Work Text:
The moment Yuuji swallows the finger, something happens.
[“Ryoumen Sukuna” unlocked]
Yuuji blinks at the blue screen that suddenly appeared in front of him. Around him, nothing moves, even the monster is completely frozen.
[Objective complete: “Two-Faced Spectre”]
Objects gained:
Sukuna's Finger (×1)
[+50 EXP]
[Continue]
What the hell, Yuuji wonders. Is he in a video game or something? That's…kinda really cool.
He looks for a Help button but doesn't see one. With no idea what else to do, he presses Continue.
[New relationship gained!]
Fushiguro Megumi - Neutral
[Continue]
He hits the button again.
[The shock of possession has stunned you. “Ryoumen Sukuna” will momentarily take over. Objective: Subdue Sukuna and regain control of your body.]
[Continue]
That doesn't sound good.
“Can I…not get possessed?” he asks hopefully.
[“Ryoumen Sukuna” cannot be expelled from your party.]
“Is that a no?”
[“Ryoumen Sukuna” cannot be expelled from your party.]
It's definitely a no.
“Man,” he mumbles, cracking his knuckles.. This is starting to seem slightly less cool. But…well, apparently he has a mission.
He clicks Continue.
Everything explodes. Or at least, that's what it feels like. Something surges inside of him, igniting him from the inside with an incandescent flame.
His body is laughing. Hearing himself cackling like a bad guy whose identity was just revealed after gaslighting the audience for twenty episodes is a unique, awful and embarrassing experience. If this was an anime, there'd probably be a fish-eye lens closeup of his face. The monologue that follows is even worse, the dialogue of a writer who really wants everyone to know that this guy is evil-evil. Plus, he rips off Yuuji's shirt! He liked that hoodie, too. He picked it off the rack after spending three minutes browsing the store.
[Press X to subjugate]
Yuuji stares at the screen. That makes him sound like a warlord…and what X, anyway? He doesn't have a console.
A block made up of individual multi-colored squares manifests under his feet. It looks suspiciously familiar. An empty gauge appears, hovering in front of him.
“Start!” calls a voice with a mechanical buzz.
“This is just Dance Dance Revolution,” he says, scrunching his face. Music begins blasting from nonexistent radios. Far be it from Yuuji not to bust a move. He gets really into it, and the gauge fills quickly.
“Subjugation complete! Good work!”
[Rank: S]
[+50 EXP]
“Nice,” Yuuji says, satisfied.
[New relationship gained!]
Ryoumen Sukuna - Neutral
Ryoumen Sukuna >>> Hostile
“Wait, what? I didn't even do anything yet,” he complains and suddenly realizes oh, hey, he has his body back!
“You're still h— what is that,” Sukuna says, tone going straight past utterly confused and landing on flat as he looks at the glowing interface.
“I'm pretty sure we're in an RPG,” Yuuji explains helpfully.
“What?”
“It stands for role-playing game—”
“Don't move.”
Yuuji turns to see Fushiguro with his hands making a weird sign, like he's about to use some kinda Jutsu. “Huh?”
“You're no longer human. Itadori Yuuji, under the law of Jujutsu, I must now exorcize you as a curse.” Fushiguro looks like he's sweating, his expression tense. He's looking at Yuuji like he's dangerous, even more so than the monster— curse— that had thrown him through a wall.
Hah. Sukuna's voice resonates from inside Yuuji's head, sneering. So sorcerers are still the same. I spent too long celebrating; I should have killed everything around me the moment I awakened.
“Exorcize me?” Yuuji repeats, ignoring Sukuna and holding up his hands. “I still feel human, though. Is it because of the guy who possessed me? I'm fine now! I'm pretty sure he can't get out unless I let him. I think right now, we should get you to a hospital.”
Fushiguro hesitates, obviously uncertain whether to believe him. His relationship status hasn't changed to hostile, so he must not really see Yuuji as his enemy.
“Hey, Fushiguro, you're a good guy, huh?” Yuuji says, smiling.
Fushiguro’s fists lower slightly, caught off guard.
“Now, what do we have over here?” Some weird guy is suddenly standing next to Fushiguro. His hair is white, and he's wearing a blindfold over his eyes.
“An eccentric mentor-type?” Yuuji asks under his breath.
What?
“G-Gojo-sensei?” Fushiguro completely drops his stance.
Called it! Yuuji silently pumps his fist. They both look at him. He slowly lowers it. “Uh…sorry.”
Ignoring him, the sensei turns back to Fushiguro. “So, what happened? Did you find the Cursed Object?” As he asks that, he takes out his phone and snaps a few pics of Fushiguro's bloody face.
Fushiguro grimaces In distaste, turning his head away, before his eyes flicker to Yuuji and he drops his gaze. “...I found it…”
“Hmm?”
Yuuji lifts his hand. “Uh…I ate it.”
The guy— Gojo-sensei— looks at him for a moment (presumably). “...For real?”
“For real,” Yuuji and Fushiguro say at the same time.
Gojo-sensei suddenly gets all up in his face, peering at him. “Ah, it's true. They're combined. That's hilarious.” He straightens up, a small smile on his face. He's really playing the enigmatic role well. “How does your body feel?”
“Fine. It doesn't feel any different,” Yuuji answers.
“Can you switch with Sukuna?”
Ha! Idiotic bastard, I'll tear your throat out and use your intestines to strangle that other little pest!
“Gross,” Yuuji says, distracted, before remembering the question. “Oh, uh, yeah, probably.”
“I'm guessing he's making some unsavory threats.”
“Yep.”
“Don't worry, he can't make good on them. Since I'm stronger.”
“I can tell,” Yuuji says sincerely, ignoring Sukuna's We'll see about that. A mysterious and confident sensei is always the strongest one in the first arc, after all.
Gojo-sensei sends him another smile as he stretches. “Alright. Let him out for ten seconds.”
A new window appears.
[Objective: allow Sukuna control of your body for 10 seconds]
[Timer: 10]
That thing again, what is—?
“Okay, got it!”
After that, the outcome is predictable. When the timer runs out and Yuuji comes back, Gojo-sensei doesn't have a scratch on him. So cool! Sukuna obviously isn't happy having his fight cut short, though, loudly demanding that he be let out again.
[Objective complete!]
[+100 EXP]
Level up!
Itadori Yuuji [Player]
Lvl 1 >>> Lvl 2
[Tutorial end]
Huh? That was the tutorial? Wait, but Yuuji didn't even really learn much—
A finger taps him on the forehead. Everything goes dark.
Without any sense of waking, Yuuji suddenly finds himself in a space of varying blue hues, the ground under him made of up squares— no, pixels?
“What domain is this?!” a familiar rough voice barks out.
Yuuji turns to see— himself? Well, obviously it's Sukuna, but he looks like Yuuji. His hair is pushed back and he has black marks like tattooes on his face and wrists. He's wearing a kimono loose at the waist with wide sleeves, and zori with black tabi on his feet.
A tag hovers over his head:
[Ryoumen Sukuna] Lvl 99
Party Member
Holy shit???
Yuuji looks upwards and sees one above him, too.
[Itadori Yuuji] Lvl 2
Player
Wow. That's some discrepancy there.
“Brat, I'm talking to you. I'll kill you if you don't answer me.”
“Oh, sorry. This is, uh…I think this is, like, a character space? It's where you can see everyone in your party,” Yuuji elaborates. “Which is just you and me right now. Um…that probably doesn't mean anything to you…do you know what video games are?”
Sukuna stares at him like he wants to make good on his murder threat. “No.”
Oh, jeez. This is gonna take a while.
Yuuji does his best. By the end of it, he's pretty sure at least five hours have passed, and Sukuna has as close to an idea of what a video game is as one can get without actually seeing one.
“And this happened when you swallowed my finger?” Sukuna asks, a hand gripping his jaw as he frowns thoughtfully.
“Yup.”
“Strange. I've never encountered such a thing before. There's no reason why I should be the catalyst for this…Ar-Pee-Gee.” He strokes his chin slightly as he muses.
In the next split second, his clawed hand is at Yuuji's throat. Yuuji blinks. Sukuna looks surprised.
“Hah? Why…” He seems to be attempting to strangle Yuuji now. It's getting kind of awkward. A screen flashes up.
[Warning!]
Violence is prohibited between party members.
“What?!” Sukuna's face contorts in rage. “How dare you prohibit anything from me! And since when did I join this brat's party?!”
“I think it came with the possession,” Yuuji guesses, brushing off Sukuna's hand.
“Tch.” Sukuna turns away, crossing his arms.
Yuuji also crosses his arms. “Look, I'm not happy about being stuck with you, either, but there's nothing we can do about it. So how about we get along?”
“I have no interest in being friendly with a weak and clueless brat like you.”
“I'll let you play a video game,” Yuuji cajoles.
Sukuna pauses. “What kind?”
“The kind where you kill stuff.”
“I can do that in real life.”
“I'm not gonna let you do that, so you'll have to settle for this. It'll be fun! It's something you've never tried before, right? Aren't you curious?”
There's another pause before Sukuna turns to face him. “Fine. But if it's boring, I'll make you regret it.”
Yuuji grins. “Deal.”
[New Skill: Binding Vow unlocked]
[+70 EXP]
[Binding Vow made between Itadori Yuuji & Ryoumen Sukuna:
“Let's Get Along!”]
Ryoumen Sukuna >>> Friendly
“Uh…” Yuuji slowly looks at Sukuna. That's not a very friendly face, he thinks.
[Warning!]
Violence is prohibited between party members.
[Warning!]
Violence is prohibited between party members.
[Warning!]
Violence is prohibited between party members.