The rain that was pouring throughout the morning had all but stopped. Sukuna loitered distractedly along the pathway wet with rain. At the moment, he was acting on his own, independently from Yukari.
Ever since losing their clan’s secret base, Sukuna and Yukari had become fugitives and kept moving from one temporary place to another, not getting a permanent address anywhere. They also had yet to have a proper talk about what to do from now on. Should they search for a hideout in this area, or maybe start a life in a place far away from the Kanto region now that the Slate had been gone, or, alternatively, set out on a journey as wanderers…?
To Sukuna, it didn’t matter either way. He was content to just let Yukari make the decision. But it wasn’t like Sukuna gave up on life altogether. His goal at hand was to find a goal at all. Now that Nagare was no more, Sukuna, who had made Nagare’s dream his own and chased it, no longer had anything he wanted to achieve. That’s why, at present, first, he had to find something to live for. He didn’t care much where exactly he would find it.
‘Will there ever come a second time when I have a place I can call home again, I wonder…’ Sukuna gave a small bitter smile at the thought.
Although only by a little at a time, Sukuna’s super power positively appeared to be weakening. When he stopped to think about it, it felt to him like that special something that he got from Nagare was leaving his body and scattering away, and he wanted to cry at the helplessness and misery that assaulted him then. But that was how defeat was supposed to feel like in the first place.
For now, he didn’t really think of himself as weak yet, but at this rate, with his super power gradually fading away, eventually, there would come a day when Sukuna would turn into an ordinary child. One that would only be a burden to Yukari. The fact that Yukari seemed to be determined to stick with the boy despite that came as somewhat of a relief to Sukuna.
He even thought about learning the sword from Yukari. So that he would be able to hold his own in a fight even after losing his super power.
He still had quite some time until the scheduled meeting with Yukari. He had nothing to do until then, but at the same time, he didn’t feel like spending the time in a cafe either, so he chose a street with relatively little traffic and, finding a dry spot, plopped down right onto the road surface. Taking a portable game console out of his pocket, he turned the power on.
The pitch black LCD screen came to life with colors, and the game started. The game itself couldn’t have been more ordinary, with a cheesy plot full of cliches about a hero fighting to save the world. Sukuna, however, didn’t exactly hate that kind of corny setups. They were easy to understand and being a hero who was saving something was pretty cool, he thought.
'Still, what Nagare tried to create wasn’t a game where only the chosen hero gets to fight, shouldering the weight of the world, but a world where everyone - the king, the princess, the old man from the inn and even villager A - has power and lives like he or she wants.’
“Oh great hero, please save us!” Unfocused, Sukuna watched the villagers beseech the hero on the small screen of the game console.
“Gojou Sukuna,” came a clear voice of the reality from somewhere very close suddenly.
Sukuna raised his head, to find a girl with a doll-like face of about the same age as himself peering at him from above, hands on her knees, said knees slightly bent. After a moment of daze, he recognized her and the hair on his whole body stood on end. “The Red King, Kushina Anna…!”
'What a moron I am! This is the territory both Homura and Scepter 4 prowl, and I knew it! How the hell could I let my guard down so much as to practically sit on their doorstep!’
Badly wanting to click his tongue at his own carelessness, Sukuna hurried to half-rise to his feet, and Anna took a step back, rising her hands to show that she had no hostility towards the boy. “Wait. I have no plans to fight or capture you.”
Sukuna rose slowly, his eyes never leaving Anna. “Are you sure though? I’m one of Jungle’s leaders, you know?”
“Because I was curious. About how you are doing these days.”
“Hmph,” Sukuna made a meaningless noise.
Change little by little, huh. Talk about obvious. Now that the Slate had been destroyed, the system of kings and clans would have to change, whether parties concerned liked it or not.
For a while, the two stayed silent, just leaning against the wall of a building and sipping their cocoa. Anna, despite being the one who had started the conversation, didn’t try to keep it alive. And so, the two mutual antagonists, standing next to each other and making for a bizarre sight, were busy silently emptying their canned drink, content to just let the time pass.
Sipping the last of his remaining cocoa, sugary with the concentrated sweetness of the dregs from the bottom of the can, Sukuna was the one to open his mouth at last. “Have you ever thought about changing the world with your power of a king?”
Gazing at Sukuna, Anna shook her head slowly. “I haven’t. I wasn’t someone that great. I just wanted to protect what’s precious to me.”
“Since I was the Red King, I wanted to be fittingly cool.”
“Huh?” Sukuna looked understandably shocked.
Anna’s gaze, boring into Sukuna, never wavered, as she continued, “I knew that if the Slate was destroyed, Hisui Nagare would die, but I went through with the plan anyway.”
These words of the quiet girl landed a heavy blow to Sukuna’s feelings, shaking him up to the core. All kinds of emotions swept through him within the next moment: anger, sorrow, despair… They stirred up a storm inside him and made him feel pain; there was a burning sensation in the corners of his eyes, and he had to ball his hands into fists and grit his teeth with all his might to stifle the sudden urge to cry and stop the tears, that were already welling up, from falling.
But violent emotions never last long, and within the next few seconds Sukuna’s shoulders relaxed again. “…Like hell I’d hit an unresisting girl,” he finally said weakly.
Anna just continued to gaze at Sukuna, not saying a word.
Sukuna lifted his head and stared back. “Besides, back then, we were enemies. That’s why we fought. …And our side lost. That’s all there is to it. Right now, I have no reason to hit you anymore. I’m not gonna disgrace myself with fighting outside the arena just because I lost. But,” Sukuna’s eyes narrowed, “if we end up on the opposing sides again some day, I’ll fight you and I won’t hold back then.”
“I see,” Sukuna acknowledged shorty, about to resume walking.
“Sukuna.” This time it was Anna who called out to him.
Sukuna faltered for a moment at being called by the name so suddenly and casually and looked at her.
“I hope we can talk again,” Anna said and gave him a tiny smile.
“Bug off. It’s nothing.” Sukuna turned away from him, as if to hide the left side of his face bearing the marks of having been punched.
Yukari didn’t try to pry any further, just chuckled a little. “Be sure to tell me if you’re getting bullied. I’ll laugh at you then.”
“Indeed,” Yukari returned in a light tone.