After Sukuna finished his dominant performance, the combined majority of class 1-B and 1-A only had one thought running through their minds.
‘Was this guy really human?’ It was a talent to achieve strength comparable to Shikibuton Yomo, especially at the age of 15, where a person’s potential began to bloom.
But to actively hold back and only use one part of your quirk, never mind not using the other 2, and achieving victory through brute force?
What had they fed this guy when he was a kid?
‘Is he Endeavors secret love child?’ Some of them thought, remembering the flames that he had unleashed upon the Zero-Pointer.
What snapped everyone back to reality, however, was the announcement to the next match.
“Now that that match is finished, I’ll be announcing the next one.
Murasaki Hiyori and Oshare Yuki versus Ao Robai and Doujo Hito!” The students who were called up began to walk, but their steps were noticeably slower than the earlier combatants.
Perhaps it was a premonition, but everybody got the idea that no sparring match today would even be able to compare to what Sukuna had showed them.
He had shown them the heights that a monster can achieve at such a young age, instead of despairing, they all felt more determined to reach him.
To stand beside him at the pinnacle, and challenge him once they realized their potential as well.
____________________ 15 minutes later….
The winners of this match, to nobody’s surprise, was class 1-A’s Ao Robai and Doujo Hito.
The match was a bit comical, to say the least.
Oshare Yuki started off the match by preparing to pay her opponents to surrender, but she was the one who was forced to surrender, after seeing Hiyori fall asleep after 10 minutes had passed.
Ao Robai was the only one who was able to show what his quirk could do, which was a form of illusion that made their opponent feel a weak but constant feeling of panic, or dismay.
The effect was random, but it was heavily useful for Robai, who just kept mentally injecting Hiyori with it since the match started.
Hiyori’s response to panic, funnily enough, was to fall asleep and just let it pass by, which is what she did once the panic she was feeling reached a certain threshold.
Sukuna was reminded yet again about how powerful abilities that relied on illusions were, since he personally knew how the state of mind affected battle itself.
Had he not been an arrogant prick after defeating Satoru Gojo, he most likely would’ve won against Itadori Yuji.
Sukuna was by no means angry or humiliated at his defeat, realizing his faults and accepting them after 15 years of constant improvement.
He was even grateful towards Itadori Yuji now, since his previous path would’ve led him to permanent stagnation had he won.
He hated that.
He hated being perfect, when an imperfect being had so much time to grow.
Perfection never existed in Sukuna’s eyes, when all he chased was strength.
If strength had an upper limit, then Sukuna would always find a way to break through it.
No matter what the cost was.
Shaking his head, Sukuna refocused on the battles that unfolded, now that their joint training session was interrupted by the fact that Vlad King was requested for backup.
It was still a fun training session that had class 1-B and class 1-A interact and learn about each other.
Sukuna began to walk away, before a voice reached him.
“Suku-chan!” Mirio shouted, looking at him with an excited grin.
“Care to join us for a trip to the mall?
All of us have nothing to do, and we want to learn more about each other, since this training session was interrupted.” The taller boy explained, looking at him with a hopeful expression.
After a few moments of contemplation, Sukuna shrugged, before pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Sending a message to his mother and Izuku, explaining his absence, Sukuna gave Mirio a smile.
“Alright.
I’ll bite, let’s go.” “Hell yeah!” Mirio shouted, excited, as he ran off to the locker rooms, with an amused Tamaki following him.
Tamaki gave Sukuna a grateful smile as well, which got him a wink from Sukuna.
Everybody else followed, some excited, some nervous and some simply just existing.
The most excited of them all was Nejire, not because of the fact that she would get to learn more about her classmates, but the fact that she would get to buy new clothes.
____________________ After everybody went home, changed their clothes, and began to head towards the location that they all agreed to…
Sukuna was greeted by the sight of Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, which was a mall that sold anything, as long as it was under a fair price.
Walking with Mirio and Tamaki, they were all separated into groups of two or three, with Nejire explaining the plan to the two classes.
“Okay, so, I’m gonna have us all separate into groups!
Two or three at most, since only 40 of us are actually in heroics.
That means that we get to form 20 groups!
Or 13.3, if you wanna be specific!
After that, we’ll all meet up at this same spot after an hour of shopping and eat if we’re hungry!
Don’t worry, if you aren’t hungry, you can simply go home, or just stick around and hang out if you want to.
We won’t force you to do anything!” By the time she was finished explaining, Nejire was beaming at everybody, quite literally blinding them with how bright her teeth were.
And the fact that a bright light suddenly shone on her, reflecting off of her teeth into their vision directly.
Sukuna had to use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his vision, while the others sadly didn’t have such luxury.
Out of sympathy, he went around and healed his classmates one by one, while Nejire was looking around in confusion.
‘She really is an airhead.’ Sukuna sighed, having finished healing Mirio’s eyes.
Mirio blinked, looking around the mall, as he shook his head to focus more clearly.
“Damn, Hado.
Are you sure you don’t have a light manipulating quirk?” He asked, rubbing his eyes.
“No?
Why would you think that?” Nejire asked in a tone full of confusion and innocence.
Mirio looked at her in disbelief, alongside Tamaki, before both boys shook their heads.
“Nothing, Hado.
Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” Mirio said, knowing that the girl would feel bad for doing that to all of them.
‘Drama queens..’ Sukuna had a tick mark on his forehead, which was what prompted Mirio and Tamaki to ignore the unexplained phenomena that was Nejire Hado.
Shaking his head, Sukuna walked forward, which prompted his classmates to follow him.
When they crossed past the entrance to the mall, all of them split into the aforementioned groups, with Sukuna, Mirio and Tamaki all heading to buy clothes, games and newly released albums respectively.
Sukuna was going to only buy one or two shirts, due to his tight situation, but was left with 5 shirts, pants and underwear.
The reason brought a smile to his face.
Mirio and Tamaki had insisted on paying for Sukuna’s clothes, with Mirio’s reason being the one that shook Sukuna’s independent pride the most.
“Sukuna,” the taller boy began, grabbing his childhood friend by the shoulder.
“I respect you, hell, everyone at the school probably admires your strength at this point.
But please, let us do this.
We know how tight your financial situation is, and this is the least we can do for you.” He grit his teeth, memories flashing through his eyes.
“If it wasn’t for you..
I might have not passed the U.A entrance exam at all.
Maybe my mastery of Permeation would’ve stopped, unless someone as skilled or as smart as you picked me for their internship by some miracle.
Please let me do this..
As a way to thank you.” Sukuna’s eyes were wide, until Tamaki hit his heart with another blow.
“I agree.
Sukuna, please let us pay for this.
If it wasn’t for you or Mirio, I probably wouldn’t even be at a fraction of my current confidence.” Tamaki’s voice was full of certainty, and the way he spoke brought a smile to Mirio’s voice.
For the first time in his life, Amajiki Tamaki had not stuttered during that sentence.
Nor was his voice quiet.
Sukuna simply smiled at their explanations, his expression full of pride.
“Alright then, but don’t complain if my fashion taste is expensive.” He joked, which cut through the atmosphere immediately, making them all crack a chuckle.
Companionship was truly beautiful, Sukuna decided then and there.
Enjoy!