The group of four wandered outside for a long time, mainly accompanying Kamiyado, who was short on cash, to buy ingredients for tomorrow's cooking.
Hearing this, Gojo Satoru, Fushiguro Megumi, and Itadori were all extremely astonished.
Itadori: "What?! Senior Kamiyado, you know how to cook? I know how to cook too, why don't we compare notes?"
Ryomen Sukuna: "...I forbid it!"
Gojo Satoru: "I wonder if I have the honor of tasting Kamiyado-kun's cooking~?"
Ryomen Sukuna: "...Get lost!"
Fushiguro Megumi: "Tch! Can't you just behave for once, Satoru-san?"
Anyone could see it was being made for Ryomen Sukuna! Why were these people trying to join in the fun?
A Jujutsu Sorcerer eating with a Special Grade Curse—how was that not weird no matter how you thought about it!
Itadori didn't care; since Sukuna would be possessing him later anyway, he'd be the one eating it in the end.
In the Innate Domain within Itadori's inner world, Sukuna, half-reclining on a mountain of bones, abruptly heard what Itadori was thinking, and his entire aura plunged into gloom.
He suddenly lost any desire to tr! y! out this human's cooking!
He wanted to kill—no, beat this brat up first!
Kamiyado carried two large plastic bags in his hands, filled with all sorts of ingredients.
Hearing this, he replied calmly: "My cooking was taught by Sukuna, and I only know how to make what Sukuna likes to eat. I don't know if you guys can handle it."
Gojo Satoru pressed down the corners of his lips and asked with suspicion: "What does Sukuna like to eat? Wait no... Sukuna actually knows how to cook?!"
Gojo, Fushiguro, and Yuji: ...We are utterly dumbfounded.
Speaking of his own Sukuna, Kamiyado's expression instantly brightened: "He does... and he likes sweet things."
"Baked cheese confections and cream-dipped tamagoyaki—those are two things I used to have to prepare for him every single day..."
Sukuna sat up with a start from the mountain of bones, roaring to interrupt this hateful human who was ruining his reputation: "I don't like sweets! I like eating human flesh!"
Hearing this, Itadori froze for a moment, but still faithfully relayed those words.
For a moment, all four of them fell silent.
Kamiyado's striking brows and eyes returned to calmness, and amid the somewhat silent gazes of the others, he spat out a flat sentence: "He likes them."
His tone carried unquestionable certainty.
Sukuna wanted to say something else, but as if through Itadori's physical body, he locked eyes with Kamiyado's calm gaze.
Was he... angry?
"Don't speak for a moment, I'm going to go inside and ask you clearly."
Sukuna frowned, muttering irritably: Why should I listen to you...
Then—he obediently lay back down.
That's right, he was just tired; it was of his own accord that he wanted to lie down.
Interrupted by this little episode, the group lost all desire to shop.
After a brief discussion, Gojo Satoru took Fushiguro Megumi and left first to find temporary lodging, while Kamiyado accompanied Itadori back to his home.
Mainly because Kamiyado had business with Sukuna, so naturally he wouldn't run off to some other place by himself.
Upon reaching home, Itadori looked somewhat awkward: "Since I live alone, my place doesn't have a guest room set up yet. Senior Kamiyado, you...?"
Sukuna sat up abruptly once more, narrowing his eyes with the dark thought: If Kamiyado dares to share a bed with this brat, he'll hack this brat into a human stump!
Even though he was currently inside this brat's body...
Kamiyado spoke with a light, airy tone, sparing the clueless Itadori from disaster.
"It's fine, I don't need to sleep, but I will keep watch over you in your room."
"Ah~! I'm not really used to having someone watch me sleep."
So said the so-called Yuji, who proceeded to speed-run his way to bed right after washing up, his hair not even completely dry before he began to let out muffled snores.
After all, Itadori was still a high schooler of fifteen or sixteen.
No matter how tough his physical body was, having lived through a drastic upheaval of his worldview all day long, once he relaxed now, he was dead tired.
Kamiyado, sitting on a barstool nearby, glanced at him, then let go of the tension in his straight spine, leaned back against the chair, and closed his eyes.
In a world bathed in blood, Sukuna suddenly felt something, his brows twitching, though he didn't open his eyes.
Kamiyado stood within the pools of blood, looking up at the familiar figure clad in a white kimono resting on the mountain of bones.
At this moment, Sukuna had his back to him, and Kamiyado could see the black sash tied around the waist of that white kimono, knotted into a very cute and pretty butterfly bow at the back.
Kamiyado suddenly chuckled, calling out in a low voice: "Sukuna."
Sukuna stubbornly suppressed the intense urge to sit up and look at him, remaining lying down and motionless.
A brief silence hung in the bloody space, followed a moment later by a helpless sigh.
Sukuna distinctly heard the sound of footsteps wading through water.
Step by step, that person walked across the mountain of bull skulls until he reached his side and slowly sat down.
His clear voice was tinged with a trace of nostalgic melancholy: "You're still the same as ever..."
"Every time we agreed to wait for me, you'd secretly fall asleep by yourself."
Sukuna snapped his eyes open, something frantically churning and twisting in his mind with astonishing discomfort.
What came into view was no longer that cliché bloody world.
He felt as if—he had been sucked into the shifting mists of loosened memories.
At this moment, beneath him was not a hard, poking mountain of bones, but a soft, warm bed.
He could even feel the quilt pinched between his fingertips, feel its smooth texture, and feel the long-brewing drowsiness in this body of his.
He could feel everything, yet he was completely unable to make any movement.
Just as his soul resided within Itadori's body, right now he was equivalent to residing within his past self from his memories.
A blurry figure sat quietly beside the bed, and their voice was as muffled as if submerged in the deep sea.
"What do you want to eat? Hm?"
A moment later, he heard his own sleep-suppressed command: "I want to eat tamagoyaki, go buy some for me."
Though phrased as a command, the tone was as soft as a request.
Sukuna, who considered himself domineering and rampant, watched this scene and fell into a rare silence, offering no commentary whatsoever on this version of himself.
That blurry person smiled and agreed: "Then I'll be right back..."
"Rest assured, I won't make you wait too long."
I won't make you... wait too long.
As a silent spectator, hearing those words, Sukuna was suddenly enveloped by an overwhelming sense of panic.
He watched that blurry back retreating further and further away, the crushing feeling of impending loss growing stronger and stronger in his chest.
He tried his utmost to break through the shackles of this body, to rush forward and grab that person's hand, but no matter what, he couldn't do it.
He could only watch helplessly as that back vanished before his eyes, while his past self in the memory slowly closed his eyes, and everything around them plunged into boundless darkness...
Sukuna sat up abruptly, looking at the blood-red world that was familiar to his very bones, breathing heavily with trembling hands as he clutched his face and rubbed it incessantly.
As if doing so could suppress that hair-raising, heart-palpitating sensation.
"You're awake... What's wrong with you?" The youth's voice, carrying worry and confusion, came from beside him.
Whether it was because his mind was currently in a chaotic jumble, he actually managed to completely overlap this person's voice with the muffled voice from that memory just moments ago.
Sukuna stopped his movements, suddenly raising his head to glare fiercely at the handsome youth.
Kamiyado's gaze flickered, and he was immediately pinned down against the bones by the lunging Sukuna, who grabbed his shoulders.
The force was so great that it made the entire mountain of bones shudder violently.
Rings of ripples spread outward with a faint sound, and Sukuna looked down from above at the youth whose skin was exceptionally pale.
Whiter even than the bones beneath him, so pale it seemed to emit a soft glow within his dark Innate Domain.
Sukuna applied more pressure with his hands, roaring viciously: "What on earth are you?! Right now, immediately, tell me!"
Kamiyado let himself be pinned, his heterochromatic eyes fixed on the frantic yet somewhat shattered expression on Sukuna's face, but he answered irrelevantly:
"I'm sorry for making you wait so long."
"This past millennium must have been very hard on you..."
The pressure in Sukuna's hands gave a jolt, and countless chaotic ripples flashed across his dark red blood-red eyes, ultimately freezing into a sharp, cold glint.
"If you came in here just to say that, then you can get the hell out."
"I don't need anyone's pity."
Sukuna abruptly stood up, walking off to stand to the side, refusing to look at this human who wantonly stirred up all sorts of unusual emotions within him.
Kamiyado sat up, looked at his silent back, and let out a low sigh: "This isn't pity..."
"It's just that I was too arrogant, thinking that taking away all the hatred would let you live a good life."
Saying this, he also stood up, slowly walked over to Sukuna, and stood side by side with him.
Above their heads were rings upon rings of giant ribs from unknown behemoths, and beneath their feet were piled stacks of white bones.
As far as the eye could see, there was a boundless expanse of crimson blood, so oppressive and gloomy it was sickening.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sukuna caught sight of the youth looking at the surrounding environment and falling silent, his expression appearing somewhat sorrowful.
He inexplicably felt a strange, triumphant thrill of turning the tables.
"What? This is my Innate Domain, the reflection of my inner world. Did I scare you?"
"That's right, you're nothing more than a puny... human. I've already killed countless of your kind just like you, so it's only natural that you're scared."
Having said that, Sukuna couldn't help but tense his body, sensing the dormant emotions surrounding Kamiyado.
He had made up his mind that if the youth truly showed any frightened emotion, he would definitely throw him—straight out!
Kamiyado did indeed harbor a sense of indescribable desolation, but it wasn't fear.
His clear voice took on a layer of gloom.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this..."
"Your Innate Domain was not supposed to look like this."
"This is the Innate Domain of 'Daten'."
Sukuna's expression shifted: "You even know about 'Daten'?"
Kamiyado turned his head to look at him, his expression one of near-devout reverence: "Of course I know."
"I suppressed it for fifteen years, and when I finally left, I dealt it a heavy blow once more."
"I thought that would change all the destined fate..."
"I never expected... that I underestimated it, and overestimated myself..."
"The situation now must be because you later... completely fused with 'Daten'."