HEART THIEF || JUJUTSU KAISEN

the foreseer's finale.

Naoko removed his palm from Makoto's throat, a shimmering white gem in his grasp. His other hand still held the arrow, which he'd stabbed through the back of the man's head so deep the point emerged between his eyes like a grotesque horn. With a wince, he yanked it out, and immediately regretted it.

Brain matter dribbled out and splattered onto his shirt, reminding him dreadfully of those drinkable jellies with marinated cherries mixed in.

The sight was utterly disgusting, so much that he couldn't help but break character in that moment and fling his arrow to the side, his hand immediately flying to hold his abdomen as he turned and keeled over, vomiting.

"Ew."

"Ew yourself." He gasped, smacking his lips against the vile taste. No good. Naoko knelt in the grass, arms shaking from the effort of holding himself up as he emptied his stomach in great suffocating heaves and coughs. He wanted to run and sleep until the sight disappeared from his head.

"Oh, yikes , that can't be a pleasant feeling. Hold on a sec."

A moment later, Gojo reappeared by his side, one hand rubbing his back as he grimly looked at Kai's and Makoto's bodies. He'd arrived just in time to see a shockingly alive Naoko confronting the scrawny and awkward man. His hands still trembled a little from the heat of the moment, seeing Naoko with his throat ripped out, the sheer amount of blood that poured forth, and then the swift and experienced manner in which he lunged forward, driving the tip of his arrow through Makoto's skull.

"Here." An opened plastic bottle of water pressed against Naoko's lips, and he accepted the drink gratefully, taking a large swig to first clean the bile from his mouth before resorting to tiny sips as he moved to sit away from his mess. His stomach rumbled broodingly. He didn't think he'd be able to eat anything for a while.

"So, how was the climb back from hell?"

Naoko was exhausted, but he managed an extremely sarcastic "Ha. Ha."

How he was alive after getting his throat ripped out, Gojo would have to ask later. First, they needed to do something about these bodies, and the glowing white something in Naoko's tightly-clenched fist.

Makoto's core. His technique, the power to see past the space-time continuum just by cursing it.

The boys exchanged a silence nod of agreement, this was something the higher-ups absolutely could not get their hands on. However, at the same time, was it safe in Naoko's hands? Makoto was semi-grade one, which meant the general capacity of his technique wasn't as godly as it appeared, Naoko assumed it meant the extent in which he could see into the future was limited. Maybe only a week, a couple months, a year? A year at most. Yet, while the ability lacked in power, it made up for in versatility.

A meek yet unavoidable thought emerged between their two minds. Naoko wasn't exactly the most trustworthy candidate to hold such a technique either.

"I don't want it." He rasped, reading Gojo's expression. "He was right. It's a god-fucking-awful technique. I'll keep it, as a reminder, but I'll never use it. I can't hold that many techniques anyways, so it'll have to stay an object. I'll have it made into jewelry maybe, I know a good blacksmith who I can trust. Kai always liked to collect bracelets and earrings, and Mako would've done anything to give it to her. I never got to ask him why but he used to say it was because her smile gave him reason to live."

"Oi. Hold the monologue for a second." Gojo was practically holding him up at this point. "You look like you came right out of a horror movie. Let's get you to Aihara-sensei and—"

"Do you really think she'll want to see me? After what I said?" Naoko tried to punch him, but he was so drained he only succeeded in lightly bumping his neck with his knuckles. He had unfairly soft skin, he couldn't help but notice. "I told you not to open the damn letter, that was such an invasion of privacy."