───

❝darling we're heaven and hell❞

"SUKUNA! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING, JUST TURN HIM BACK!!"

"no".

"what...WHY?! WHY WON'T YOU—"

"I'm not here to help you", the king of curses scoffed.

"you're weak, brat! offering up your pride, your dignity, your everything! and you can't even save ONE person!!"

mahito and sukuna then started maniacally laughing, taunting the traumatized boy, who still had his newly made friend — yoshino junpei, as a transfigured curse — lumped against him.

itadori clenched his fists as he felt a surge of anger consume him, to which his eyes had darkly flared at mahito, who was just grinning.

"I'm going to kill yo—"

"now now, who's killing who?"

everyone snapped their heads towards the mysterious voice, even sukuna hummed in amusement as his cocky grin had fell down to a neutral expression.

"m-miss reina...?"

the dark-haired woman shedded off her hood, as she was covered by a large red cloak.

a prominent smile was on her face as she kneeled down beside yoshino, petting the curse's hair.

"r-reina, what are you—"

"mahito, we'll talk later", reina interrupted, standing up as she unclasped her cloak, draping it over the huge blue curse.

"miss death, can you turn junpei back?!"

"of course I can, darling. if mahito and sukuna can do it, I don't see why I cannot", reina sweetly answered.

"then—"

"but, it comes with a price".

"ANYTHING! PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING!", itadori desperately begged, falling onto his knees as reina smiled, kissing the top of itadori's forehead.

"are you sure? anything?"

itadori nodded, making reina stand back up, as she unsheathed yoshino, who was back to being a human.

"put on your clothes and you belong to me now, junpei. you two will meet again at the tokyo versus kyoto competition", reina stated, turning around as yoshino hastily put his uniform back on.

"miss reina, thank you for your kindnes—"

reina raised a hand.

"do not thank me, itadori. though since this is the second time I've saved your life, do not let anyone else know that I was here, especially not your mentor, understand?"

itadori hesitated a bit as reina pulled yoshino up by his wrist.

"your answer should be clear. now, you may continue your fight if you wish", reina waved as she dragged yoshino away, leaving itadori with mahito once again.

"and be careful mahito~ sukuna doesn't play nice", reina warned.

"u-umm...e-excuse me, but who are you?", yoshino asked, awkwardly walking beside reina, who had brought him to her café.

"miss reina, you're back!"

"I am. could you get us two cups of milk tea, please? also bring over a piece of strawberry cake, nanako".

the dark-haired girl nodded as she hastily left.

yoshino took a seat in front of reina, fiddling with the sleeves of his uniform as he twirled the front of his hair, trying to hide the scar on his forehead.

other curses started strolling in, only making yoshino even more uncomfortable, as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"as you heard, my name's reina. however, to answer your question, I'm miss death. I've been here as long as humans have roamed the earth", reina briefly introduced.

"why...why did you save my life? was it only because yūji asked?", yoshino quietly muttered, meanwhile nanako had brought over the dessert and drinks.

"partially, but I also need your help. plus, you've got nowhere to stay now hm? I'm sorry about your loss", reina sympathetically mumbled, squeezing yoshino's hand.

"so you knew?"

"not exactly...every time someone dies, it's like a database in my brain is updated. I suppose my domain expansion will explain it better if you ever get to see it, but that's not the point", reina replied.

"what will happen to me now? and what about yūji?"

"itadori will continue to grow and improve, I assure you of that. however, you will be sent to the jujutsu high in kyoto to better control your cursed energy. there will be a competition between two schools in a month or so, so do work hard", reina stated, taking a sip of her milk tea.

"I suppose..."

"no worries, you'll make new friends there", reina smiled, taking a spoon and offering the boy some strawberry shortcake.

"is there someone that you wished for me to specifically meet?", yoshino asked, daringly looking into reina's pleased eyes.

"smart. I like it", reina hummed.

"his name is kamo noritoshi, and he's a third-year. his technique is the famous blood manipulation, passed down by the kamo clan.

however, what you do need to know is that he is the heir of the kamo clan, even though his mother was a concubine of the current head of the kamo clan.

he was brought in to be the heir because the main wife couldn't birth a child that possessed the clan technique.

though passing down the technique is important, the kamo clan also had a motto that they live by: blood is thicker than water".

"so you want me to relate to him?"

"his mother left him so that he could flourish in the kamo clan. though you cannot relate on that, your mother involuntarily left you too, so I want you to use that to your advantage".

"what's the objective?"

"for him to come to me. bring him to me and let me meet with him, but he must not see me as a threat, even if I am a curse".

yoshino nodded, as it wasn't like he had much of a choice anyways.

"with that being said, I will be your guardian, so anything you need, just shoot me a text or give me a call".

yoshino hummed.

"and you should start wearing your hair up. you're yoshino junpei reborn", reina stated as her hand grazed over the boy's scar, making him flinch as he suddenly felt the wound disappear.

reina then took out a hair tie and combed the boy's hair back.

"death in inevitable, junpei, but the world will never stop turning because of one's cessation. so neither should you".