"hold up."

"it's not a problem." itadori said. his tattoos were disappearing as he spoke. the three of you stood in a triangle, a good six feet away from each other. "more importantly, you and i are pretty beat up. we need to get to a hospital."

you was able to catch a better look at the pink-haired boy... and good lord was he built. you walked over to him and draped an arm around his shoulder. he instantly blushed at your proximity as you turned your face to megumi. "meg, before you pull out your doggies, i say we keep wonderboy, and i think this should be a unanimous decisi—"

"step away from him, (y/n)." megumi's serious voice contrasted to your playful tone. he kept his hands in formation as he spoke. "he could be dangerous."

"hE CoUlD bE dAnGerOuS. you know what else is dangerous? your hot ass breath from over here—"

through itadori's laughter and megumi's growling, a mature(ish) voice spoke into the air. "what's the situation?"

"wha- gojo?!" megumi spat. "what are you doing here?!"

"GOJOOO!!" you cheered, raising your free hand that wasn't holding the the still flustered itadori.

"yo!" the blindfolded man waved. "i wasn't gonna come at first, but the higher-ups got involved after hearing that a special grade cursed object went missing." moving his paper bag to his left hand, he pulled out his phone to snap pictures of a bloodied-up megumi. "so... did you find it?"

"sorry..." itadori mumbled next to you. "i ate it."

"for real?"

"for real." both you and megumi said simultaneously.

as gojo went over to megumi to taunt him, the boy next to you spoke. "why do you call me that?" his voice was as soft as a pillow.

"hmm?"

"wonderboy." his eyebrows were raised as he spoke to you, giving you his undivided attention. you only noticed how close your faces were once you giggled at his curiosity.

"you remind me of hercules."

just like that, his face glowed. a stronger blush pricking at his cheeks as he smiled and draped his own arm around your shoulders . "really?" he smirked. "why? because he's strong or something?"

"nah, it's because you give himbo vibes."

itadori's expression dropped before a sputtering laugher erupted from his lips. "that's great. i like it! but now i need a nickname for you..."

"oh." now you were in trouble. nervously giggling, you said "i appreciate the thought—"

"no, no, it's my pleasure to make a nickname for you!" he jokingly smiled as he squeezed you. "i'll make one JUST as great as wonderboy!"

"hmm, ten seconds!" your sensei called out, interrupting the laughter between you and itadori. gojo gave you a knowing smirk as he stretched his lanky ass legs. his church shoes glistened in the moonlight. 'i swear i might be the only tokyo sorcerer with a fashion sense. what is with these guys and church shoes?'

he then tossed his shopping bag at megumi. he caught it and asked, "what is this?"

"kikufuku mochi."

"DID YOU GET ME—"

"yes, (y/n), yours is in the pink box in the bag." gojo smiled, rustling your hair before shoving his hands in his pockets. you gleefully skipped over to megumi, not noticing the small pout itadori made when you left. megumi handed you the box speechless, wondering why his teacher went to get mochi while people were near death.

"kikifuku is just the best!"

"WATCH OUT!!" you and megumi yelled as sukuna planned a sneak attack on gojo.

and with a blink, sukuna was right in front of your face.

beady red eyes staring deep into your soul.

it was as though he was trying to read you. get a sense of your power. yet, there was familiarity in those eyes, like this wasn't his first time seeing you.

that genuinely creeped you the fuck out.

but you then noticed that gojo was sitting on him like a stool. before you could comprehend sukuna's proximity, he moved to attack gojo again.

"he gives me the creeps." megumi muttered.

"well, i didn't expect much less from the king of curses..."

as sukuna and gojo fought, you snacked on mochi like movie popcorn. before you knew it, ten seconds was up.

"oh.. was everything okay?" once again, the tattoos dissipated from yuuji's body, leaving gojo amused.

"wow, what a surprise! he really can control it!"

"yeah, but he's kinda annoying. i keep hearing his voice."

"tell him i said 'heyyyy'." you joked, waving your hand with a wink and earning a swift punch from megumi. "oww!" you twisted his ear in return.

"it's a miracle that's the only side effect." gojo wondered out loud. "but, before i knock you out..." walking over to you, he snatched the box of mochi you held.

"hey!"

"get up, you're gonna fight sukuna."

"i'm gonna fight who?"

"she's gonna do what?" megumi questioned.

"i would put him against you, megumi, but you're already all beat up, hehehe." turning to you, he continued. "you barely have a scratch on ya pretty little face, so take this as your benchmark test."

"ugh. fiiiiiine." you sang, popping the mochi in your mouth.

"...and use your gum." gojo requested.

"ooh gum! could i have some? that finger kinda gave me bad breath." huffing against his hand, yuuji cringed at the awful scent that escaped his lips.

"oh my god." megumi sighed.

"even if i could give you some, i'm on my last piece," you said, waving the gum around. you then pointed it towards your sensei. "but you're gonna give me a refill."

"i'll give you some when you need it." he smirked. you weren't satisfied with his answer but knew that you wouldn't get much more out of him. begrudgingly, you dropped the stick of gum in your mouth.

within seconds, the faint ringing in your ears stopped. everything around you seemed clearer and brighter, colors more vibrant than before. it gave a small rush of euphoria, when all it did was show you how life normally was.

with being a blessing user, you are constantly hyperaware of the cursed energy around you— which is unfortunately pretty high in japan. because of this, your senses are slightly obscured as an attempt to stay on high alert. but it didn't really bother you since this was the case since you were born.

"alright crazy dude!" gojo yelled, still wondering why itadori swallowed sukuna's finger. "you can switch with him now!"

...but nothing happened.

"um, did i offend you or something?"

"i don't want to hurt her." itadori said quickly, stiffly turning to your sensei with worrisome features. who was he to fight a beautiful lady?

"trust me, i'll be fine."

"she'll be fine." megumi and gojo said simultaneously. yuuji's brown eyes turned back to you as he bit his lip in concern. once you tilted your head and smiled, he took a shaky breath and nodded. on command, tattoos reappeared on yuuji's body. his features changed from a sweet to a menacing face.

"okay, sukuna," you lazily stood out in the open, arms wide. "let's fight."

"you asked for it, princess." he growled before coming towards you, fast.

let's slow things down a bit.

as he ran, his curiosity only grew. you didn't seem scared, in fact, you looked confident. cocky even.

your body was relaxed, hands in the cargo pants' pockets of your school uniform. a small smirk on your features as you head hung tilted.

were you going to move? block? hit back? blessed energy was always tricky to track, making this fight for sukuna a bit more annoying than it should.

but he could win this.

he was about three feet in front of you now and you have yet to move from your position, that smirk still plastered on your face. he knew there was no way you were faster than him. perhaps your cockiness got to your head.

don't worry, he won't hit you hard enough to kill you. you were far to interesting to him for you to die just yet.

swiftly, he swung his arm, ready to knock you into the tree behind you.

huh?

where did you go?

"right here." you whispered into his ear. you somehow had moved from in front of him to his left. leaving him too confused to retaliate, you engulfed your leg in blessed energy and roundhouse kicked him, sending him back several feet.

"WOOHOOO!" gojo exclaimed, visibly proud of you. megumi's eyes were on his phone, as per usual, tapping away at free games.

"you know, blessed energy is kinda different from cursed. for example, i don't have 'techniques'." you shrugged. "so i don't have to shout out random phrases mid-fight like some anime character."

clasping your hands together, you shouted, "DEMON DOGS!" earning you the middle finger from your best friend. the sound of gojo's laughter made you remember to include him. crossing your fingers, you batted your lashes at sukuna and whispered, "infinite void" in the most sultry voice you could muster.

gojo stopped laughing as soon as he realized that he was now the butt of the joke, his smile freezing while he stuck a finger in the air. despite his current headache, megumi chuckled at your antics.

"GRAAAH!" sukuna came back towards you, a clawed hand aiming for your beautiful face. unfazed, you leaned back. you finally took your hands out of your pockets and brought them down to the ground behind you and kicked sukuna with both of your feet.

"since when blessing users can slow time?" he asked, wiping the shoe marks off his face.

"i don't have the ability to slow time, ryōmen." you rolled your head, releasing a satisfying crack from your neck. "i naturally radiate energy. the closer you are, the more energy pushes against you. so, no, i'm not slowing time. i'm slowing you."

gojo noticed that the smirk you had at the start of the fight had faded. an annoyed look in its place. before he could say anything, you spoke up.

"what are you doing?" you asked the demon before he could run back up and throw another hit. frustrated, you sent a kick of blessed energy, scorching the ground it touched. yet, when sukuna blocked it with his arms, he remained unscathed.

unlike curses, blessings are powered by positive emotions. negative emotions make the energy weaker. in other words, you being annoyed, frustrated, or feeling any negative emotion, makes your energy less useful.

sukuna chuckled at your question."what are you talking about?" he said with a smile, opening up his arms similarly to how you did at the start of the fight.

"you aren't fighting. you aren't trying to kill me, not like how you were with gojo."

"hmm, you're actually pretty smart, princess." the pet name he gave you was infuriating. it was patronizing, making you feel like you weren't strong enough to fight him at his fullest.

maybe he was right.

understanding the game he was trying to play, you took in a deep breath, your smirk returning to your face. "itadori, go ahead and switch back." you started making your way to the bench gojo and megumi were seated at. "if the king of curses himself refuses to fight me properly," looking back, you winked at the demon. "it's safe to assume that he's just scared."

"HOW DARE— ...are you okay?" itadori asked as soon as he switched back, power walking over to you and checking for injuries. the sudden change in tone was enough to make you giggle.

"just great, kid." gojo said, walking over to the vessel. "see ya on the flip side." pressing two fingers to itadori's forhead, gojo knocked him out.

after a beat, you asked, "so, can we keep him?" doing a little happy dance at the thought of getting to know itadori better. unlike megumi, gojo was very amused.

"i'll have to figure some things out first." the platinum-haired pulled out his phone and ordered a taxi. "you two go back to the school. you will know the answer as soon as you wake up."

as the two of you nodded, a black car drove up to your group. gojo threw itadori over his shoulder like a rag doll. "okay, bye (y/n)! bye megumi! ...bye (y/n)!"

megumi furrowed his brows. "why the hell you said (y/n) twice?"

as you turned around, your sensei smiled. "i like (y/n)." sensing the joke, you laughed and flipped him off, slipping inside of the car after megumi.

"i'll catch ya at the school."

*