───

❝darling we're heaven and hell❞

"welcome back, gojō-san. how may I help you today?", nanako asked, not particularly fond of the sorcerer, as neither was mimiko.

"oh hey there! where's she?"

"you're going to have to be more specific about who", nanako replied.

gojō grinned.

"reina".

"miss reina's out at the moment, please order something or come back later", the blonde girl answered.

"oh? hm~ then I'll have the lemon meringue pie", gojō ordered, to which nanako had nodded as she had asked mimiko to package up the dessert.

once gojō paid, the man strolled out into the openings of the world — literally a street filled with normal humans.

the man suddenly received a vibration through his pocket, to which he had taken out his phone, questioning when did he leave his number for the woman he had met at the bar.

─── 2 messages ───

[xxx-xxx-xxxx]

hey...remember me?

you left w/out a note
or anything...

gojō sighed as he rolled his eyes.

'that was the whole point'.

the white-haired male then picked a random nearby bench as he took a seat and dug into the lemon meringue pie with a plastic spoon.

"mmm....should I even save her contact?"

[gojō satoru]

hey!! sorry, but how'd
you get my number??

I don't remember
leaving it when I left?

[xxx-xxx-xxxx]

ouch~ is this how
you treat every woman?

come on, think harder

gojō slowly chewed as he truly searched through all his memories, recalling what the woman's name was.

'was it—'

"what's with the long face? is my lemon meringue pie not good?", a sultry voice inquired.

gojō turned his phone off as he snapped his gaze upwards, meeting a pair of lilac eyes.

"reina?"

"so you do know my name. I thought you must've forgotten, since you left without a note or anything..."

something in gojō's brain suddenly clicked.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO JUST TEXTED ME!"

reina smiled.

"am I?", she feigned innocence, making gojō grit his teeth while displaying a slightly pissed off smirk.

"I didn't think the queen of curses was a stalker", gojō retorted.

"well I actually needed you for something", reina honestly replied, taking a seat beside gojō as she took the spoon and lemon meringue pie.

not caring that they had just shared an indirect kiss, reina enjoyed the sweetness from the pie.

"oh? the queen of curses needs my help? I thought she was all-knowing and omnipotent?", the white-haired male grinned, clearly enjoying this more than he should.

reina's eyes flickered upwards, looking at gojō, almost like there were no sunglasses in between them.

"there's this curse that's called a fingerbearer. he manifested from sukuna's finger, and quite frankly, I'd wish for sukuna to have his own fingers back...", reina stated.

gojō raised a brow.

"can't you easily take care of that yourself? why are you telling me?"

"I have a trip tomorrow, so I won't be able to handle such a situation. plus, I thought it'd be a good chance for those three to grow, especially itadori...was it?"

gojō hummed, seeming to agree with the woman as he mentally made a note to inform ijichi about this later.

"a trip you say...where to?"

reina casted a charming smirk, almost teasing, yet seemingly genuine.

"a splendid place; a place where I will enjoy myself", reina vaguely answered, standing up as she rummaged around in her petite purse for something.

the woman then took out a napkin as she slightly arched her body forwards, tilting gojō's head upwards as she wiped away the crumbs that he had failed to notice previously.

"though the more important question is: will you be able to find me, gojō-san?"

"why are we here again?", itadori asked, strolling further and further away from the people with fushiguro and kugisaki.

"gojō-sensei said that miss reina told him that there was a curse here with one of sukuna's fingers", fushiguro answered.

"but isn't she a curse herself? why would she rat out her own kind?", kugisaki asked, somewhat skeptical now.

a mouth and eye had suddenly popped out from itadori's cheek.

"you humans can't say jack shit when you all turn on each other for power and started two world wars", sukuna scoffed, to which his statement had held some truth to it.

"why do you only come out when it's about miss reina? do you two even know each other, since you're the king of curses and she's the empress?", kugisaki asked, glancing over at fushiguro's phone that informed them that there was still a while before they reach their destination.

"ah, it's probably because they're lovers or something. last time I went to see miss reina, she called sukuna out and—"

"LOVERS MY ASS! I WANT TO KILL THAT OLD HAG!!", sukuna ranted, making fushiguro and kugisaki confused.

"huh? but..."

"quit asking questions, you annoying ass brats! it's our business, not yours", sukuna spat as he soon disappeared, leaving the three just walking alone in silence now.

"I still think sukuna likes her", kugisaki admitted.

"yeah, same", itadori chimed in, hearing shouting from sukuna inside his body as he rolled his eyes at how annoying the curse was.

the three then promptly halted in their footsteps as they could sense the curse energy radiating from this abandoned building.

"it's a special grade curse, so be on your feet at all times", fushiguro warned, kicking open the doors, as bodies — skeletons — were littered everywhere.

the dark-haired boy then immediately summoned his white shikigami dog, to which it had sniffed around, searching for the curse.

"eh? where's the exit?"