After having finished utterly destroying Sukuna's soul, it took a lot longer than Keitaro had expected.
Apparently, Sukuna's soul was very strong. Even when split into 20 pieces, it was still stronger than the average person's soul.
This was probably why if an average person ate one, they might just die or get taken over—because first, it was poisonous, which meant eat it at your own risk.
But if you somehow managed to survive that poison, you would then have to survive Sukuna trying to take over your body.
Keitaro let out a sigh. This was going to be way, way harder than he thought.
Well, he was still like 27. If he could hunt all the fingers in time, he could get rid of them by the time he was 28.
Simply because Keitaro could run the full length and width of Japan in a very short amount of time.
It does help when someone can basically move at the speed of lightning.
Plus, he wasn't the fastest for no reason.
Keitaro sighed a bit, looking at the second Sukuna finger he had. If his guess was right, he could use this in order to help himself locate the fingers even better.
Deciding to turn the finger into a necklace, he made the necklace and prepared to meet Satoru. Some stuff needed to be discussed with his friend.
The evening sun cast a golden glow over the school grounds as Keitaro sat beside Gojo on a bench near the baseball field. The air was calm. This was peaceful, very peaceful, and Keitaro was enjoying every second of it.
"Hey, Satoru, you wouldn't happen to have any more of those fingers lying around, would you?" Keitaro lay down, still somewhat relaxing.
Satoru, who was chewing on a lollipop, glanced at him with a lazy smirk. "Oh? You on a collector's spree now? Planning to complete the set?"
"Something like that. Figured I might as well track them down before someone else gets any bright ideas," Keitaro added in a rather monotone tone.
Satoru gave a dramatic sigh before reaching into his pocket. With a flick of his wrist, he casually tossed a small cloth bundle to Keitaro. "Four fingers, fresh from the freezer."
Wait. Did Satoru walk around with those fingers in his pocket? Where the fuck did Satoru even get those? Better yet, how would he know that Keitaro was going to ask for them?
Was Satoru psychic?
"You're just giving them to me? No questions asked?"
Gojo leaned back, resting his head against the bench, his blindfold barely shifting. "Nah. I trust your judgment. And your character." A rare, genuine smile tugged at his lips. "Plus, you aren't the kind of guy to do random BS with them. If my guess is correct, you're planning to destroy the fingers."
Keitaro never knew how much of an open book he was until now.
Hm, he must have had his emotions written all over his face. Well, at least it was good to know he had a good friend in Satoru.
Keitaro sighed a bit, resting his head on the chair.
"You found a way to destroy Sukuna's remains, didn't you?" Satoru added, his head still leaning back.
"Yeah, though it's quite time-intensive. I can remove his soul from the fingers. The curse energy, however, remains the same, though."
Gojo whistled, clearly impressed. "Damn, so you actually did it, huh? Figured you'd find some absurd loophole around Sukuna's immortality. You always were stubborn like that."
Keitaro smirked, lazily rolling one of the fingers between his fingers. "Yeah, well, turns out obliterating a soul isn't as simple as punching it really hard. Who knew?"
Gojo chuckled. "Oh, I don't know. Sounds pretty on-brand for you. So, what now? Gonna go on a scavenger hunt across Japan to finish the job?"
Keitaro shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty much. Gotta sniff out the rest before some idiot swallows them and turns into Sukuna's chew toy."
Gojo tapped his chin. He was free, so why not help his friend on his manhunt? Should be quite a good use of his wonderful free time. "Well, if you need help, I could track a few down for you. Y'know, between my full-time job of being ridiculously handsome and effortlessly powerful."
Keitaro scoffed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, model boy. But if you do happen to find any more, don't just keep them in your pocket like candy, you absolute psycho."
"Well duh, they're all warm and comfy in there."
"You are childish."
"As if you're any better," Satoru said, gazing up at the sky.
Keitaro sighed. The man wasn't wrong. Sometimes, he could also be a bit childish.
"Let's end it. This whole King of Curses thing... let's put an end to it."
"And here I thought you would do it alone."
"Well, usually, yeah. But why bother? I have friends. Would be really bad if I tried to take the burden by myself. Sometimes I feel like you forget the title of Strongest is shared between the two of us... That includes the burden."
"Yes, sir."
A/N this took a lot longer than I expected.