There is a heavy silence in Nanami 's quaintly normal living room.

It is a thing that is too normal, if you ask Satoru. But then again, Nanami would never ask Satoru for any kind of advice outside exorcising, if that.

It is the living room of a normal salaryman. Living from day to day with no hopes or dreams for the future. There are faint traces of dust in the air, faint enough to tell that Nanami lives a clean and orderly life- of course. There are personal effects strewn about. Enough to indicate a personality, but not overdone. There is still the faint smell of Nanami 's dinner lingering in the air and the sound of the dishwasher droning on and on.

Overall, very dull and very Nanami.

'What are you planning on doing? ' Nanami asks, breaking the tentative silence that was developing.

That is a good question.

'First, would be to help Yuuji-kun, ' Satoru answers. It is an easy answer. There is no moral quandary there. Nothing other than Satoru 's duty as the strongest is stopping him from executing Yuuji when the time comes.

Satoru really, really does not want to.

But he really, really, really does not want Sukuna going loose either.

It is a lose-lose situation. Forcing Satoru to pick the lesser of the two evils.

It is him knowing that Yuuji wouldn 't want it any other way, if it came down to his life or the lives of many others.

Yuuji is a good kid and a good sorcerer.

Under any other circumstances he 'd be a talented recruit that the higher ups would want to keep alive.

Under this circumstance he was nothing more than a ticking bomb.

'And as for the curse? ' Nanami asks. There is a pressing tone to his voice. It is obvious that this was what he wanted to really ask. His brows are furrowed and his gaze is intent.

He is not wrong to be so.

The special grade curse is one that is centuries old.

They 've all seen what Rika became around just a decade of being a curse. She was a young child who couldn 't handle the strain and broke under it. Becoming twisted and monstrous under the influence of the heavy shackles that were placed upon her. To bind her to Yuta. It is understandable. The mortal body isn 't made to handle the pure undistilled curse energy of a real cursed spirit. It warps and twists the mind. It is why sorcerers are all odd in their own ways. It is their way of coping with an unnatural thing, an unnatural energy that lives and breathes within their skin.

A child isn 't able to handle such. And Rika was indeed a tragedy.

And this curse? A sorcerer it may be. But it is no Teggen. Centuries and centuries. Until when does the dam break and its mind become warped?

This curse has been active for longer than decades. But it was dormant for centuries. Its dormancy could lend itself to the curse still retaining its sanity and humanity and whatever else.

But regardless. The accumulation of curse energy still continues. Even if a curse is dormant.

Case in point, Sukuna.

That amount of curse energy would be quite a lot. It is centuries-

Ah, Satoru realizes.

'It 's trapping its own curse energy, ' Satoru says, asporos of nothing.

Nanami blinks, his muscles not quite tensing but not quite relaxed either. He is confused with this new piece of information. He is not sure what to make of it or what it even means.

Satoru 's mind is already going and it 's moving and while he remembers what Nanami asks-

He isn 't quite interested in answering it anymore.

His mind is pinging back and forth and there is a new conclusion to be had, and it is a thrill all on its own. Another confirmation that he was right and that- yes, there was a conspiracy brewing from centuries ago that only came back now because of him.

'That 's why you can 't recognize it as a curse at first, ' Satoru muses. 'Its curse energy is just so low. '

'On the first sighting, its curse energy was quite high, ' Nanami states. His brows are furrowing again but he is speaking and this means that he knows that Satoru is on the edge of an answer and by all that is holy, Satoru will get his answer. Come hell or high water.

'It's the first step outside of dormancy, ' Satoru agrees. 'That 's when it has the highest amount of uncontrolled curse energy. '

Nanami 's lips are pinched, he isn 't quite sure what to make of whatever Satoru is about to say.

'Imagine this, you take a long, long nap. And when you wake up, you realize it 's been centuries, ' Satoru begins. He is weaving a tale out of nothing. But it is a tale that relates to one special grade curse on that one rainy day. 'And with that, came centuries of cursed energy that 's been accumulating. '

Nanami 's brain is turning and turning.

'Curse energy that 's enough to drive you mad. Unless you- '

'Control it, ' Nanami finishes. There it is again, that frown, those pinched lips.

It is a conclusion that unsettles Nanami.

'It 's not binding its own energy for ambushes and sneak attacks, ' Satoru continues. 'It 's doing so because otherwise it 'd go mad. '

Satoru doesn 't blame Nanami. It is an unsettling realization.

It means that this curse, whatever it is- is only held back from being a catastrophe only by the merit of its own self control. That its energy- coiling and winding and lashing out anytime the curse remotely is off kilter means that the balance is on a pin and ready to tip anytime.

It is the curse 's own energy fighting against it.

It is the curse fighting back because whatever remains of that sorcerer after death does not want to be a monster, not just yet. It knows that the moment the chains go loose, the moment it dares get off the leash the monster will take over and it 'll all come crashing down. It is holding back a monster by threads and your own pure will. It is gritting your teeth and hoping that the curse energy will settle even though you know it 's only a matter of time.

The weight of what has happened centuries ago weighs on you, still. Remembering the last time you 'd let the monster go loose and the legacy that you destroyed with your own bare hands. Facing down death with honor and yet not being able to die because-

Because someone decided that they 'll go against the laws of nature for you. That they 'll commit a great taboo for you-

For you, a failure.

It is bitter, it is grieving, it is lost, so, so lost.

Satoru wonders if this is what it felt as it faced its execution, or the remnants of its first brush with death.

Either way it does not change how its energy is tinged with the bitterness of a death defied.

It doesn 't want to be here. That much is obvious. The world is alien to it. With none of the people and none of the sights. It is a metropolis in place of a city of ancients. It is modern curses compared to folklore monsters of old-

The enemies it once faced are now nothing but stories that people laugh and joke about. Dismissed so readily as though sorcerers hadn 't bled and died for it.

The world has changed, time has moved on.

And yet, here it is now.

Centuries have passed, the people have gone. The banquet has ended, the people have gone. The dawn has set, the people have gone.

Now all that 's left is you.

The weight of those deaths- the weight of a broken legacy on your shoulders. Of the generations of trust before you shattered because you were too weak when you were dying and so a curse took a hold of you-

It is a mark of shame. You died but you won 't die honored. You 'll die and people will hate you- will despise you in history.

But you won 't even get that luxury because they 'll strike your name out of the history books. For you are a stain on

their

legacy.

It is unfair.

Uchiha Obito, for all his mistakes, no doubt had given up his life in service to the jujutsu world.

And he is repaid in a dishonored death and an erased legacy.

Perhaps Uchiha Obito thinks it a mercy. A blessing for his shame to be forever erased, his name forgotten.

Someone else obviously felt different. Very different.

Someone else must 've felt that it was incredibly unfair. Someone must 've felt that Uchiha Obito 's time is not up yet- cannot be up yet.

And so they cursed his name upon death.

Chaining Uchiha Obito to the mortal realm as the enemy he swore to destroy.

Uchiha Obito is in the realm of the living, but he does not live. Not truly. For he is a curse now. A thing within a once human vessel.

Satoru can 't possibly imagine how Uchiha Obito felt. Gazing into the eyes of the person who brought him back to life as a curse. Can 't possibly imagine the betrayal or grief or joys of a dead man and his dead companion.

He can 't imagine what happens after. Whether it was an epic or a tragedy. Whether they became at peace with their situation or it is just the wrong time, wrong person, wrong everything that leads to some Gojo dying and the curse remains.

He can 't quite imagine what drives a person to let a special grade spirit live on, beyond death. Live on beyond them. To the future and beyond, beyond.

It isn 't quite love, if it were they 'd be united death.

It is something complicated between the bitter joys of love and the lows of hate. Something infinitely complicated that spelled out a tragedy that happened between a human and a curse and two things that aren 't meant to be. It is a tale of

I defied nature for you

and

You should 've just let me die.

Or something or another.

The curse doesn 't hate the human who kept it chained to this world.

The gaze it looks at Satoru with is enough proof of that.

The human mustn 't have hated it either. The Gojo let it live on with the Gojo technique and it isn 't quite mad due to it being dormant.

The Gojo could 've let it just go loose, then and there and let it become a monster.

But instead, they let it live. They let it flourish.

They let it see the future with its human eyes, even at the cost of other lives.

It is a twisted version of love and hate and ending up somewhere in the middle.

Satoru wonders, really, what the motive was to let this curse go free.

But he can 't even fathom the motives behind creating the curse in the first place.

He can 't quite imagine it. Can 't quite put on the other 's shoe because he can 't quite comprehend it even when he is Gojo Satoru and an aged curse decides that he is similar enough.

He remembers Getou Suguru.

Even then he didn 't stoop to cursing Getou Suguru after death. Perhaps it is out of honor, perhaps it is just wanting to let an old friend rest.

Being the strongest means to hold the title with all the responsibilities that come with it. It is to accept that you are a singular existence that stands above it all. That- your will shapes the world and you must do with it what you must. Responsibility and burdens means that Gojo cannot curse Getou Suguru and chain him to his side. It means that he knows, even for the strongest, the laws of nature are to be respected.

It is to understand that Getou Suguru dies and there is not a thing Satoru can do about it. To do so would be to cross a line. It is a steady slope. If you already cursed someone to live- then what was stopping you from doing whatever else?

What was stopping you from letting a special grade curse live instead of letting it go free?

The burden of the strongest means that the world is upheld on Satoru 's will. If he even slips- if he even dares-

Who would be there to stop him?

It is their burden, it is their shackles.

It isn 't fair, Satoru thinks. It isn 't fair that a long past ancestor can just trample everything that they are supposed to stand for- all for a curse that was once a vessel.

Satoru can 't quite imagine it. Can 't quite place himself in this past ancestor 's shoes.

Can 't quite imagine when it was that this ancestor decided that his honor and dignity can die in a ditch if it meant that this one curse can live.

It is the burden and honor of the strongest-

And his ancestor just abandoned it- just like that.

It is Gojo Whatever-Their-Name-Is saying:

'I 'll commit the taboo- I 'll abandon my duty and burdens if it means he lives. '

Satoru can 't quite imagine it. Can 't quite fathom the emotions and bond that must 've existed between them and that drove the strongest to stoop down into the mud and to defy the laws of nature.

He wonders how the curse feels. Now that it is here because of means beyond it.

If it wanted to be here at all.

Satoru doubts it.

The age of monsters and chaos has long passed.

Now all that 's left is a towering city and alien technology. A city that is no longer yours to protect. Old enemies now either dissipated or not even a shell of their old selves. The people have gone, the banquet is over, dawn has broken and the sun has set.

Centuries have passed, now all that remains is you.

All that remains is you and the curse is nipping at your heels. When the inevitable is drawing closer with every emotion you feel, with every day that ticks by. When you become the thing you swore to destroy.

When the man becomes a monster.

What a no-good ancestor, really.

Satoru can 't quite understand.

The in-between of love and hate and discarding the honor and burden of the strongest for one man.

For one Uchiha Obito.

Was it worth it?

For Satoru, no.

But for that ancestor, for that no-good ancestor-

It must 've been.

At that moment, when the executioner blade drops-

That no-good ancestor made a decision. They traded the joys and burdens of the strongest for one Uchiha Obito. It is not a matter of 'can I do it? ' but 'will I? ' It is the matter of weighing the world against one man. It should 've been an easy decision- but the hearts of men are never quite so decipherable.

It is a decision that a god wouldn 't have made, but a man would 've.

It is giving all the power in the world to a man and telling him to live as a god when his nature is that of a mortal.

It is telling them to control and think of the world, aloof and distant.

It is a miscalculation from the start.

A man with the powers of a god is but a man in the end.

And that man chose Uchiha Obito over the world.

Satoru won 't be that- he 'll be different.

He is a god amongst men.

He has to be different.

What a no-good ancestor.

'Answers first to save Yuuji-kun, ' Satoru decides in the thick of the silence. 'Then I 'm going to put it to rest. '

Perhaps it is out of pity. Or maybe it is due to the sins of the ancestor. Perhaps it is because Satoru decides that maybe it 's time for Satoru 's ancestor to get a good punch on the face from the curse in the afterlife- if the afterlife does exist. Perhaps it is him wanting to grant a sad thing a good death.

Or perhaps-

It is him wanting to erase whatever traces there is of a disgraceful ancestor and his folly of a decision.

In the end.

It was never meant to be here.

And in the end-

It was a Gojo who created it.

And it will be a Gojo who will put it to rest.

It is approximately three in the morning and Yuuji is having another awkward stare down.

'We really should stop meeting like this, ' Yuuji says.

'How else are we going to meet then? ' the curse asks back as though this were

normal.

'Not breaking in at three in the morning would be preferable, ' Yuuji says. Feeling like he 's the protagonist in one of those weird three in the morning challenges. He wonders if he should crack out an ouija board to complete it.

'Noted, ' the curse says. And as though to be pointedly contrary it opens its mouth again. 'I 'll make that two in the morning. '