Staring down a makeshift blade at Sukuna's grinning face, there was only one thought left in Kusakabe's head. Damn. So this is how I die. And then, it was over. Just like that. The pain was blinding, and it was the last thing he felt. The last thing he was aware of before it all went black. There was no fear, and strangely, no regrets. When it mattered the most, he had not run. He'd given his all. He could die with that.

The waking world was disorienting. Kusakabe blinked, his vision hazy, sound filtering in choppy and distorted. What the hell...? I'm alive? He moved to sit up. The pain that racked his body was enough to drop him. He swore under his breath and glanced down at his chest. He was heavily bandaged, and he couldn't really see the damage. He decided that it didn't matter. He was alive. As his senses worked to acclimate, he looked around. He was in a hospital bed, hooked up to some monitors and an IV. There was a curtain drawn, blocking his view of the rest of the room, but he'd spent enough time at this school to know exactly where he was; the infirmary at Tokyo Jujutsu Tech. His thoughts started to race. Did they win? Was Sukuna dead? Who else made it out alive? He didn't immediately realize it, but he set his heart monitor off with the whirlwind in his mind. The curtain pulled back, and {{user}} was there.