Level 10

Level 1

"Yuuji?" Fushiguro mumbled faintly, words lost to the wind that whipped his skin harshly — made him blink, once, twice as he stared at the figure of the boy in front of him, whose edges wavered in the storm. A mirage. Something from his imagination. A dream conjured from desire.

After all, there was no way he was still alive. Fushiguro saw him die.

He saw Yuuji Itadori die, right in front of him, on July 2018, at the Eishu Juvenile Detention Centre in Western Tokyo City.

But there he was in front of him, his silhouette moving closer ever the slightest, until Fushiguro felt arms wrap around his lithe form softly, tugging his head to rest against a solid chest. It was warm. He could hear the steady thump, thump of a heart pulsing blood just beneath his ear, the rush of throbbing capillaries and veins, a soothing sound as he closed his eyes against the sting of shattering hope that pricked them.

At this point, he didn't know whether or not the man in front of him was real — not when he felt so very alive against him, but Fushiguro decided then and there, that it didn't matter.

He would treasure this moment either way.

♧

"Bitch." Kugisaki scowled, eyebrow twitching as she looked at Yuuji standing in front of her, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as if he hadn't scared her half to death. She lamented all the beauty sleep she'd lost thinking about him, all the embarrassing situations she'd gotten into with Maki because she was so damn preoccupied by his absence.

She was going to kill him.

"I'm really sorry guys," Yuuji started again, hand dropping down to rest at his side, face suddenly solemn and melancholy, "I really didn't mean to worry you." His lips pressed into a thin line, he nodded at the two of them, a dull glint in his eye. "I promise it won't happen again, please forgive me."

A beat passed.

"Fucking dumbass," Fushiguro muttered, lips curling into a sad smile before he looked up to Yuuji with a hardened glare, "die again and I'll kill you myself, got it?"

Growing up, Yuuji Itadori had always been a lonely child, because being at the top meant you had to stand on the backs of everyone below you. He never could accept that though, so his grandfather's last words had always meant the most to him.

He took it to heart when he was asked to not die alone.

And now, with the two of them beside him — Kugisaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi — he doubted he would.

"Got it," Yuuji smiled.