Outside my room, I heard my parents talking very loudly. They thought they were quiet, but they weren't if I do say so myself.

"Honey, I wonder what's wrong with Nao? He's been sulking for a few days now." Mommy concernedly said.

"I know, he's never been like that before. It happened after he hung out with my students. Maybe I should call them?" Daddy said, and I hopped off my bed to tell them. I didn't want all of his students to be concerned about my odd behavior.

Creaaaaak

I slowly opened the door and peaked out my head.

"Naozumi!" Both of my parents turned around in shock as if they disturbed me because they did.

"Hi mommy, hi daddy..." I quietly spoke to them.

"Baby, what's wrong? Did we do something?" Mommy crouched down and cupped my cheeks. Her warm touch made me lie to them. Who knows how crazy they'll be if I'm acting like this because of Sukuna.

"No... I just miss Yuji in the house. I realize how lonely it is."

Mommy's eyes widened as if I said something wrong. "Honey," She looked over her shoulder to call daddy. "Tell Yuji to come over ASAP!"

"Yes!" Daddy pulled out his phone and stepped away from us.

Mommy stared gently at me, pulling me into her loving embrace. Her chin rested on top of my head. "Do... Do you want another sibling?" Mommy sounded so hesitant like my decision will affect her own. She's only like this because I'm not telling them the truth.

"It's not my choice if I want another sibling or not. I don't control that, you and daddy do. Even if I don't have a brother or sister, I will be okay with that. I have you, daddy, big brother, and everyone else!" I'm happy with what I have. I don't want to stress mommy because she already has to deal with a bigger baby AKA my daddy.

Later Yuji finally came over, and mommy and daddy excused themselves to buy some more groceries.

We were in my room, sitting on my bed. I still sulked after seeing Yuji. My chest felt so heavy, and I didn't know how to bring it up to Yuji about what I felt.

"Nao, what's wrong? Your dad told me that you've been sad for a few days, and he said that you missed me." Yuji softly said, sliding off the bed and appearing in my view. Just like my parents, his eyes were filled with concern too.

"I lied to them," I had no reason to lie to Yuji. "The real reason is because of Sukuna." I jumped off the bed and went to my desk to grab the handwritten letter expressing my feelings for Sukuna. This was basically my goodbye letter to him since I won't be a part of his life anymore.

"What's in your hand?"

I put a great distance between me and Yuji. "This is a letter written to Sukuna, and I'm going to read it aloud. This is my goodbye to him," My lips quivered from the thought of never seeing him or playing with him ever again.

"Oh! Are you talking about his interaction with you from last time?" I nodded to his statement. "Yeah, he was acting meaner than usual to you. If I knew I would tell you but I don't know."

"Dear Sukuna," my eyes scanned the beginning as I read. "People say you're one scary and mean person, but what you have shown me is kindness. This is probably because I'm my mommy's son, and you didn't want to harm me or else she'll get mad at you, but never once I ever feared you. You make me very happy. I cherish every moment I have with you..." My eyes started to water as my emotions were hitting me. "I've come to a closing that you no longer want anything to deal with me because you don't want my mommy any more but—" I suddenly stopped talking when I saw his hand on top of my paper.

"Why does this sound like a breakup letter?" His finger lifted my chin up while tears dripped from my golden eyes. I met his gaze, wondering why he transformed now.

"If you let me finish then I would've said it," I simply retorted.

I closed my eyes from his fingers wiping my tears away. "Does seeing me actually make you happy?" He questioned. To him, I was an oddball.

"Of course it does! Why wouldn't it? I'm always excited to play with you. You're like my best friend...aside from my big brother." Despite these confusing emotions in my chest, I still put the effort to smile at him with my reddened eyes. He was here listening to me, and I knew that he turned on his own. "Why'd you switch with Yuji?" I wanted to hear it from his own mouth. Does he even want to associate himself with me or not? Whatever his answer was I'm going to respect it.

Sukuna sighed, dropping down to my height. His face didn't show any sign of annoyance. "Kid, sometimes I forget that I'm a demon around you, you know that? I'm very surprised that you think I'm good despite all the bad things I've done in my past life, and you still want to be friends with me?"

Even if he's no longer human, I will always treat him like one. He protected me and saved me. I know I'm in Sukuna's heart. It might be a small fraction but it's something at least. I vigorously nodded my head. "People can change though, isn't that right?"

"I think I know why you're acting up. Kid, if you're thinking about what I said last time, I only said that because you can't rely on me to keep on saving you. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings at all. Also, don't keep your thinking too narrow. There might be a day where I may not be like that anywhere, so be careful of who you befriend!"

What he said was true. He's still an enemy to the world. He may turn his back against me and be hated once again, but as of right now, I don't want to see him like that. "Yes, I know. It's okay, but does it mean that you don't want to be my friend anymore? Because I still do." He wasn't clear about it.

"What do you think? Should I still? It's not really my call to say." Sukuna stood up and looked down at me, but not in an authoritative way yet in an observant way.

"Yes! I still want to be your friend, Sukuna!" I excitedly grabbed his hand and smiled brightly at him. My heart was beating fast, happy to know that he's going to be by my side for a while.

"Say it again,"

A big question mark appeared on my head. I wasn't going to ask why, but I said it again anyways. "I still want to be your friend, Sukuna."

"Again,"

"I want to be your friend, Sukuna."

"Again,"

I said it again and again in a confusing tone. Did it boost his ego? I'm so lost. Then I finally asked why he kept telling me to repeat myself. "How long am I going to keep saying this?" I sighed the umpteenth time.

"You said it wrong." Sukuna hissed out in disapproval.

"W-what do you mean? It's been the same sentence over five minutes. I said nothing wrong." I wonder what Sukuna was on today. I still don't understand why I'm told to repeat it many times. The result came out the same. What did he actually want me to say?

"You never call me by my first name. I don't like hearing that from you." His sharp eyes looked directly at me, and I mentally grinned widely from what connected in my head.

Hmmm. He wanted me to call him 'grandpa,' but I'm going to make him admit it first. "Well, what's so wrong calling you by your first name? I thought you liked that? You told me that countless times, Sukuna."

"I don't, not from you." Sukuna grumbled, making me want to push his button even more.

"So tell me what you want me to call you," My ears were open to hear him confess. It kind of made my heart race in anxiety and excitement. One step closer to exposing his true feelings for me.

Sukuna's lip twitched, probably understanding the trick I was playing with him. His eyes closed, and he breathed out sharply. "Ha..." His hands were placed on his hips as his head was thrown back. "I see... I will only say this because I made you sad." Sukuna's gaze was back to me once again. "Call me 'grandpa'." His voice was strained but I didn't care. However, I didn't expect him to swallow his pride and tell me.

"YAY!! OKAY, GRANDPA!" I hugged his long leg. "Now come play with me before my parents come back!" I grabbed his hand and took off.

We sat on the grass in the backyard to cool down after playing a game of unfair tag. Sukuna didn't give me a chance to run at all. He counted all the way up to 10 and then used his fast ability to catch me within 1 second. When it was my turn to count, he didn't go easy on me either. Sukuna would use his quick speed to trick me as if I was going to catch him, but instead I fell face forward to the ground.

"Grandpa, now that you have Nozomi, what are you going to do?" This was a good thing for my mommy because her life wasn't at risk anymore. Her mind can finally think about me and daddy.

"I'm happy but I'm not. I can't tell you the details because even I don't know it." Sukuna truthfully spoke, and I believed he wasn't lying because if he couldn't draw a nice picture of what makes his heart happy beside killing people, then I don't know what does. "It just doesn't feel the same that's all I can say," Then he plopped his big hand on my hair and ruffled it into a complete mess.

"Hey! Stop it!" I giggled from the quick sensation tickling my head. I kept laughing as I crashed to his side. He wouldn't stop rubbing my head aggressively. Lifting my head up at him, I caught a glimpse of him smiling from his mouth to his eyes. He really did enjoy my presence. "I know you like me...! Hehehe!"

"Is that so? I can't tell you that either." His fingers moved down to my sides as it danced around, and my body couldn't stop twisting and turning.

"Stop, grandpa...! I'm... I'm going to p-pee on you...!" I said through my forced laughter.

"Gross. I'll stop." Sukuna disgustingly said with his voice dropping at the end. His machine fingers finally gave me a break before I did release my pee on him. I wasn't lying about it for him to stop. I needed him to stop before he got mad that I tinkled on his legs. I'm not ready to meet his furry. "Are you happier now?" He propped his knee up as his elbow laid on his knee cap, and his head leaned against his upright hand.

I backed away from him before he could attack again. "Yes, I am!" The next question Sukuna asked had me thinking about a hypothetical future.

"Kid, what if I took you and your mom away with me? Far from your dad if Nozomi hadn't been found yet. Would you be mad at me?"

I was speechless. I didn't know how to even answer that myself. It's a future that I never thought about. A life with Sukuna and mommy, but without daddy in the picture? I knew mommy wouldn't be happy with the result, and she would suffer a lot. Daddy, on the other hand, wouldn't stop finding us even if it meant tearing the whole world apart. "Uhhh..."

"Nao! We bought you and Yuji some snacks!" I turned my head, hearing mommy's voice from inside the house.

My mind was splitting into two: one was thinking about Sukuna's question, and the other was thinking about what kind of snacks? I kind of hoped it was strawberry flavored chocolate....

Suddenly I was brought back to earth by Yuji switching back to his body. "Come on, Nao. Your parents are waiting for us." Yuji ushered me inside the house.

After that odd question from Sukuna, it left my head. It didn't mean much because he's happier with Nozomi more than my mommy.