"Whether it is a second less or a second more... I will erase you."
"Kira Nanami, you truly are an interesting man."
Yuji Itadori's head dropped. The two black markings on his cheeks began to spread and widen. Two additional eyes snapped open, radiating an aura of absolute calamity as black cursed energy surged through his frame.
Boom.
In an instant, Sukuna vanished. His movement was too fast for the naked eye to track; the only evidence was the trail of craters erupting across the floorboards, leading directly to Kira's throat.
Boom—
A flash of light. Sukuna's momentum came to a jarring halt. His fist, wreathed in dark energy, was stopped inches from Kira's face by a skull-studded hand gripping his wrist.
"Eh?"
Click.
An explosion rippled up Sukuna's shoulder, instantly vaporizing the limb in a spray of blood and bone fragments. With half his skull shattered, Sukuna looked at Kira with a look of genuine, twisted delight.
The scattered flesh began to reform immediately. A new arm sprouted from the joint, and a heavy punch slammed into Killer Queen's abdomen, sending the Stand flying.
"Die."
Sukuna lunged, his right hand raised, dark nails glowing with cursed energy as he swept them toward Kira's neck.
"Your hands are hideous."
Kira's Shikigami, having converted a pebble into a bomb mid-air, hurled it at Sukuna's arm, detonating the limb once more. As the Stand landed, it stomped the ground, launching a cloud of pebbles into the air and sweeping them toward Sukuna like a wave of shrapnel.
He can only make one bomb at a time. In this storm of stones, only one is real... getting hit again in this state would be troublesome, Sukuna thought. He shifted his weight, creating afterimages as he dodged the rain of stone to appear behind Kira.
Four seconds.
"You guessed wrong."
The stones slammed into the floor where Sukuna had just stood, carving deep pits in the wood.
Not one of them exploded.
"None of those were bombs."
The real bomb was in Kira's hand, passed to him by his Shikigami under the cover of the stone rain. Looking at Sukuna's surprised face, Kira flicked the pebble directly into the King's forehead.
The entire head disintegrated into a mist of blood.
Killer Queen closed the distance instantly, its fists hammering into Sukuna in a relentless barrage.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Six seconds.
The building shuddered under the shockwaves. Sukuna was blasted through the rooftop, his body caught in a cycle of destruction and regeneration as he crashed through the floor below.
"Is it over?" Fushiguro whispered.
"Fascinating. Sorcerers are just as troublesome as they were in the old age."
Sukuna rose from the wreckage, the dust masking his features save for his four glowing, predatory eyes. They narrowed with amusement as they locked onto Kira.
"I'm going to be serious now."
The four pupils dilated, revealing an endless, dark abyss within the iris.
"Seven seconds... eight... nine..."
Kira watched him, his voice a flat, calm line:
"Ten seconds."
Sukuna's frame suddenly seized. The extra eyes beneath his lids struggled to remain open but failed. He lost control of the vessel and collapsed onto the floor.
"He is a 'vessel' capable of containing Sukuna," Kira concluded, looking at Fushiguro.
"Are you still going to... exorcise him?" Fushiguro asked, his tone involuntarily respectful.
"No."
Kira shook his head. "I follow the principle of 'less is more.' Since he is a vessel, he has value. My job was only to recover the finger; handing this boy over fulfills my duty. Whether he lives or dies is a headache for Satoru Gojo."
Kira's attitude was clear: if it wasn't his business, he didn't care. It was the basic professional etiquette of a salaryman.
And it was finally time to go home.
"I'm leaving the rest to you. I have a breakup to handle tonight."
By the time Kira left the school, the night was late. He checked his watch: 7:54 PM. He would not be home by eight.
His irritation manifested physically. His fingernails began to grow—an inevitable reaction of his nature.
It seems I'll need another 'blind date' soon, Kira thought as he stepped out of his taxi. He considered asking Todo for another idol handshake ticket; perhaps a change of pace would soothe him.
He unlocked his door, checking the security hair he had left in the frame. It was undisturbed. His detection barrier confirmed no one had entered. He checked the indoor monitors; everything was normal.
Satisfied, he entered the foyer. He hung his blazer, aligned his shoes, and brewed a cup of coffee. As the steam dissipated, he felt his calm returning. He played a dusty, classical record, relishing the unchanging nature of the music.
He sat on his sofa, labeling a glass jar with the date. He poured out his nail clippings, measured each one, and placed them into the categorized display in his cabinet.
"Time to feed the cat... or fertilize it." He decided to skip the cat food and go straight to the fertilizer.
But first, the breakup.
Kira opened his refrigerator.
His face froze.
Inside were only rows of frozen pork ribs.
The hand was gone. Despite the room not being breached, it had vanished.
In its place, thousands of tiny, cursed inscriptions covered the interior of the fridge:
Kira Nanami Kira Nanami Kira Nanami...
Love you Love you Love you Love you...
Kill you Kill you Kill you Kill you...
His girlfriend had developed a mind of her own and fled.