The Cost of Happiness

Part 2

"When it's your time to go, make sure you're surrounded by people. Don't end up like me." Yuji opened his eyes in shock. No longer was he in the strange white room, now he was somewhere all too familiar. His hand was resting on a windowsill, next to it was a small pot filled with flowers. Looking to his right revealed the speaker of the words to be... his grandfather. "What is happening?" Yuji called out loud in astonishment. Was he, in the past? That couldn't be it was impossible. As much as Yuji tried to deny it, everything felt so real. The slight breeze from the open window. The soft reds, yellows, and purples the setting sun painted the sky with. Even the solemn mood in the room was replicated.

If this really was the past, that would mean... "Hey, Grandpa?" No response. "Grandpa? Hey, Grandpa wake up. I have so many stories to tell you, please." Yuji's eyes began to water. Once again, he had lost his grandpa. In the past, Yuji might have fallen into a depressive state, but not now, not after the countless deaths he had witnessed. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the phone sitting on the bedside table. "Yuji-san?" A nurse at the front answered the phone. Yuji took a deep breath, "My grandpa... is dead." With that Yuji quickly put the receiver down and waited for the nurses to come. They wheeled his grandpa away in his bed while Yuji sat lost in thought. He couldn't believe he was actually in the past, but everything had gone in exact order as he remembered it.

Suddenly, Yuji remembered something. Today was the day he ate Ryomen Sukuna's finger. "DAMNIT!" Yuji flew out of his chair and climbed onto the windowsill. He grabbed the window latch and threw it open. There was no way this was going to happen again. Sukuna would remain sealed this time. Without a moment's hesitation, Yuji leaped from the window. As he fell, a million thoughts raced through his mind. He had to save them. HE HAD TO. Hitting the ground, Yuji rolled to absorb the impact before quickly racing to his old school. His heart pounded and adrenaline was flowing all throughout his body. He would change the past. This time, it would be different.

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"Can you hurry up?" "Hey, it's hard to pull this thing off, don't rush me." Two students sat in darkness with only a single candle lit. Both of them were hovering over a single object, attempting to peel something off of it. "I think I almost got it." The object was beginning to unravel. Slowly but surely, and as it unraveled energy seemed to roll off of it. Inch by inch, piece by piece, the artifact was slowly being revealed. 5 pulls. 4 pulls. 3 pulls. 2 pulls. 1 pull. This was it.

Both students looked at each other, before taking a deep breath and ripping off the last patch. "WAIT!" Looking to their side, they saw their fellow club member his face deathly pale. Before they had time to inspect the artifact or respond to Yuji, he lunged forward at them snatching the artifact out of their hands.

Staring down at the thing in his hand, Yuji felt his face start to heat up in anger. He had been given a second chance and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. "Quick, get behind me." "Huh, why?" Yuji gritted his teeth. "JUST DO IT, HURRY UP WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!" Both students scurried behind him as Yuji tried to spread out his senses. Ghoulish moans and freakish sounds began to fill the room. The temperature dropped rapidly, and Yuji felt the overbearing presence of cursed energy all around him. 

The moans began to get louder and louder until they were no longer moans. They were outright screams. Yuji felt his fellow club members clinging on to him, too scared to move. He was prepared to strike at a moment's notice. The screams felt like they were right in front of him, begging him to move so they could strike him down. Just as sudden as they came, they were gone.

Yuji turned cautiously to the people cowering behind him. "We need to be quiet and run away, understand?" Both of them nodded their heads before stealthily making their way to the exit. That's when Yuji felt it. A sudden burst of cursed energy hit them like a wave, sending the sneaking students flying. They flew out of the room door, with it slamming behind. 'What the hell is happening?' Yuji's mind began to race almost as fast as his heart. Something was wrong, this wasn't how it was in the past. Attempting to locate the source of the attack, Yuji felt his suspicions confirmed. There was no doubt a special grade curse in the building.

'What the hell! There was no spirit this strong last time.' Yuji channeled some cursed energy to his feet to speed him up, before running after his friends. He slammed through the wall, following the screams and the trail of destruction. Yuji ran and ran and ran even more. His legs ached from how hard his feet were slamming against the floor. But he had to keep going, it wouldn't be like the past. 

Turning a corner, Yuji felt his body go numb at the sheer number of cursed spirits in front of him. His vision began to blur as images of a certain incident flashed through his mind. He felt his breathing beginning to accelerate. His stomach dropped and he felt that he was going to throw up. Falling to his knees, he clenched his hands in frustration. No matter how strong he became physically, he couldn't work past this single mental block. Even if he was in the past, he couldn't erase those memories.

How was he supposed to save anyone if he couldn't even save himself? SQUELCH! Yuji looked up in surprise. In front of him was a bunch of dead cursed spirits and 2 familiar pups munching away. Looking to his side, he saw their master. Megumi Fushiguro.

Alright so thats the chapter. Quick note, I'm not going to be doing any pairings in this story because I really have never written romance in a story and I don't want an otherwise decent story ruined by bad romance writing. I've read so many fanfictions like that and I just don't want it to happen to mine.