in his stomach.

Unwilling to accept this, Sukuna quickly gathered his Cursed Energy and countered with a hook.

Itadori neither dodged nor evaded, taking the punch head-on.

HP-800.

"You've gotten so weak, Sukuna!"

Shiratori Gotsu, who had activated Fate Track Binding Curse on Itadori, saw the somewhat ridiculous damage number that popped up and taunted Sukuna loudly.

Has my Cursed Energy output already been restricted this much because of Megumi Fushiguro?!

"You damned bastards!"

Realizing how serious the situation was, Sukuna immediately counterattacked, his face twisted as he threw a flurry of punches at Itadori.

At the same time, his soul sank into the depths, where he sharply challenged Megumi Fushiguro, who had already risen to his feet.

"What right do you have to go on living?"

"I took your body, and you killed your own sister."

"That brat you saved killed a lot of people in Shibuya, too."

"Give up. You can't live with your head held high anymore. Be good and leave everything to me!"

To Sukuna's surprise, Fushiguro didn't respond to those words with the same indifferent attitude. Instead, he struck back just as sharply.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Have things gotten out of your control, so now you can't help making a desperate last stand?"

"That's a relief. So even the great King of Curses is afraid of dying!"

A mocking smile curled Megumi Fushiguro's lips.

"I never planned to live a good life in the first place."

"This might sound pointless, but I only just figured it out."

"There are so, so many people in this world who matter more than I do. So I want to try living for others one more time."

The shadow appeared beneath Sukuna's feet again. His body sank uncontrollably, and then Itadori's heavy fist struck him once more.

"Black Flash!!!"

He had landed Black Flash eight times in a row.

It was unquestionably a legend without precedent and never to be repeated.

And now, all the potential within Itadori had been fully awakened by Black Flash!

"Although expanding a domain uses up a lot of Cursed Energy, it also has its advantages."

Satoru Gojo's earlier "lesson" flashed through Itadori's mind.

"First, the environment increases the power of your Cursed Technique."

"Second, a Cursed Technique imbued into the barrier is guaranteed to hit when activated within the domain."

It's time...

Itadori slowly raised his hands and formed the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Mudra, then said:

"Domain Expansion!"

"What... is this?"

Sukuna, who had somehow returned to the appearance he had when he possessed Itadori, stared in disbelief at the deserted train platform before him.

The only answer he received was Itadori's carefree smile beside him and the strange words he spoke.

"Let's go, Sukuna!"