Unmatched | ᴍᴀʜɪᴛᴏ

Chapter 6

"He lives guided by only his pleasure and displeasure." I wondered what kind of pleasure could possibly guide the King of Curses. What did he think was pleasure? The hand on my throat had told me that even Sukuna might feel the same kind of pleasure that we humans did.

Leaving practice with the other first-years the next morning gave me an unnerving feeling. I didn't know if Itadori had told Gojo about what Sukuna had said, and I didn't know if he would ever tell him. But I was pretty sure that he would. It was just something that Gojo had to know. But I wouldn't tell him. I would only get myself in trouble.

As I walked to lunch, my mind was somewhere else. With Sukuna, of course. I felt like I was one step closer to figuring out what had happened months ago. And one step closer to figuring out my type in men. I worried a little about Yuji. What if he found out about me talking to Sukuna? What if he thought I was only using him to get closer to Sukuna? What if he hated me already after only having heard that Sukuna liked me?

At lunch, that last fear was crossed out of my mind. Itadori was sitting next to me and leaned in when he wanted to try one of my dumplings, and he shared his Coke with me. I usually wouldn't have felt happy about little things like that, but it was nice to know that the one person who really mattered to me here didn't hate me. Not yet, at least.

But I was sure that that was going to change soon. I didn't know how soon, but it had to come eventually. Even if he wouldn't tell Gojo-sensei or anyone else about what Sukuna had said, Itadori wouldn’t be able to stop himself from feeling disgusted by me because of it. Neither of us knew why Sukuna liked me. Itadori didn't know, and I certainly didn't know. What have I done that made him like me? Or had that been just a sarcastic remark? Or had he referred only to my looks? But that couldn't have been enough for him to show himself to me, so why? What was it about me? I remembered Gojo telling me on my first day at Jujutsu High that I had a "certain spirit." Was that it?

That thought kept me distracted from everything else around me for the next few days. Sukuna didn't show himself again. Itadori didn't talk to me about him. Even when Kugisaki dragged me to go shopping with her, I constantly had to remind myself to pay attention to her. I thought I played everything very convincingly, but on our way back to the school, Kugisaki stopped me.

"Are you alright?" she asked with just a hint of concern in her voice.

I liked her. She was a bit like me in the sense that she didn't like to be too nice to people even though she liked them. I didn't know what made her act like that, and to be honest, I didn't know what made me act like that, either. So the fact that she even asked me this was sort of a big deal.

I shrugged and kept walking. "Yes, I'm alright."

She frowned, then hurried to catch up with me again. "Okay. You seem lost, though."

"I'm not lost."

Done with me and my stubbornness, Kugisaki rolled her eyes and kept them fixed on the road ahead of us. It wasn't like I was the only one refusing to talk about myself. Fushiguro had mastered that skill perfectly. But still, Kugisaki didn't talk to me until we got back to our hallway. She took three of her bags off my hands and went over to her door.

"See you tomorrow at breakfast," she said without looking at me.

I watched her push her bags inside with her foot, and she closed the door behind herself. I sighed and opened my own door. To my surprise, Yuji was sitting on my bed, clearly having waited for me. My eyes widened a little, and I put my own bag on the floor next to my door.

"Hey," I said, trying hard to sound casual. "What's up?"

Itadori shifted a little, obviously nervous and uncomfortable. "Can I ask you something?"