Your Life As A Tokyo Jujutsu High Background Student

Chapter 38 - With tears and promises

You sat there, chest heaving with exertion and residual adrenaline, clutching Yuji's body tightly against you for what felt like an eternity. The warmth of his skin seeped into you through his tattered clothes, solid proof that you both were still here, still alive. The mingled scents of sweat, blood, and ash clung to him, but beneath it all, you could still detect that familiar, comforting scent that was just Yuji. Your Yuji.

Finally, he began to stir back to consciousness, muscles tensing as he clawed his way back to himself. Those warm brown eyes you knew so well flickered open instead of eerie crimson, and your heart stuttered with relief.

"Spices?" he murmured, voice rough with disorientation. His gaze was unfocused, brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

"It's me, I'm here. Everything's okay," you soothed, rubbing comforting circles across his broad back.

At first, Yuji clung to you like you were his only lifeline, fingers digging almost painfully into your back as if afraid you'd disappear the second he let go. But then he abruptly pushed away, his gaze catching on the thin red line across your neck. Shallow enough that the bleeding had stopped and it barely even stung anymore. Hell, Sukuna could have taken your damn head off yet didn't for some twisted reason you didn't want to examine too closely right now.

Yet even that shallow cut was enough to drain the color from Yuji's face, leaving him ashen and haunted. His hands, blessedly human once more, trembled faintly as they rose toward the wound before catching sight of the faint smears of blood under his nails. And he froze.

"I hurt you," he rasped, voice laced with horror.

You reached out to catch his hands, desperate to reassure him. "No, Yuji, you didn't do this. It's not—"

But he wrenched away violently, arm lashing out in a desperate motion to put distance between you, as if he couldn't bear the thought of touching you now. "I didn't just hurt you," he choked out, anguish and self-loathing twisting his features in a heartbreaking display. "I almost killed you... with these hands."

His voice broke on the last words, shattering like glass. The utter devastation in his eyes lanced straight through you, a pain far worse than any physical wound.

As Yuji took in the desolate surroundings—the leveled buildings, the blood-red sky, the scorched earth—the memories came crashing back into him all at once. All the unspeakable destruction, the lives extinguished while he was trapped helplessly watching Sukuna's rampage through his own eyes.

His entire frame began shaking violently and he crumpled to the ground, harsh sobs wracking his body as he vomited, undoubtedly recognizing the taste of your blood hanging on his tongue.

The weight of guilt and despair crushed him down, reducing him to rubble as easily as these ruined buildings. Tears streamed unheeded down his cheeks, anguished cries tearing from his very soul. "I should have died," he choked out between the racking sobs. "Just me! Why didn't I just fucking die?!"

His bloodied fingers dug desperately into the unforgiving ground, as if trying to claw his way out of this unendurable reality, to escape the waking nightmare his existence had become. Seeing the bright boy you loved so broken, consumed by guilt and torment until only a lifeless husk remained, it shattered your heart into pieces.

You crawled over, wrapping your arms tightly around his shuddering form and holding on with every ounce of strength as he thrashed, trying to push you away again. Like he couldn't bear the comfort, the forgiveness he felt he didn't deserve. You felt the warmth of your own tears streaking your cheeks as his body was wracked with uncontrollable tremors in your embrace, his pain becoming your own.