A Day Trip to the Countryside

On the station escalator, Itadori and Sukuna rode side by side.

"When I fought sorcerers in the past, I occasionally formed connections with them, something like resonance."

"I thought that might be a side effect of Cursed Energy originating from human emotions..."

"But now..."

Sukuna looked around at the scene, utterly perplexed.

"That's obviously not what this is."

"So what is it? Is this your domain, brat?"

"You're so damn noisy."

Itadori looked thoroughly annoyed.

"I only managed to pull this off by chance, and I had to give it everything I had. I don't even know how it works yet."

"I just wanted to have a proper talk with you. Bear with it for a little while."

"Tch..."

Sukuna had no desire to pay Itadori any attention, but he didn't know what was going on or what Itadori had done.

So, for the time being, he chose to hold his tongue.

I'll see what this brat is up to first...

After Itadori expanded his domain and pulled Sukuna inside,

the others, left outside the domain, exchanged looks, all somewhat puzzled by the situation.

"Wasn't that kid, Yuji Itadori, supposed to have no Innate Technique?"

Ryu Ishigori stepped forward and rapped his knuckles against the pitch-black shell of the domain.

"How did he open a domain?"

Shiratori Gotsu stroked his chin and thought for a moment, organizing the information he had gained from reading the manga before he transmigrated. Then he raised a hand and showed everyone Nanami's Cursed Tool.

"The former owner of this Cursed Tool was Kento Nanami."

"Because it was steeped in its owner's Cursed Energy for so long, his technique happened to be engraved on it."

"Itadori was possessed by Sukuna as his vessel for a long time, wasn't he?"

"So perhaps the same thing happened to him."

"After being steeped in the Cursed Energy known as 'Sukuna' for so long, the circuitry for Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine was engraved in his brain too."

"After he landed eight consecutive Black Flashes, that potential was awakened."

"How do you know so much?" Maki slid the Soul Liberation Blade back into the straps at her waist.

Of course I learned it from the original manga. Then I came up with a coherent explanation on the spot to fit it.

That was what Shiratori Gotsu thought, but he couldn't say it aloud.

"Obviously, it's a reasonable deduction based on what we know. Is there a problem?"

He wore an expression that said it was only natural.

"In any case, since Itadori deliberately left us outside the domain's barrier, that proves he has some plan and wants to face Sukuna one-on-one."

"We just need to trust him."

"Hey, am I late?"

There was no mistaking that voice.

"Our jailed teacher is back. Everything go smoothly?"

Everyone went to greet Satoru Gojo as he descended from the sky.

Those who hadn't taken part in the battle also made their way to the battlefield using Ui Ui's Cursed Technique.

The whole group had assembled again.

Gojo flashed a toothy grin and pointed a thumb at himself.

"Who do you think I am? Of course everything went smoothly!"

He stepped forward and patted Shiratori Gotsu on the shoulder.

"Have you been putting the Cursed Tool Nanami left behind to good use?"

"Of course. And thanks for being willing to lend it to me, jailed teacher."

Shiratori Gotsu gave Gojo a light elbow in the side.

"So, what's going on over here?"

Gojo looked curiously at the rather sizable domain barrier before him.

Meanwhile, inside the domain's barrier, Itadori and Sukuna were still talking.

The two walked along a path skirting a vast stretch of rice fields, one behind the other.

"Overall... this is just a gloomy-looking bit of countryside, but it's pretty far from downtown Sendai City, so there's plenty of greenery."

Itadori spoke casually.

"I didn't have any expectations to begin with."

Sukuna sounded quite impatient.

"Look at all that green, as far as the eye can see."

Ignoring Sukuna's mood, Itadori leaned against the roadside guardrail in a relaxed pose.

"When I was little, I used to catch grasshoppers in the rice fields until there was hardly any room left in the cage..."

"...But I haven't seen many grasshoppers lately."

"Maybe pesticides have evolved again?"

"...Hey!"

Sukuna frowned slightly. "Are you ever going to stop?"

Itadori knew Sukuna had been impatient all along, but the journey he had planned hadn't reached its end yet.

"Just wait a little longer. There are a few more places I want to go."

"Horses really are amazing creatures..."

"...Now that I think about it, my grandpa really took on a lot of my parents' responsibilities in raising me..."

"The ice cream here is really good. I still remember spending all my allowance on it one day, then eating so much I threw up..."

They passed one place after another, and at each one, Itadori told Sukuna about his childhood memories of it.

"So your brain hasn't worked right since you were a kid?"

Sukuna couldn't help saying.

Itadori ignored the jab entirely and extended Sukuna a new invitation.

"Let's try archery!"

After Itadori missed the target with several arrows in a row and watched Sukuna easily hit the bull's-eye again, he pouted.

"Playing with you is no fun at all."

Sukuna's expression didn't particularly change as he put the bow and arrows back on the rack.

"Isn't it only natural that I'm better at this?"

Itadori thought for a moment.

"True. You're from the age of bows and arrows..."

As the two set off again, snowflakes gradually began drifting down.

Itadori's thoughts drifted back to winter nights in his childhood.

"During the snow festival in winter, they used to put up snow sculpture after snow sculpture here. I wonder if they still hold it now?"

"Same goes for Sendai. It hardly snows at all now, after all. If the ground isn't covered in snow, it just doesn't feel like winter."

"I always liked holding a cup of sweet milk tea in my freezing, red hands and drinking it after shoveling snow in the morning."

"Even though Grandpa always gave me a look of disgust..."

Itadori gazed up at the sky, his face full of nostalgia.

"When Christmas drew near, you could hear bells at night."

"That always made me think Santa Claus was real."

"Later, I found out it was actually the sound of snow chains on cars..."

At that, Sukuna's patience finally ran out.

His face full of displeasure, he rudely interrupted Itadori's reminiscing.

"Hey, that's enough!"

"..."

Itadori fell silent for a few seconds, then replied,

"We're about done anyway. I've shown you pretty much everything I wanted to show you."

"All that endless prattling is sickening."

Sukuna put both hands in his pockets.

"So what the hell are you trying to say?"

Itadori lowered his gaze.

"I used to think that understanding and carrying out my tasks was the meaning of life."

"If I could die after doing all that, would that count as a proper death?"

"But now, I think a little differently."

"Those trivial things, those petty little 'tasks' in everyday life—it doesn't matter who does them."

"Even without them, people still live normal lives."

"Even if someone is bedridden and never has anything to do with anyone else their whole life, that's fine too."

"Rather than leaving a lasting impression in other people's memories, even if only the tiniest fragment of a memory remains, a person's life has value."

"How someone dies doesn't matter anymore."

"But I can't forgive people who treat that value as if it doesn't exist."

"Whether it's you, Kenjaku, or Mahito."

At that, Itadori looked up at Sukuna across from him, his eyes revealing an unmistakable trace of hatred.

"Sukuna, I really hate you."

"But people aren't tools, and they aren't given a fixed mission the moment they're born."

"I don't know whether human nature is good or bad, and maybe I'm wrong."

"So at the very least, I wanted to show you that the people you've always considered worthless do have a reason to exist."

Even after hearing that, Sukuna's heart remained utterly unmoved.

He met Itadori's gaze expressionlessly.

"Brat, I understand everything you've said."

"But even after understanding it, I still don't feel anything about it."

"Just as you accepted that the town had become desolate, all I'd think is, 'Oh, I suppose that's how it is.'"

"So what of it?"

"As I thought, it's no use..."

A flicker of disappointment crossed Itadori's face.

Sukuna didn't care. He turned to look into the distance.

"If I had to say, I am a little surprised at how weak you're being."

"Is that all the anger and hatred you have for me amounts to?"

Catching a glimpse of the faint sadness in Itadori's eyes, Sukuna suddenly thought of another possibility.

His eyes widened slightly, and his voice finally betrayed some feeling.

"Brat... don't tell me you pity me?"

His voice held barely suppressed anger.

"Are you trying to sympathize with me?!"

"That's right, Sukuna."

Itadori's gaze sharpened.

"Right now, I'm fully capable of killing you here."

"But if you free Fushiguro and return to my body, I can spare your life."

Itadori's words finally set Sukuna's anger from the entire journey ablaze, and the face that had shown little expression for so long twisted once more.

"Damn brat..."

"Tearing you to pieces won't be enough! Brat, I'll kill every last one of those supposedly valuable people of yours before your severed head!"