───

❝darling we're heaven and hell❞

"gojō-sensei, no offense, but your cake tastes kind of weird...", itadori said as he hesitantly swallowed his piece, feeling his stomach fight him.

"hah? what do you mean? I followed her reci—"

"did you put salt instead of sugar?", fushiguro asked, his face scrunching up in distaste as he spat it out in a napkin and promptly threw it away.

gojō tried the cake himself as he suddenly realized his mistake.

"hehe".

kugisaki rolled her eyes as she was glad itadori had tried it first.

"bet you were too distracted looking at miss reina to focus on itadori's cake", the orange-haired girl teased.

"was not!! it was just a simple mistake okay?! both ingredients are white", gojō defended, even though his student had hit the nail on the head.

"mhmmm~ no worries, gojō-sensei. I can actually vouch for you since this is the first time we've seen a pretty curse", kugisaki stated.

"I—"

"WOAHHH!! HOW DID SHE GET JENNIFER LAWRENCE DECORATED ON MY CAKE?!", itadori marveled, his eyes shining as the other three had hovered over the cake.

"she opens her own café, so of course she's talented", kugisaki proudly boasted for no reason at all.

"I can't eat it", itadori seriously said, to which his two friends had glanced up with an odd expression.

"what do you mean you can't eat it? miss reina made it for your birthday!"

"it's...it's too good...I-I can't do it", itadori sniffled, to which gojō had already started cutting the cake, only stopping midway when his three students stared at him.

"e-eh?"

"GOJŌ-SENSEI! HOW COULD YOU?!", the pink-haired male cried, to which gojō had chuckled and shrugged as itadori depressingly bit into his cake, to which his frown had immediately turned upside down.

"WOAHHHH!! THIS IS FOOD FOR GODS!!", itadori exaggerated, to which sukuna's mouth and eye had popped out from itadori's cheek.

"oi brat, let me try! I'm a god", sukuna proclaimed.

itadori huffed.

"I don't think so", the boy sassily replied as he continued stuffing cake in his mouth.

"stupid brat", sukuna muttered as he disappeared, sitting on his throne of skeletons as he bitterly muttered strings of curse words about itadori.

"anyways, I should probably thank her personally since you also wasted some of her ingredients", itadori stated, to which gojō had let out an offended gasp.

"wasted?! I poured all my heart and love into this cake!", gojō defended.

"so I was thinking tomorrow after school since there's no upcoming activities right?!", the pink-haired boy excitedly asked.

"I will come wit—"

"gojō-sensei, fushiguro and I need some help on...practice tomorrow", kugisaki interrupted.

"oh...well then of course I'll stay to help my precious students!!", the white-haired male smiled, to which fushiguro had given kugisaki a look.

"I feel bad for miss reina for having to put up with him. it's the least we could do after he wasted her ingredients", kugisaki lowly whispered, to which fushiguro sighed as he couldn't think of a better argument.

"hello miss reina!!", itadori bowed, making the woman lightly chuckle at the boy's politeness, as sukuna could surely never relate.

"welcome back, itadori. and what brings you here?", reina asked, sauntering over to the boy who had excitedly brought a pot of orchids.

"it's thanks for baking my birthday cake!! and sorry for gojō-sensei bothering you on a sunday", itadori awkwardly chuckled, scratching the back of his head as reina happily held the pot.

the ombré orchids matched her lilac eyes.

"thank you itadori", the woman smiled. "though I do want to clarify that it was I that invited gojō-san to a bake-off, so no need to feel apologetic for me", reina said.

itadori was a bit surprised.

"oh. well that's a relief!! anyways, I won't bother you anymore, so I'll just—"

"actually, before you leave, I was wondering if I could converse with sukuna for a bit. he was one of my oldest companions and it's been a while since I've seen him", reina requested, her gaze seemingly luring the boy in.

"umm...I don't know if this place is—"

"follow me upstairs then", reina gestured. "there's a private room for which we can talk more comfortably".

itadori nodded as he hesitantly followed the woman, entering a normal looking room with a single window and a daybed.

the pink-haired boy closed his eyes as lines had started appearing all over his body, with his eyes shooting open, and looking like a killer.

"what do you want?", sukuna snarled, crossing his arms as reina inched closer to sukuna.

"goodness! I don't see you for a century or so and this is how you greet your old friend?", reina asked, feigning despair as she snaked her arms around sukuna's neck, bringing her face closer as her breath fanned the male's unamused expression.

"ah yes, because instead of helping me, you left me all alone with those damn sorcerers", sukuna bitterly muttered.

"but you're the one that said that you could handle it, no?", reina teased, gently kissing sukuna's jawline as it was almost like she was leaving a trail of butterflies.

"you piss me off", the male lowly spat, though he made no attempt to push the girl off him.

reina hummed, cupping the curse's face as her thumb grazed his cheek.

"too bad you can't kill me", she mocked, making sukuna grind his teeth.

"I will!"

"oh? really?"

"obviously! once you're gone, I'll be the only one that people talk about throughout these useless humans and curses", sukuna boasted, to which reina had left sukuna's side as she momentarily closed her eyes meanwhile pacing around the room.

"I challenge you, sukuna", reina stated.

"hah?! I'm not falling for that stupid shit again! last time you challenged me, you cheated and—"

"I won't cheat this time", reina assured, her lips curving up into a smirk as everything about her screamed liar.

sukuna scoffed. "like hell I'll believe you!"

"hm~ then I guess you'll just be below me for the rest of however long we'll be living together", reina pitifully chuckled, to which sukuna had so dearly wished to just end her along with the rest of the people here.

"shut up!! just tell me what the hell do you want this time!", sukuna rudely demanded.

"I'll tell you when we're truly alone", reina stated as she knew itadori could probably hear and see what was going on, even though sukuna's the one present as of now.

"tch. troublesome woman", he muttered.

"now now, sukuna~ that isn't how you should be talking to the curse that had helped turn you into one", reina grinned.