Latibule ✺✺ Itadori Yuji

✺Smelly Mascot✺



The carcass of the shrunken insect sloshed around in an almost translucent liquid, making it appear as if it was defying gravity. Takara's red eyes eagerly watched its descent to the bottom of the container, pulling away from the table with a wide grin.

She pressed the soles of her socked feet against the floor, pushing the wheeled chair she sat on toward the other side of the room. With a small spin, she stopped right in front of the closet full of supplies.

The black widow she lent Fushiguro didn't make it out of the battle, but it did last quite long. According to her classmate, it took six whole punches from Sukuna before exploding.

While she would've wanted the body back, the fact that it didn't immediately get destroyed meant major progress for her experiments.

Her eyes stopped at the pile of boxes neatly lined inside the closet.

Right.

Her black widow wasn't the only thing that didn't make it out alive that day.

Takara swiped her tongue across her upper teeth. Well. At least Fushiguro's other divine dog made it out.

A knock on her door brought a happy gleam back into the room. She grinned and stood up quickly, running over to the door before opening it.

"Nanami!" She greeted. The tall, smartly dressed man pushed his interesting eyewear to sit atop his head.

He nodded in her direction. Extending his hand to ruffle her hair. Once. Twice.

She leaned away and clapped her hands once. "Can I train with you today?"

"Not this time, sorry." He apologized. The blonde man continued despite her stare fidgeting back and forth. "I needed to speak with Gojo and wanted to check how you were doing while I was here."

Maybe that was what Gojo meant to tell her earlier. She briefly passed him by while on her morning insect hunt around the campus. Although to be honest, she had been a bit distracted during their interaction.

The white-haired man's energy was kind of scary, but that wasn't always the case after she got to know him better. So it was offputting to sense a great deal of danger around him out of nowhere. Usually, if she focused on his power too much, it felt like she was wearing a pile of drenched clothes while overeating at an all-inclusive buffet.

But it was never scary. It almost seemed like she was sensing someone else's cursed energy. The young teen pressed her pointer fingers against her forehead.

"Takara?"

"It was probably something he fought," Takara mumbled under her breath. She suddenly looked up again with a smile. "Nanami, I'm really happy! One of my insects was able to take a few punches from that crazy guy." She rapidly spoke while placing both her palms against her cheeks.

"Sukuna." He filled in the name. "I heard you also lost a classmate because of him."

The atmosphere grew quiet. Takara nodded and took a step back into the dark room. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, leaving behind a sort of peeling flakiness on her lips.

"Were you comfortable around him, Takara?" Nanami's voice drifted into the near-silent storage room.

"No." She answered firmly. "The cursed energy around him was scary. Sometimes, I think I can still feel it." Takara walked over to the newly jarred bug. With a marker in hand, she began labeling it. "But Itadori liked to talk about my bugs with me and helped me organize my stuff. So that was cool."