Beyond the Grave [ILLUMI X CHROLLO]

[22] Political Intrigue

When Illumi's five fingers opened, he expected to land in Itadori's hotel room. Instead, he was out on the street as commuter traffic bustled through him.

The onslaught of people sent Illumi staggering and flattening himself to the nearest storefront. To his left, he identified the angel in question: Itadori was standing with a woman Illumi didn't recognize.

Skirting along the wall to avoid intercepting passerbys, Illumi approached. The girl didn't look up from the cigarette end catching the flame on Itadori's lighter. When she did, her eyes never caught on him. Instead, she met Itadori's smile, blew smoke off to the side and directly into Illumi's face, and said, "My goddamn savior. Honestly, I owe you."

"Don't worry about it," Itadori said, just as cheery as ever as he pocketed the lighter and caught Illumi's eye through the smoke.

Illumi swatted his hand through the cloud and said, "Can we talk?"

Itadori licked his bottom lip between his teeth and turned back to the woman. "Do you mind if I leave you here? Can you make it back on your own?"

"I dunno..." she sang, head swaying to and fro, "Anything could happen... Might get kidnapped, murdered, mugged..."

"Nothing of the sort! Don't jinx it!" Itadori said, and she laughed.

She nudged him in the arm, already walking off. "Kidding, Jesus. See you tonight!"

Before Itadori could bid her farewell, she doubled back to drag him down by the front of his oversized, hot pink hoodie. She planted a firm, likely painful kiss to his hair before bounding off with a wave and a, "Caio!"

Illumi pointed after her. "That your social life?"

"Yeah, she's great," Itadori said. "I see you talked to Wrath."

Illumi flinched. "Yeah. I think we can trust him."

Itadori hummed as if Illumi had just uttered something brilliant and life changing. "I think your trust is misplaced," he said at last, and started walking.

Illumi sputtered, appalled, and jogged to catch up. "He doesn't care about Sukuna. He really only cares about my brother—"

"Exactly," Itadori said. As Illumi's frustration spiked, Itadori said, "It's okay, really! I don't need a caretaker or whatever."

"For my own piece of mind," Illumi said, and when Itadori superficially idled with the thought, Illumi said, "I freed you. Don't you care what I think?"

"Of course I do! And I know your care is well-meaning, but you really don't have to worry about me. Oh, look! A sale! Come on, I need an outfit for the event tonight."

Event?! Illumi thought, but Itadori didn't bother expanding on it. He pulled Illumi by the hand into a store at the corner fitted with posh outfits better suited for black tie. Illumi found it hard to believe Itadori would be in need of a tux.

"It isn't about... facts," Illumi insisted, and hoped Itadori's sense of empathy was strong enough to contend to Illumi's irrational concerns. "It's why people wear seatbelts or... or celebrities have bodyguards. You can't trust external circumstances as well as you can trust your own driving or your own safety."

"Compelling argument... Do you think this matches my eyes?" Itadori said, turning to Illumi with a smile. The store workers were giving them weird looks, which was bizarre to Illumi.

If Wrath were in a store, no one would approach them to say, "Can I... help you?" like they were stray dogs sniffing for food.

"Oh, no, thank you," Itadori said, but the worker didn't budge. Itadori flashed them a smile and that was all it took to dismiss them. He leant into Illumi to say, "I like people to act normal until they bother me. See? Capable of handling myself. Flying under the radar."