Archive of Our Own

On the day Suguru met Gojo Satoru, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. It was spring, the start of his school year at Jujutsu Tech in Tokyo after leaving his rural hometown.

Suguru had just finished his lunch at the cafeteria and decided to take a walk at one of the school's many pathways with cherry blossom trees lined up at the side up until the end of the path where a Toori gate stood as well as a single old and worn building behind it.

Yaga had told him that the building was built as an extra dorm just in case they didn't have enough for everyone but most students usually use it as a hangout spot as it is a bit far away from the main building, a perfect place for them to escape from their teacher. Suguru thinks the place could be classified as an abandoned building judging from how old and broken it looks from the outside though.

He wasn't sure exactly why but he felt compelled to go there. Maybe it's because of a mere curiosity or maybe it was because of the cherry blossom trees. He doesn't bother questioning it for too long.

Suguru looks up at one of the trees, hands in his pocket.

It's only a few days before the start of school and the only classmate he knew was Ieri Shoko, who didn't hesitate to introduce herself and her skill as well as tell him to make sure to find her if he needed any healing to be done. Yaga did say that sorcerers are not common but he's still pretty flabbergasted.

"There's also Gojo Satoru." She'd said when he asked if it was just going to be them. "I've heard from Yaga-sensei that he's a little bit of an acquired taste since he was homeschooled until now." She twirls a strand of her short hair. "I did also hear that he's quite the troublemaker though… and that he's super duper pretty.

Suguru was intrigued by her statement and asked her if they would be meeting him anytime soon but she shook her head.

"Nah, we probably won't see him until our first day. I mean, Yaga has to fight tooth and nail just to get him to attend."

He sighs in disappointment and she laughs at him while patting his shoulder.

Suguru finally decides to continue his walk, yawning. The whole day has been rather boring. Ieri says that she has to talk to her mentor and leaves right after lunch so he's all alone at the moment.

As he continued to walk up to the building, he spotted a boy standing under one of the cherry blossoms near the Toori gate, head tilted upward and his hand held out to catch the petals falling from the trees.

Suguru stops a tree away from the boy, blinking. The boy turns to him and blinks back.

The wind picks up and the petals begin to scatter even more around them and Suguru almost lets out a laugh at how cliche this scene must look for any outsider. It reminds him of one of those old-school dramas his mother used to watch on TV after dinner.

Then, the boy opened his mouth and Suguru could feel a vein popping on his head.

"... What are you looking at, weakling?"

'Fantastic way to start a conversation.' Suguru's mind sassed. 'He's lucky he's pretty else I would've decked him on the spot.’

Suguru begrudgingly agreed with the last thought in his head as he took in the other's features. A white, messy hair, some strands swaying in the wind, and rosy, red lips, his tall and lanky build framed by an impossibly white kimono. He's as tall as Suguru is, which, he must say, is very impressive considering that he is taller than others around his age.

Then, Suguru paused as he got to his eyes.

They're..unnaturally blue. The kind of blue one would've expected to see when they look up at the sky above or the clear, blue ocean, not when you're gazing into someone's eyes. Bright and shining orbs, hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, stare at him as if he is assessing his worth and seeing through his soul.

Suguru smiles. "... Nothing. I'm just wondering why you're just standing there looking at the tree."

The boy scoffs. "None of your business. Now, run along. Leave me alone. I was admiring the flowers but you ruined my peace, you know."

Suguru's smile doesn't fall but he does feel like it's harder to keep on his face at this moment. "Excuse me for standing in a public space."

"You're staring at me even if it's in a public space. It's creepy."

"The only thing creepy here is you standing under the cherry tree frozen like that. If I didn't know any better, I might have thought you were a curse that somehow sneaked inside the school."

'An irritatingly beautiful curse.' His mind chimes in. Suguru told it to shut the fuck up.

The boy's eye twitched. "... Are you picking a fight with me right now?"

Suguru rolled his eyes. "Wow, how smart of you to figure that out. Bravo."

The boy huffs as he stalks up to him, frowning. "... You don't know who I am, do you?" He asked, standing directly in front of Suguru.

Suguru shrugs. "Well, you didn't introduce yourself to me and it's not like I'm a mind reader so unfortunately, you are right."

The boy groans. "You're so insufferable. What is wrong with you?"

"Me? What is wrong with you? Like, seriously, who the fuck stands at some abandoned building just to admire a tree?"

"What I do in my free time is none of your business you little-"

"Satoru!"

Both of them froze at the sound of a woman's voice calling out a name, turning to the beginning of the path in sync. Then, the boy cursed under his breath and grabbed him by the wrist before pulling him into the building frantically. Suguru didn't bother fighting back simply because the boy was too fast. It took him a while to register that they were both standing in one of the rooms in the abandoned building.

The boy sighs as he peeks outside using the window. "She just won't leave me alone ugh…" He mutters with what Suguru can only describe as a pout.

Suguru stares at the boy for a moment before freezing when the event from earlier comes back to him.

'Wait… The woman was calling for a Satoru…'

He watches as the boy continues to grumble, eyes slowly widening.

'Holy shit.'

"You're Gojo Satoru?!"

The boy, Gojo, jumps and covers his mouth, shushing him. "Shut up! If she finds me here, I will personally make your life hell, you hear me?!"

Suguru gulped and nodded. Gojo sighs and takes his hand off of him, crossing his arms. "And yes, I am Gojo Satoru. So you do know me. Why didn't you recognize me?"

Suguru rubs the back of his neck. He can feel heat creeping up there. "Well, I've never seen your face or anything. Ieri told me you're supposed to be in the same class as us but that's all I know about you."

Gojo looks taken aback. "What? That's all you know about me?"

"Yes…? What else am I supposed to know about you?"

Something in his eyes shines a little and Gojo smirks, waving his hand dismissively.

"Oh, nothing~ Well, what are you doing here anyway? Isn't this dorm practically abandoned?"

Suguru raised an eyebrow at the sudden topic change but didn't comment on it, instead choosing to humor him. "I just came to check it out."

"Why though?"

Suguru sighs. "I don't know. I just feel like taking a walk here. Now," he points towards the window. "Can you please tell me who that woman is and why is she calling for you?"

Gojo paused. "... She's my caretaker, that's all. I kinda ran away from a meeting with Yaga and the elders."

Ieri's words of him being a troublemaker come to Suguru's mind and he couldn't help but chuckle. Gojo glares at him, annoyed.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, sorry. Well, are you going to go back?"

Gojo looks at him as if to say "Are you dumb?", making Suguru chuckle again.

"Alright, alright. I get it. No need to look at me like that, geez."

The other boy huffs at him. "Whatever. Don't you have anywhere to be? Like, hang out with friends or something?"

Suguru snorts. "With what friends? Ieri is busy today and you're my other classmate so I don't have anyone else to hang out with."

Gojo shrugs. “Fair enough, I guess. Most sorcerers probably don't have any friends outside of school anyway…”

Suguru sighs, slightly offended. Still, it's not like he's wrong so he chose not to retort with anything else, lifting his hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes before he paused.

The button on the sleeves…

“Ah geez… How strong are you? You rip the button of my sleeve…” Suguru complains, frowning as he stares at the sleeve.

“What's the problem? You can just sew it back, can't you? Besides, it's your fault for wearing the school shirt even though it's not school day yet.” Suguru shot him an irritated look as he lowered his hand.

“Unfortunately, I can't sew and I'm only wearing this to see if it fits… I suppose I'm gonna have to buy a new one with the same size.”

Gojo pouts before letting out an exaggerated sigh. “Ugh, fine! Just come over to my room later. I'll sew it back on for you.”

Suguru raised an eyebrow at him. “... You can sew?”

The other scowled at his question. “Why? You got a problem with that?”

“No, no it's just…” Suguru rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I mean… it's just… Oh, whatever. After dinner sounds good to you?”

Gojo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. I'll guide you to my room after eating, Not like you’ll need it. There's like three students this year so our dorm will be closed anyway…” Gojo mumbles under his breath, looking at the window to see the caretaker taking her leave. Then, he shook his head, heading for the door.

Suguru’s eyes follow him as he grabs the doorknob, twisting it before he pauses.

“... Oh, yeah.” Gojo turns to him, tilting his head. “What's your name? I don't think you've mentioned it.”

Suguru blinks. “Oh, Um, sorry. My name is Suguru. Getou Suguru. It's great to meet you… I guess. You're a bit rude but considering that you offer to sew my button on my shirt… I suppose you're tolerable enough for me.”

Gojo’s lips curled up slightly at the comment, huffing out something akin to a small laugh. “Asshole. Don't get used to it.”

Then, he walked out of the room, not even closing the door behind him. Suguru stares at the door left ajar by the other boy before turning to look out of the window, watching him slowly coming into his view and making his way out of the Toori gate, cherry blossoms petals still swirling in the wind around him.

Suguru remembers thinking that his shoulder looks… oddly slumped. As if he's carrying a weight that's too heavy for his lanky body on them.

Suguru remembers thinking that he wished that he could shoulder at least half of the burden for him, even though they just met and knew each other's name literally a minute before.

…

Suguru also remembers that he does has a hang out plan with Ieri that day and unfortunately, the only reason he remembers is because she decides to give him a call and chew him out for standing her up as he desperately sound out his apology while running out of the room to make his way to her.

-

Gojo did, in fact, guide him to his room after dinner. Or, well, he supposed the correct way to say it is drag, rather than guide.

As soon as Suguru was done with his food and went to put his tray away, Gojo had come up behind him, arms crossed and a deep frown on his face while Ieri looked at them with a questioning look.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Come on, let's go to my room. You need me to help you with that thing, right?”

Suguru chokes at the way he phrases it so nonchalantly while Ieri’s eyes slowly widen at him, letting out a startle “What?!”.

That sounds… so wrong out of context.

Gojo stares at him like he has grown two heads as Suguru coughs his lungs out while Ieri continues to gape at the back, her cigarette between her fingers falling onto the floor, thankfully unlit.

After a few minutes, all of them calm down and Suguru lets out a tired sigh. “... Please don't ever say it like that again. It could cause a misunderstanding.”

Gojo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but nodded anyway. “... Sure? I guess? Whatever. Did you bring that thing with you?”

“Yes, Gojo. I did bring that shirt with me.” Suguru sighs, lifting his hand to show him the shirt he's been holding since the start of dinner. “Stop saying it like that, please.”

Gojo shrugs and grabs him by the wrist to the direction he assumed is his room, ignoring the burning glare from Ieri. He should probably message her to make sure that she did not get any wrong idea about their relationship.

Before he knew it, they arrived and Gojo was closing the door behind him, urging Suguru to sit down on the bed while he rummaged through his things in a box next to the desk, searching for something.

After a while, Gojo stands up, carrying a sewing kit in his hand and walking over to Suguru before sitting right next to him. Suguru scoots over to give him a bit more space while he watches Gojo roll out a roll of thin black thread and cut it. Then, he licks the end of the thread before gliding it through the needle's eye with practice ease, tying it to knot.

Afterwards, he outstretched his hand to Suguru, asking for the shirt. Suguru places it on his hand wordlessly as Gojo turns the shirt inside out and places the button on its place, piercing the needle through the fabric and the hole of the button. Suguru couldn't help but watch him work with interest. Ieri had told him that Gojo was a spoiled kid of the Gojo clan. Every single one of his needs was fulfilled no matter what just to make sure he's happy and satisfied.

The fact that he knows how to sew, something that even Suguru, a normal neighborhood kid who often helps his mother with house chores doesn't know how to do, is… unexpected.

“... You know, your thoughts are quite loud.” Gojo mutters under his breath as he works, snapping Suguru out of his head.

Suguru flushes and turns away. “Well, excuse me for being curious. You're the candidate of the strongest sorcerer of the future, aren't you? At least that's what Ieri told me. Who would've expected this kind of thing to be your hobby. I expect you to be more into, you know, sorcery.”

Gojo huffs, pulling the thread all the way as he sends a brief glare at Suguru before looking back at his work. “Well, surprise, surprise, I'm still human, idiot. So what if I'm the inheritor of the six eyes? I can still have hobbies…” Gojo said, once again grumbling under his breath.

Suguru paused. “... Six eyes? What is that?”

Gojo sighs loudly, taking off the straight pin he had put after finishing the last stitches. “Ask Ieri. Or wait until Yaga teaches us about it. Your choice. I couldn't be bothered to explain.”

Suguru rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Are you done yet?”

Gojo didn't answer as he made a few more stitches before grabbing the scissor and cutting off the excess thread. Then, he hands the shirt to Suguru, a cocky smile on his face. “Done. What do you think? If you ask me, I think I did an incredible job. Am I right or am I right?”

Suguru huffs out a short laugh, taking the shirt from him and examining the button.

‘Huh… He did a pretty good job.’ Suguru thought, an eyebrow raised. ‘It looks neat and good enough. Matter of fact, it looks like it hasn't ever come off.’

“... I guess we're done here.” Suguru said, standing up with his shirt thrown over his shoulder.

Gojo crossed his arms. “What, that's all you have to say to me? Am I just your personal tailor? Where's my reward?”

Suguru waves him off as he heads to the door. “You're the one that tore it off in the first place so deal with it. Good night, Gojo.”

When Suguru closes the door behind him, he can hear Gojo throwing him a few curses and frustrated huffs at being ignored. A small smile quirk up on his lip as he begins walking towards his room.

-

During class the next day, Suguru sends a dirty look at Ieri while she smirks, clearly enjoying the fact that he just figured out that the boy he had asked to sew his button for free yesterday was the fucking golden boy of Jujutsu world.

Apparently, Gojo was born with the six eyes, a trait unique to the Gojo clan and his existence in itself has tipped the power scale to Jujutsu sorcerers side. He's also extraordinarily smart and his technique is pretty much a fucking cheat code considering that limitless caused you to not be able to touch him.

Long story short, he's pretty much a God compared to Suguru.

“You're too dramatic.” Ieri pats his shoulder before walking away from him while taking a drag out of her cigarette to exhale the smoke outside of the classroom window.

They're the only left in the classroom right after class as Yaga drags Gojo with him to his office as soon as he is done explaining all they need to know about curse techniques and what not. Suguru and Ieri decide to stay behind because… well, Suguru couldn't help but bury his face in his hands by the time class was over, groaning loudly and Ieri had nowhere else to go.

Suguru glares at her through the gap of his crossed arms on the table. “You say that after pretty much bullying him into sewing your shirt. God, my life is so over.”

She laughs at him. “Come on, chill out. I'm pretty sure he's not so petty to the point that he would get you to drop out of school for a comment.”

He groans again and leans back against his chair, running his hand down his face.

Ieri rolled her eyes, smiling teasingly at him. “You sure overthink a lot. That's not a good trait for a Jujutsu sorcerer, you know?” She took a drag out of her cigarette again before exhaling. “Besides, I don't think whining about a mean classmate to his family is favorable to him. The six eyes are supposed to be the strongest, you know? Knowing how the clans treat someone like him…” Ieri stays silent after that, tapping her cigarette to get rid of the excessive dust.

Suguru looks at her when she doesn't continue, slowly bringing his hand down to his sides. “...What?”

“... Nothing. Point is, there's no need for you to worry.” She shrugs. “Also, don't think I didn't notice that you keep calling me Ieri. Just call me Shoko, geez. What are we, business partners?”

He raised an eyebrow at the sudden topic change but nodded anyway. “Fine, whatever.”

He was about to ask her if she wants to take a walk in Tokyo again today since they're both free for the evening when the classroom door opens and Gojo walks in, blinking when he spots both of them. “... Oh. You guys are still here?” He said, closing the door behind him and striding to Suguru who is still sitting at his desk with his hands inside his pocket.

Shoko puts out the cigarette and stretches, walking closer towards Suguru’s table while dragging her chair with her before taking a seat on the side of the table. “It's not like there's anywhere else to go. What about you, Gojo? Got a lecture from Yaga-sensei already? It's only the first day.”

Suguru can't help but look at her with admiration with how casually she is joking with him. Gojo scoffs and grabs his chair as well to sit down on the other side, crossing his leg with his arms crossed.

“It's just family stuff. I'm not that bad.” Suguru holds back a snort while Gojo slowly starts to smirks. “Though, I'm totally about to give Yaga-sensei a very bad headache for the next few years.”

All three of them let out a laugh at that, Suguru shaking his head in amusement while Shoko just straight up cackles next to him. Gojo laughs a bit more reservedly but it's still a laugh nonetheless, leaning forward to place his hand on the table while leaning his cheek on his palm.

“Correction, all three of us are going to give him a nightmarish headache for the next few years.” Shoko comments, still laughing as she wipes her eyes.

Yaga comes to check in on three of them after a while, telling them that it's almost dinnertime already. The day ends while they walk off to the cafeteria, laughing with each other as the sun continues to set.

Time was simpler back then. If only the rest of their youth could be just like that day.

-

When they got sent to their first mission together, they got into an argument.

The mission was at a small village up on the mountain, a quiet place filled only with the elderly and a few children and young adults. The window reported that the curse has been affecting the source of water of the village and some victims have fallen ill due to their poison. Shoko and her mentor were also sent to deal with the ill villagers while Gojo and Suguru were sent to hunt it down.

Suguru wasn't sure exactly how the argument started but maybe it has to do with Gojo being reckless. Too reckless.

The both of them managed to chase the curse into the forest before it somehow made its way nearby the houses of the villages. Suguru paused in his pursuit and thought about how to kill it without posing any danger to said houses when Gojo breezed past him, surprising Suguru.

Then, he sent out a blue, pulling everything, the curse and the houses into it before a squelching sound could be heard, purple blood dripping from the ball of debris made by the other’s technique.

Suguru freezes as Gojo cheers in victory, hopping back towards him with a smile as if he hadn't just destroyed someone's property.

“What the fuck, Gojo?!” He shouted, making Gojo paused in his step, tilting his head to the side. “You-! I can't believe you!” Suguru shouted, stalking over to him with anger. “Forget about the fact that you just destroyed some people's houses, what if there were someone in there?! You could have killed them!”

Gojo looks at him with confusion and that pisses him off even more. “What's the problem? The curse has been killed and most of the villagers have been evacuated to the other side. There's obviously no one here.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! Come on, Gojo. Shouldn't we prioritize non-sorcerers safety and comfort over our mission? Yaga-sensei also clearly told you to keep the property damage to a minimum. This is not the minimum, for fuck sake!”

Gojo waves him off and Suguru has to physically hold himself back from punching him in the face because of his nonchalant behavior. “Is this about your stupid ideal about saving the weak again? Come on, Getou. We both know I couldn't be bothered with that. Yaga would just give me a lecture and that's it. The mission is done. That's all that matters.”

Suguru clenched his fist and he could feel his nails digging into his palm. “... Do human lives not matter to you, Gojo?”

Gojo stares at him before kicking a rock as he walks past Suguru, his hands in his pocket while Suguru turns to follow his movement. Then, he stops once there is some distance between them and glances over his shoulder at Getou. “... Sometimes a few casualties are necessary to get what we want, Getou. You need to be capable of cold logic in this world.” Gojo turns back to hide his face as he resumes to walk away from Suguru. “If you keep going with that mindset of yours, it'll ruin you one day.”

Suguru moved to grab him but was stopped by infinity, causing him to retract his hand back and watch as Gojo leaves him behind without looking back. Suguru bites his lip before cursing under his breath, kicking a piece of wood that had landed on his feet before heading towards the opposite direction.

After a while of walking, Suguru arrives at the other side of the village, almost bumping into two children chasing each other while laughing. The adults are chatting with each other with a worried look on their face while the elderly are sitting around a big table, drinking their tea while shouting at the kids to be careful.

Suguru watches the scene before him, his shoulders slumped. Shaking his head, he makes his way towards one of the houses where Shoko and her mentor are most likely at, tending to the patients. When he entered, he saw her sitting at a table while reading something, a cigarette between her fingers, her mentor nowhere to be seen. She perks up when she notices him, lifting her hand as a greeting.

“Yo. Where's Gojo? I thought you two were hunting the curse down together.” She asked, putting down the file that she was reading onto the table.

Suguru frowned, collapsing onto the chair next to her. “... We got into a fight. I don't know where he went.”

Shoko chuckles, pressing her cigarette butt into the ashtray to extinguish it. “A fight? This is your first mission together and you two are already getting into a fight?”

Suguru groans, rubbing his forehead. “It's not my fault he's an asshole. Yaga is going to kill us when we get back. The property's damage is going to be insane to pay for.”

Shoko shrugs, crossing her legs. “I don't think you two have to worry too much about that. The school covers it up anyway.” She scans his expression for a moment before speaking again. “Spill it. What were you two arguing about? I don't feel like sitting between two sulking teens in class anytime soon.”

Suguru leans back against his chair, staring up at the ceiling. “... I asked him about how much he values human lives. He walks away after that. That's all.”

She hums, taking the box containing her cigarettes out of her pocket and gesturing to him to go outside with her head. “Come on. I think you might want to smoke with me.”

He gives her a deadpan look. “I don't smoke, Shoko.”

“Well, stop being pussy and try it. I think it'll be a useful habit for you.”

He gave her a skeptical look but nodded, following her outside of the house to the back. She took a cigarette out and handed it over to him before pulling one out for herself, taking out her lighter to light her cigarette. She hands it over to Suguru who hesitantly follows her example.

Then, he begins to cough violently, causing her to laugh. He gives her a sharp glare look as he tries to expel the smoke from his lung before trying again. After a few more tries, he manages to finally not end up coughing, solemnly taking a drag out of his cigarette and tapping it to dust the stub off.

“... You know, I think that you shouldn't be too judgemental of his moral compass… That is if he even has any. When you are in this kind of world, you kinda have to be at least a tad bit insane and disregard some common sense. Besides…” She paused while Suguru turned her, silently waiting for her to continue. “With how he was probably raised, I don't think he cares much about anything but completing his mission and getting stronger. To be frank, I don't give a shit about other people’s life and relationship but don't be too harsh on him, yeah? Try to understand him a little.”

Suguru looks at the cigarette he's holding before sighing. “... Sure.”

She grins, patting him on the shoulder while stubbing her cigarette out at one of the trees, turning to leave with a wave. “Go and find him. It's almost night time. The villagers are preparing dinner soon.”

-

When Suguru finally finds Gojo, He's at the village’s main river, standing on top of the water using his infinity. It seems like he's testing it or something seeing as he is moving cautiously, an uncharacteristic scowl on his face, eyes focused.

Suguru paused as he stopped at the side of the river. It doesn't seem like Gojo has noticed him yet and Suguru isn't sure if he wanted to cause Gojo to fall into the water just in case he accidentally lets go of his infinity if he was disturbed.

It would be funny but he's not sure if the other boy would find it as amusing as he does if that were to happen.

Gojo finally makes it across the river after a while, sighing in relief when his feet touch the ground. Then, he turns and finally notices Suguru standing across from him, eyes widening before he averted his gaze away, crossing his arms. “... What do you want?”

Suguru rubs the back of his neck nervously, shuffling his feet. After letting out a small breath, he jumps onto the stones littered in the river to make his way across to Gojo, standing in front of him. “... Look, I… I’m sorry about just now. I'm a bit new to this sorcerer thing, okay? I don't know how things are for you and other sorcerers but I do have my own belief so I… I just… I don't know…”

Gojo looks at him up and down, slowly uncrossing his arms. “... I don't care what you believe in. Though, I personally think it's wrong for you to force your belief on others.”

Suguru tucks a stray hair behind his ears, nodding. “I know, I know but… Well, I still believe that what you did wasn't right. You shouldn't disregard someone's life for the sake of a complete mission, Gojo. It'll be pointless for them to die like that because the main reason we're doing any mission is to keep them safe in the first place.”

Gojo sighs, kicking a rock near his feet into the river. “I told you, I couldn't be bothered to care about these things. As far as I'm concerned, I was born to be the strongest, eradicate as much curse as I can and then die. I'll live and die for the sake of the Jujutsu world and humanity. The entire reason I'm alive is to complete this mission.”

That… is so not okay in many contexts in Suguru's opinion.

“You talk about yourself as if you're not a person with feelings, Gojo.”

Gojo didn't say anything to that, turning away from him to give his attention to the river instead without saying anything about Suguru’s comment. Upon closer inspection, Suguru notices that he is squinting his eyes at something. However, When Suguru turned to look in the same direction, he didn't see anything but the river’s running water and a few silhouettes of fishes.

Sometimes, Suguru couldn't help but wonder… What is it that Gojo sees with his six eyes? Yaga had explained to them that the six eyes' perspective is different from everyone else’s. Though he also said that there's no information as to how it actually looks as most six eyes users are very reserved, therefore making them not exactly willing to share their experience.

“You're thinking too loudly.” The other boy grumbles. “What's going on in that dumb head of yours? I hope it's nothing stupid like a crush on a girl or something.” Gojo jokes, elbowing him lightly in the stomach. Suguru slaps his hand away, annoyed.

“Shut it. Even if it is, who would I even have a crush on? Shoko?” Gojo laughs, not at all offended by the slap. Suguru’s lips curl up involuntarily at the sound. “... I think it's time to go. It's almost dinner time, Gojo. I don't know about you but I am getting a little hungry.”

“Okay~” Gojo draws out, walking ahead of him. Suguru shakes his head and follows behind him when the boy suddenly stops, turning to Suguru. “By the way… I'm… sorry too for storming off. I know that I said I don't care much about this stuff but well…” Gojo scratched his cheek, face flushing red. “I… Guess I can trust you to keep me in line…”

Suguru blinks as he observes the other pale skin turning red in… embarrassment, he supposed. His face feels weirdly hot as well and he doesn't doubt that his ears are probably flushing red too. Gojo practically runs away afterwards and Suguru snaps out of his trance, chasing after him.

“Wait, Gojo!” He shouted, feeling weirdly giddy as the other continued to run ahead.

“Go away, Getou!”

“Oh come on, don't be shy now-”

“SHUT UP!”

-

“Huh? Getou. Your sleeve is torn up. How did that happen?”

“... Oh? I guess it got caught on a branch or something.”

“It can't be helped I guess. I'll sew it for you. You better give me a reward this time.”

“Ha! You wish.”

“Rude!”

And well, that was probably how a familiar routine of Gojo sewing his outfit whenever it got torn during a mission begins.

-

Their first year passed by in an instant and before they all knew it, it's already time for spring break. Suguru and Gojo had made some progress in their friendship. Suguru wouldn't call them best friends but they're closer than ever now.

His mother was excited when he told her he’ll be coming home since he had spent his summer and winter break at school, missions and homework piling up. Suguru too couldn't hide how happy he is to finally be able to see his family again after so long as he chats about them to Gojo and Shoko during their dinner at the cafeteria.

Gojo, on the other hand, doesn't look too thrilled about coming home. He had told Shoko and Suguru that his clan head had called him home for the break with a slightly bitter smile. Shoko doesn't look too pleased about it either but didn't say much while Suguru simply told him to have fun.

Gojo left a week before the break started, waving at them with a reserved smile he rarely ever used these days.

Suguru and Shoko waves back and just like that, he is gone. As they were walking back into the school, Suguru turns to Shoko. “You don't look too happy about him going home. What's up with that?”

She shook her head. “It's nothing. By the way, you have his number right?”

Suguru blinks at the sudden question but slowly nods. She sure likes to switch topics a lot whenever he wants to talk about Gojo. “I… do. Why?”

She shook her head again. “No, no, it's nothing, really. Just… If he ever called you, make sure to answer, yeah?”

Suguru looks at her with curiosity but nods again. The two of them didn't bother continuing the conversation afterwards.

They both left to go home the first day of the break, splitting off after Shoko gets off the train to go to her hometown.

“Take care of yourself, I guess. Hopefully your bone won't be broken when I see you after we get back.” She jokes as she exits the train, making Suguru laugh as he shouts at her to take care as well.

His days passed peacefully at home. He helped his mother cook, do the house chores, go shopping with his father, and catch up with his few friends back at home. Shoko messages and calls him to check up on him but Gojo didn't even send him a single text.

Suguru was starting to think that Shoko’s prediction that Gojo might call him was wrong when suddenly, his phone rang five days before the last day of the spring break. Suguru answers it without looking at the caller ID, expecting to hear Shoko’s voice when-

“Getou?”

Suguru paused. “... Gojo? What's going on? It's been a while since I heard anything from you.”

A laugh from the other side of the line, the sound quiet and low. Suguru couldn't help but frown when he heard it. “Yeah, well, I've been a bit busy. I called Shoko a while ago and she seems to be doing well so I thought I might as well call you too, you know?”

Suguru huffs, putting the book that he was reading on the coffee table in front of him.

“So you're telling me that you don't even remember me until you hear Shoko’s voice? I never knew I'm so insignificant in your life, Gojo.”

Gojo laughs again before suddenly falling silent, his voice being replaced by the sound of rustling and shuffling. Suguru waits for him to say something but the other side of the line continues to be quiet. Eventually, he decides to talk just to make sure Gojo doesn't fall asleep while calling him or something.

“Gojo?”

“Yeah- Yeah, I'm here.” Gojo answers quietly. Not a whisper but not as loud as he usually talks. Suguru couldn't help but feel a bit worried.

“Are you alright? You're at home, right?”

“Mhm. Say, Getou, do you mind if I ask you a question? It's a little out of the blue but… I don't know. I just need to ask this.”

Suguru swallows. Gojo sounds… exhausted. What has he been doing at home?

“Sure… Sure. I'll answer it.”

Gojo sighs. “... Do you think everyone in this world has… a reason for their existence?”

Needless to say, Suguru is taken aback by the question. This is extremely out of the blue. “... What brought this on? Gojo, did something happen at your home?”

Gojo ignores his question and instead continues with his own question. “Do you think everyone's lives have any significance? Do you think one teeny tiny person can make a difference to this world?”

Suguru’s mouth clicks shut as he looks up at the ceiling above him, pondering about what he had just heard.

“... I think that everything has a reason for existing, Gojo.” Suguru answers after a brief moment of mutual muteness from the both of them. “No matter how unimportant a person looks, they have their own role to play. There’s a reason why they are born into this world. That's why… That's why we Jujutsu sorcerers exist. Our existence is to protect the weak as the weak have their own role to play.”

Gojo didn't say anything for a long while and Suguru was getting worried that he might have hung up but shortly after, Gojo’s voice can be heard again from the other side, albeit slightly shaky. “... Okay. I see. Everything has a reason to exist… That means it applies to choices too, right? Every choice we made… There has to be a reason behind it.”

“... Gojo, are you okay?”

“Bye, Getou! We’ll talk more later.”

Gojo ended the call immediately and Suguru brought the phone away from his ear, staring at it with conflicting emotion. He thought about calling Shoko to see if she knows anything about it but it's not like she's his sister or something and he has a feeling she might not tell him anything at all even if he did ask.

He spares a glance at the clock above the tv and decides to get ready to go out. A smoke would be nice just to get his mind off all these.

-

When he arrived at the dorm a day before their first week after the break, Shoko and Gojo were already there. It seems like they both came back a day before he did which, he must admit, makes him a little confused.

“Why though? It's not like you two are passionate about studying so it can't be because of that.” He commented, taking a seat at the dinner table placed in the mini kitchen in their dorm living room. Shoko was sitting there, eating some instant noodles while Gojo was seated at the couch, sewing… something.

Shoko simply shrugs at him. “Just felt like coming back early. He doesn't like to stay long at home so I come back to keep him company, I guess.”

Suguru looks at Gojo who freezes at what he heard before continuing his work as if nothing happened, letting out a huff. “Well, excuse me for not wanting to be around those old men more than I need to. I don't want to end up catching dementia from them.”

Shoko rolled her eyes at him, swallowing the instant noodle she was chewing. “That shit is not infectious, you dumbass.”

Suguru laughs at their bickering, standing up to make his way over to the couches and taking a seat at the one opposing to the white haired boy to see what it is he has been sewing. Then, Suguru blinks because the kimono he is sewing looks quite familiar.

“... What happens to your kimono?” He asked, noticing some tears and holes that Suguru was pretty sure weren't there when he saw him wear it during their first meeting. “Did you fight curses at your home or something?”

Gojo spares only a glance at him before looking back down to patch up another hole. “It's nothing. I wore it while sneaking out into the forest behind my house and I might or might not have gotten into a scuffle with some cats and animals…” He trails off, cutting the excessive thread.

Suguru doesn't believe him one bit but he couldn't bring himself to ask, opting to lean back against the couch instead as Gojo continues to diligently work on patching up the kimono. Eventually, Shoko joins them and collapses onto the couch beside Suguru, taking out her box of cigarettes.

“That kinda makes me curious. Does your clan allow you to wear patch up kimonos like that? It's not noticeable but still.” Shoko asks, tilting her head as she fiddles with the box.

Gojo makes a face at the box in her hand but shakes his head at her. “Not outside but they don't mind it much if I wear it inside the estate. Even then they're still not too happy with it though.”

“Why not wear another one then?” Suguru chimes in, leaning forward a little. “You have more similar kimonos like this, right?”

Gojo paused in the middle of his sewing, making Shoko and Suguru exchange a look with each other. Then, the other lets out a sigh. “... No. This is one of a kind.”

Shoko looks at him for a bit before standing up, heading towards the kitchen window. Probably to start smoking. Suguru watches her go without saying a word while Gojo busy himself with his work once again.

A heavy silence falls upon them before Suguru finally decides to break it.

“Say, Gojo.”

“What?”

“Do you remember calling me during the winter break to ask me that… question? What was that about? Did something happen at your home?”

Gojo lets out a humorless chuckle, grumbling “When does something not happen at that damn estate.” under his breath. Suguru kept his mouth shut while watching him work, anticipating an answer.

Even so, Gojo didn't even look like he acknowledged the question. Shortly after, however, he puts down his needle and thread, stretching. He's finally done, it seems. “... It's nothing much. People in my clan can be weird sometimes so I just need a… reality check I guess. Or something like that.”

He stood up with his kimono, heading towards his room with a casual wave at Suguru, signaling him to forget about their conversation as if it was that easy to do.

Suguru frowned but didn't bother to chase after him. He has no right to force him to tell him anything but that doesn't make this whole situation any less confusing. With nothing else left he could do, Suguru makes his way to Shoko who is casually leaning against the window to blow her smoke outside.

“... Can I have one, Shoko? I kinda need it right now.” Shoko grins at him in amusement but hands him the box and lighter, tapping her cigarette to dust it off.

Suguru takes one out and lights it, sighing after taking a drag out of it. “Seriously, what is up with him? He calls me during the break and asks me a question that makes me have an existential crisis but now he acts like it's just something he randomly does. What is he, a philosopher?”

She laughs at his rant, exhaling the smoke while Suguru leans next to her, holding his cigarette between his fingers.

“That reminds me. You two still call each other by your last name, huh?” She commented.

Suguru lets out a hum as a response, tapping his cigarette. “Yeah, well, I haven't asked him if it's fine for me to call him by his first name. Well, it's not like we're that close yet, right?”

“Both of you are the literal definition of attach to the hip.” She said, scoffing and taking a drag of her cigarette. “Between you and me, I think it's you that should have dropped the Gojo bullshit and called him by his name already. Heck, I called him Satoru and he didn't even bat an eyelash at me. I think it's more than okay for you to do that.”

“You called him Satoru?!”

“Not the point. You really need to stop being a coward, Suguru.”

He huffs and blows a little bit of smoke in her face out of spite, making her curse and kick him in the shin. He hisses, stepping on her feet and she retorts back by doing the same. They continue back and forth until Suguru cracks and lets out a laugh, shoving her lightly to stop their little game.

“Geez, what are we? Kids?”

“Yeah, well, you start it first.” She grumbles, backing away from the windowsill while taking out her cigarette box out of her pocket. “I'm going to take a shower and maybe call up Utahime. See you later.”

Suguru simply gives her a wave as she walks away while extinguishing her cigarette using the said box’s plastic covered side.

Suguru turns back outside, sighing as he scratches the back of his head. He should probably ask Gojo about it, no matter how trivial the matter seems. Communication is the best way to confirm something after all.

-

“You want to call me by my name? Sure. I can call you Suguru too then, right?”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah? What else needs to be said? We are best friends, aren't we?” ”

“... Yes… Yes, we are. It's settled then. I'll call you Satoru and you can call me Suguru.”

Gojo- No, Satoru’s smile that he'd given to him can only be described as dazzling and soft. Suguru never even knew Satoru was capable of showing such a smile.

“Sure, Suguru.”

Suguru left shortly after that with his heart threatening to beat out of his chest, face flushed red and sweating profusely to the point that Yaga-sensei had asked him if he had a fever when he saw his state while passing by the training ground where Suguru was sitting at to calm down.

-

They got two new first years joining them for their second year. Satoru insisted that they hold an unofficial ceremony to welcome them since the school never really bothered with that. He's quite excited to get to know them so Shoko and Suguru just go along with it since Yaga-sensei doesn't say anything against it.

The first student, Nanami Kento, is a little bit grumpy and formal. He has short blonde hair and looks a little bit like those emo rock singers whose album he used to jam to back when he was twelve. The boy doesn't smile much, if at all, but he takes his work seriously and is very diligent. He looks quite done with Satoru already but well… honestly, Suguru can't blame him for feeling like that. Satoru is docile with Suguru most of the time (emphasize on most) but he is such a menace to everyone else.

The second student, Haibara Yu on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He's all sunny and cherry, smiling excitedly as he introduces himself to them and Yaga-sensei. He has short, brown hair with a personality equivalent to a golden retriever and while he doesn't look like the smartest, he's a compassionate young man, always happy to help them with anything. He seems to get along with Satoru quite well, funnily enough, something that Nanami doesn't seem too happy about considering that he is his only classmate.

After the short ceremony, all of them decide to hang out in the city to do a little bit of ice breaking. Yaga-sensei lets them off early that day and none of them have any missions so…That's that.

It was fun, to say the least.

They went to get ice creams, play at the arcade (where he lost to Satoru and had to buy him burgers. Suguru genuinely thinks that Satoru rigged that game or something.), drink some sodas and go to karaoke once they run out of ideas on what to do outside.

Haibara cheers as Shoko sings her heart out at a detective Conan Ost, Something about granting wishes, he doesn't know for sure, while Satoru laughs as he does a silly little dance at the side (Despite the song sounding very… sad? Suguru doesn't know how he even thinks of dancing to it.).

Suguru sits at the back while eating some snacks that they've ordered with Nanami who looks like he's about to slap the shit out of his senpais if only he could. To brighten his mood, Suguru pats his shoulder, smiling crookedly. “What's wrong? Not enjoying our company?”

Nanami flinches, brushing his hand off hesitantly while looking at the three idiots belting out a very horrible sounding high note. “No, it's nothing like that. It's just… I don't have many friends back home so this is… Overwhelming I guess.”

Suguru hums. “Yeah, I am sorry to say this but you're gonna have to get used to this, buddy. We only got each other so we have to support each other, you know?”

Nanami’s face sour when he glances at Satoru before he nods with a resigned sigh, reaching over for an unopened can of soda. “You're right. I've heard of how dangerous things will get once we get sent out on missions…”

Grinning, Suguru grabs his own can and raises it to the air. Nanami blinks at the soda can before shifting his eyes to Suguru.

“A celebration toast! Congrats on joining us this year and all that I guess.” Suguru chuckles, winking at the other.

Nanami blinks before cracking a smile, raising his own can. “A toast it is then, Senpai.”

“Oh? What's this? Doing a toast without us?” Satoru said, walking over to them while taking a soda can that looks way too sweet for consumption. “Leaving us out huh? I see how it is, Suguru. And to think I considered you as my best friend. For shame, Suguru. For shame.”

“Oi! Wait for us too!” Shoko shouts, abandoning the microphone to strides towards them, Haibara not far behind.

Suguru sighs in mock annoyance, shaking his head. “Oh well, since these babies want to whine about it, I guess I have no choice.”

Satoru scoffs. “I can kill you where I stand, weakling.”

“Well, I wanna see you try, honey.” Suguru bites back, a challenging smirk on his lips.

“Alright, stop. Don't flirt in front of them, for fuck sake. I don't want them to turn out like you two trash.” Shoko groans while Haibara laughs heartily as he takes a seat next to Nanami.

Satoru lets out an offended noise but Suguru decides to diffuse the situation by standing up and raising his can.

“Alright! Cheers for our two new students!”

“Cheers!” They all shouted, laughing before they took a sip of the soda. Shoko went back to sing afterwards and Haibara managed to convince Nanami to join them while playing one of the instruments.

Satoru, on the other hand, collapsed next to Suguru on the couch, sighing.

“What, tired already?” Suguru asked, looking at the other who is now stuffing himself with some sweets.

“Nah, I just want to let the first years have fun. They seemed nervous around me, especially Nanami. I don't think he likes me much.”

Suguru snorts, popping another small sausage into his mouth. “You have that effect on a lot of people. I don't think it's unusual. I still remember about last year's goodwill event.”

Satoru scowls, throwing a piece of a candy at him, one that he easily caught with one hand before unwrapping it and putting it into his mouth as well.

“It's not my fault Kusakabe decides to pick a fight with me. I swear that guy has something against both of us.” Satoru grumbles, glaring at the table in front of him.

Suguru shook his head, patting Satoru on the shoulder. “Chill out, I'm sure Nanami doesn't hate you. You just need to stop being a piece of shit all the time. Work on your personality a little, why don't ya?”

“Very encouraging, best friend. It's nice to know that that's your honest opinion on my personality.” Satoru deadpanned before leaning back against the chair. “Whatever. I'll just see how things will go this year. Hopefully not too bad.”

Suguru smiles and turns to look at Shoko, Nanami and Haibara who is now sharing the mic to sing another ballad song. Nanami doesn't look like he's even trying at all but him willingly joining them is progress enough.

“Yeah… I think it'll be a good year, actually.”

-

Curses have always tasted awful. If Suguru were to paint a picture for anyone else of their taste, it would be like swallowing a cloth that has been used to wipe shit and vomit.

He couldn't help but curse the deity above for giving this as his curse techniques side effect. Out of all the side effects they can give him, it just has to be one related to eating. It's one of the things you need to do to stay alive, for fuck sake.

What's worse is the fact that the taste seems to only get worse as the years pass somehow. He only started swallowing curses the year before, courtesy of Yaga-sensei, but he can feel the taste changing from bad to horrendous. Not to mention, it's hard to get rid of the taste as it always sticks to his tongue like a particularly stubborn stain on a white T-shirt.

He never complains about it to anyone before since it's his own problem to deal with and it's not like they'll understand but the taste is starting to affect his eating habit in a very noticeable way. Suguru can't even eat without his damn sense of taste reminding him of that shitty taste of curses.

Shoko was the first one that brought up his change of eating habits. It was during their weekly game night and she was staring at him with a weird look while they were playing truth or dare. He was already quite nervous because of it but then, during his turn when he chose truth, she just blurted out her question without hesitation. “Have you been eating, Suguru?”

Well, shit. He had walked right inside of the trapped himself so he can't even blame her for this. Knowing that he can't get away, he settles for “Kinda.”

As expected, she doesn't look pleased by the answer and Satoru is now finally looking at him to examine him, mouth curling down by the second as he does.

“Huh… You do look like you've lost some weight, Suguru. Are you alright? Is the food here that bad?” Satoru said, probably an attempt at a joke. Suguru chuckles drily, ignoring the look Shoko is giving him.

They decide to not talk about it then, continuing with their game until it's time for bed. Shoko probably senses that he's not ready to talk to her about it so she lets him go for the day but Suguru couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about telling both of them anything.

To his surprise though, Shoko never approaches him about it. Instead, she keeps shoving a bunch of food on his plate. Especially spicy food. Even if it's something that has the smallest amount of spiciness. Satoru also starts doing it after she does, though he clearly states that his excuse was because he doesn't like spicy food and that he can't handle them.

And it does help, funnily enough. Eating spicy food numbs his sense of taste enough to the point that he can barely taste anything. It's not a permanent solution but it helps a lot. At least he eats enough for a day.

Unfortunately, just when Suguru thought he didn't need to talk about it, Satoru just had to bring it up during their joint mission.

To be fair to him, it's not his fault that he got curious. While it was not the first time he saw him swallow curses, it was his first time seeing Suguru having such a strong reaction as he usually can hold himself back from throwing up. At least until he got back to his dorm.

“You know, I've always wondered about this but what do curses taste like? Is it like, really really bad?” Satoru had asked, holding his hair back as Suguru emptied out his stomach into the toilet.

Luck must not have been in his favor that day because not only did his hair tie choose to snap right after he swallowed the curses but it just so happens that the curse was a first grade and they taste the worst after Special Grades. It's a real hassle since Suguru hates bothering people and he really doesn't like appearing weak in front of Satoru in fear that his view of Suguru is of some weakling who can't even handle his own technique.

“What do you think, genius?” He snaps before going back to throwing up. Satoru keeps his hold on Suguru’s hair without saying anything afterwards, probably deeming it unwise to continue with his questioning.

After everything was done, Suguru found himself sitting at a bench outside of a candy shop, massaging the back of his neck while waiting for Satoru to come out. Maybe he could ask the driver to stop by the grocery store and pick up a chili to numb his tongue.

“I'm done~” Satoru sings songs, holding up a plastic bag filled to the brim with candies and chocolates. Suguru nods and moves to stand up, his eyes closed in concentration to not throw up again.

“Let's go, Satoru. I need sleep.” He sighs, turning to walk towards the car before a hand stops him by holding his shoulder, surprising him. Suguru turns to look at him with half lidded eyes, exhausted. “What now?”

Satoru opens the plastic bag and searches through it before pulling out a pack of candy, handing it to Suguru.

Suguru blinks at the bag. “... If it's about the taste thing, sweets don't work. I tried it before.”

Satoru huffs. “I know that. Shoko told me that spicy food helps so I bought you some spicy candy.”

Suguru paused and glanced at the bag skeptically. “Are you sure this is spicy enough?”

“It will! Just try it. You'll know I'm right.”

Suguru rolled his eyes but decided to humor him. At least it will lessen the taste even if it's only a little. Suguru rips the pack and takes out one of them, putting the rest of the pack into the plastic bag.

He took off the candy cover and stared at it.

It does look spicy. Bright red and covered in spices.

When Suguru throws it into his mouth, he isn't expecting anything but-

“Holy shit. It works.” Suguru comments, feeling his tongue slowly going numb due to the spiciness. “Fuck- it's so spicy.”

Satoru laughs at him as he rummages through the bag and takes out a bar of chocolate, tearing off the package before offering it to him. “Here, this might help.”

Suguru takes the offered chocolate and sighs in relief as the spiciness slowly dissipates, coughing.

“You good?” Satoru asked. Suguru waves him off, clearing his throat.

It was too spicy but it did help a lot. He can barely taste the curse anymore.

“I'm fine. Let's go back. I'm so fucking exhausted right now.” Suguru groans, leading the way as Satoru follows him with a drawl out “Okay” From behind him.

As they walk, Suguru pointedly avoids meeting Satoru’s eyes before speaking again, regretful.

“...I'm sorry for snapping at you just now, Satoru.”

Satoru hums as a response, taking a bite out of the opened chocolate bar. “It's fine, it's fine. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling sick, though? You're lucky there was a toilet nearby just now or you might throw up on your shoes or even worse, my shoes.”

Suguru scoffs, shoving him playfully. “You are so annoying, you know that? The least you can do is be a bit more considerate in this kind of situation. This is why people don't like you, Satoru.”

Satoru pouts at him. “Couldn't soften the blow for me at least, huh?”

“Nope.” Suguru tries to walk ahead of him only to be stopped when Satoru catches the back of his collar, catching up to him.

“Come on, Come on, tell me the reason. Don't try to distract me now~” Satoru said, poking at Suguru’s cheek insistently. The other slapped his hand away.

“I don't wanna trouble you, that's all. I usually can hold it in until we get back so…”

Satoru frowns. “Why though? Do you think I would judge you for it or something?”

Suguru paused, feeling a sudden urge to pull out his pack of cigarettes. “... If I say yes, would you call me an asshole?”

“Yes, actually. I guess that's the reason then.” Satoru huffs, slinging his hand over Suguru’s shoulder as they continue to walk. “Come on, Suguru. We have known each other for almost two whole years now. Trust me a little, why don't ya? Even you must have noticed that I'm nicer to you than anybody else.”

Suguru snorts. “Nice is a bit of a stretch but your attitude with me is milder compared to others, yes.”

“Do you want to get punched?”

At that, Suguru lets out a laugh while Gojo gives him the stink eyes, his grip on his shoulder tightening. “Sorry, sorry, I'll stop. Well then, pray tell, what is it about me that is so different from everyone else, Satoru?”

Satoru's eyes flashes with… something as he turns away, frowning. “... You're strong and well… I trust you. You also make me stronger because we're the strongest together, Suguru. I'd never judge you for anything.”

Suguru blinks, surprised at the unexpectedly genuine answer. He was prepared for anything but that.

“You… Trust me?”

“... Yeah.”

“More than anyone else?”

“... You know what, let's not talk about it. Let's just go.”

Satoru walks ahead of him, letting go of his grip while Suguru gapes at him from behind, feeling a sense of deja Vu from this situation.

His lips curl up teasingly, running to catch up to Satoru who is walking faster than necessary.

“Satoru wait! You can't just say that and leave me behind!”

“Leave me alone, Suguru!”

“But- I think you're right! We're the strongest together, Satoru!”

“Eat shit and die, weirdo!”

-

“.. Huh?! Suguru, your sleeve is torn again?!”

“... Oops?”

“Ugh, Fine. I'll sew your stupid sleeve. Again.”

“Why are you complaining so much as if you're not the one that offers all the time?!”

It was a good day and Satoru’s sewing skill is as incredible as always. The sleeves don't even look like they were ever torn up in the first place. Suguru had always wondered if Satoru uses his curse energy for it somehow.

-

Satoru was always regarded as annoying.

He's loud and a little egoistical most of the time. He likes to pick on people he thinks are weak to him, something that Suguru couldn't help but join him in sometimes just because it's funny (Especially when they're bullying Utahume. Her reaction is so fun to see.).

And after that whole “We are the strongest together.” thing, he somehow got even more annoying than he already was. You'd think that by the way he runs away from that conversation, he doesn't want to admit the fact that he, Gojo Satoru, inheritor of six eyes and limitless, needs to have someone by his side to make him the strongest.

Well, funnily enough, He just wouldn't shut up about it.

They went on a hard mission?

“We are the strongest, Suguru! Nothing can deter us!”

They got in trouble with Yaga?

“Meh, We are the strongest! There's nothing that he can do to us.”

They decide to take up the stupid finish a big bowl of extra spicy ramen challenge at that one stupid run down looking ramen restaurant near the train station?

“We're the strongest! We can totally do this!”

To be honest, Suguru doesn't know where this sudden obsession of declaring that they're both the strongest comes from nor does he cares but everyone has been on his ass about it lately. Particularly, Ieri Shoko, his friend and somehow also one of the major causes of his current headache.

Shoko keeps telling him to get Satoru to shut up about it as if he's Satoru’s mom and he fires back at her to do it herself if she thinks it's so easy to get Satoru to stop doing something. This leads to them arguing non stop until Satoru ends having to be the negotiator for once without knowing the real reason for their argument.

Satoru as a negotiator. That was just another level of weird.

Still, it's not like Satoru was wrong. They are the strongest together and it doesn't look like it'll be changing anytime soon.

But of course, since they both are the strongest together, they also happen to share their struggles.

Reverse Curse Technique.

Both him and Satoru couldn't ever get it to work for whatever reason and it doesn't help that the only teacher that they have for it is Shoko. It just so happens that while it is something that she is an expert at using, she is very shit at explaining how it works.

“What the fuck does fyuh hyoi even means?!” Satoru shrieks while Shoko continues smoking her cigarette, unbothered.

“Well, you and Suguru are the strongest aren't you?” She mocks. “You’ll figure it out, no worries.”

“Shokoooo.” He whines, stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum. Suguru simply watches in amusement as he pokes and plays with her hair, as if prodding on a machine to figure out how it works. She lets out a long sigh, annoyed, but doesn't bother stopping him, clicking away on her phone. Probably texting Utahime as per usual.

It wasn't long before Satoru got bored and walked over to Suguru with a dejected aura.

“Suguruuuu. Shoko is a big meanie.” He crossed his arms, scrunching his nose.

“Satoru, stop doing that. What are you, five years old?” Suguru said, shaking his head at his antics. “You're too impatient. There's no need to be so down about this. We're the strongest. We’ll figure it out.”

Satoru, for whatever reason, brightened immediately from what he'd said. Suguru swears he saw stars twinkling around him as Satoru cheers, standing up to try conjuring up his reversal curse technique: Red again.

“Alright! We're the strongest!” He shouts, repeatedly charging his curse energy in hopes of getting it to work.

Shoko takes a seat next to him, offering him a box of cigarettes and Suguru doesn't even hesitate to take one of them out, pulling out his own lighter to light it.

“Where is Yaga anyway? We have been on our own for three days now.” Shoko asked, looking over her shoulder to the school building. She hasn't been calling him sensei for half a year now but Suguru couldn't be bothered to care if Yaga-sensei didn't say anything about it.

“What, didn't you hear? He's busy with… The star plasma vessel thing. They found a suitable vessel a while ago and the time to assimilate is nearing.” Suguru said as he tries not to laugh at Satoru’s failed attempt to create Red.

“Huh… I see.” Shoko simply replied.

They continue to observe Satoru for a while as he tries and tries to master reverse curse technique. Suguru was considering stopping Satoru just in case he got another one of his signature migraines that turns him into a very irritating, whiny baby when Shoko starts again.

“Say, Suguru. What do you think of the clans and higher ups of The Jujutsu society?”

Genuinely, How the hell was Suguru even supposed to respond to that? She needs to stop being so cryptic all the time just because he doesn't grow up in Jujutsu society. It's starting to make him feel left out and messing with his head.

“... I don't know. It sounds like a hassle to think about though. I mean… I've seen all the bullshit they make Satoru do and I think I've heard enough from you to get a general idea of them. They're all pretty shitty but to be honest, they remind me of non-sorcerers politicians.”

Suguru, if he were to be honest, has no idea what the hell was he even talking about but he thinks it's a good enough answer for now. She hums, tapping her cigarette but says nothing more. Suguru wants this whole day to end already.

Satoru finally stops after a while, practically half asleep with a killer headache that Suguru had expected him to have after pushing himself. Finishing her cigarette, Shoko throws a bottle of painkiller at Suguru and ditches them, shouting at Suguru to take him to his room.

Suguru complies and helps Satoru to steady his feet as they walk to the dorm together, Satoru being eerily quiet all the while. That said, Suguru knows that he must be very exhausted so Suguru didn't bother saying anything lest he made his headache worse.

When Satoru collapses on the bed, Suguru takes a seat on the chair at his desk, popping an overly sweet chocolate that was sitting in an expensive looking container on his desk into his mouth as a reward for dragging the other into his room. Suguru belatedly realizes that he forgot to take some water for the pills so he leaves the room for a bit to get a glass of water before coming back, pausing when he hears Satoru's soft snoring.

He's fully asleep, it seems. Suguru decides to put it on the bedside table along with the painkiller before standing up and gazing at the boy’s sleeping form.

Then, Suguru’s eyes narrowed when he sees something peculiar on Satoru’s slightly exposed wrist.

Suguru… never saw any bruises on Satoru before.

Shoko's healing skill is impeccable, yes, but it's not because of that. It's rather because Satoru never let his infinity down during a fight so most of the time, the enemies couldn't even lay a single finger on him.

He frowns as he gently grabs a hold of Satoru's wrist, carefully lowering his sleeve.

It was fading but further examination of his arms revealed a few others, probably going up until his shoulder. Suguru doesn't remember Satoru having even been touched by anyone or anything other than Suguru the last few months. The bruise looks like it's man made so that means it's probably not from missions-

Then, he remembers something.

His family. Satoru went home for a bit last week to meet with the clan head, saying that it's probably something stupid like an arranged marriage offer or something. He doesn't look happy about it but Suguru couldn't say he looks scared either.

When he comes back, nothing looks off from usual. He was looking for Shoko but she was out at the time for field training and Satoru only nods at that before going back to be the menace he is.

Satoru never told anything about his family to Suguru before. He knows that Satoru’s parents are probably gone since he never mentions them. He also knows that the clan head is just his uncle stepping up until Satoru graduates, courtesy of Yaga explaining it to them during a history lesson on Gojo’s clan.

Suguru’s mind went to the time when Satoru was patching up his kimono early that year. It wasn't a curse then, was it? It was…

Suguru let his arm go with a sigh. He can't do anything about this if Satoru doesn't want to tell him anything. He respects his friend’s privacy, no matter how curious he is. He’ll tell him in due time. Suguru believes that.

Satoru trusts him and Suguru will do the same.

Suguru brushes his hair on his forehead and smiles at the show of the peaceful slumber before leaving entirely. He still has some work to do and a clan history book to read up on, after all.

-

“Happy birthday!” Suguru startles, backing away from the door as party poppers go off and bright laughter fills his ears.

He was confused for a minute because his birthday is-

Oh.

Yeah, it's February 3rd. His birthday. Of course. Things have been quite hectic lately so it must have slipped his mind.

“... How did you guys even know about my birthday?” He asks as Satoru pushes him inside the dorm towards the dinner table while the rest of them walk in front of him.

“I happen to have the privilege to read all of our personal files. Future doctor, remember?” Shoko smirks at him, taking some plates and forks to place on the table. Meanwhile, Haibara opens the fridge to take out a big white cake while Nanami rummages through one of the drawers and pulls out some small candles and a knife.

“That is technically an invasion of privacy, you know.” Suguru said, smiling brightly despite his words. Satoru heads to the kitchen counter where a bunch of takeouts sits in some plastic bags, taking them out one by one with Nanami arranging it on the table.

“If you ask me, I think it's perfectly fine, Senpai!” Haibara grinned as he placed the cake on the table. “You didn't tell anyone about it so we have to figure it out somehow. No one should spend their birthday all alone!”

“Well, I guess you're right, Haibara. Thank you for this, really. I didn't even remember that it's my birthday today.” Suguru admits as everyone finally takes a seat around him. Nanami put the candles on the cake while Shoko brought out her lighter, lighting them one by one.

“Alright, old man. Make your wish!” She shouts, earning cheers from Haibara and a nod from Nanami who looks at him encouragingly along with a wide smile from Satoru.

Suguru laughs, as his hands come to clasped together, wishing that days like this will never end before blowing the candles. His friends clap eagerly and then, everyone begins to dig into their food.

Shoko begins cutting the cake and everyone gets a slice before sitting down herself. They eat and chat about mundane things, making jokes and teasing each other endlessly, laughter filling up the room.

It was the best birthday Suguru could ever ask for.

His parents are busy people so he never got more than a birthday wish and a pair of gifts on his birthday. He also doesn't have a lot of friends and most of the ones that he did have aren't the type to do anything like this. They gave him small trinkets and maybe sometimes souvenirs from any trip they went to if he's lucky as his birthday gift but that was it. Never more, never less.

Suguru never expects them to do this type of stuff either, all of them are way too busy to even think about hosting a party, but after a long day of walking in the sun and gulping down a Special Grade curse that tastes worse than shit, this is more than welcomed by him.

Unfortunately, it just so happens that all of them need to wake up early the next day so everyone ends up cleaning the messes up shortly after and handing him their present hurriedly before bidding each other good night. Suguru decides to stay up a bit longer in the living room though, his wrapped gifts sitting in a pile next to him on the couch while calling his parents to tell them about everything that has happened to him that evening.

The call doesn't last for too long however since Suguru doesn't want to disturb their sleep. They did have work in the morning.

After saying goodbye to them, Suguru leans back against the couch with a content sigh, eyes closed. What a good day has it been for him.

“Suguru?” The aforementioned hums, not opening his eyes as he recognizes the voice as Satoru’s. He hears footsteps approaching him and the couch dips under a new weight to his right. “You alright? You look tired.”

Suguru cracks open an eyelid and sees Satoru next to him, hair dripping wet and a towel on his neck. Seems like he had just finished showering. “I'm fine. This is the best birthday ever, actually. Thank you all for this.”

Satoru smiles, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You're welcome, old man. Hopefully you'll live a long life.”

Suguru groans, swatting him on the shoulder playfully. “Shut up, god. I feel like you're comparing me to Gakuganji-sensei.”

Satoru snorts, crossing his legs with a wave of hand. “Come now, that's too much. Gakuganji is probably older than the world itself.”

“You ought to be more respectful, Satoru. He's still a sensei, you know.” Suguru grins, messing up his damp hair before Satoru pushes his hand away with a deep scowl.

“Fuck that. That old man can die in a ditch for all I care.” Satoru paused, eyes flicking over to the pile next to Suguru. “Anyway, I know I gave you your gift but that's not the real one. It's a placeholder you could say. You’re going have to wait for it.” Satoru shrugs while Suguru blinks at him, glancing at one of the presents that certainly is from Satoru just because it's not wrapped.

The fucking newest version of a game console that just came out last month. An extremely expensive one.

“You know, I think that shouldn't be considered a placeholder.”

“Well, it is. I will give you a new one later.”

He stares at Satoru with a weirded out look but decides to not say anything, nodding. “Fine, fine. I'll wait for it if that's what you want.”

Suguru almost passed out when Satoru gave him another one of those soft smiles, making him excuse himself to shower in hopes that Satoru couldn't see his beet red face and burning ears. He runs into Shoko along the way and she makes fun of him for being a “Pathetic, pining loser.”, whatever that means.

He flips her off and continues on his way, wiping his face with his hand. Suguru couldn't help but wonder how much longer he can keep it up. He couldn't help but think that if Satoru gives him another one of those, he might actually need to quit before he did something he regrets.

-

“I'm here to save you, Utahime.” Suguru stiffles his laughter as he watches Satoru look down at their Kyoto seniors with a cocky smile on his face. Then, he tilted his head to the side, smile widening. “You’re crying?”

Utahime, still trapped under the rubbles, raised her hand in anger, gawking something about respecting her as his senior and whatnot. Really, she probably shouldn't bother to try anymore. It's not like Satoru would ever respect his elders.

Suguru lifts a big chunk of stone to see if the curse is hiding somewhere, sighing dejectedly when he sees nothing. They just have to get a rescue mission right on the day he finally decides to read up some stuff about the Gojo clan. He borrowed that book from the library literally a year ago by now and he still hasn't gotten around to reading it, partly because he is busy and partly because he's procrastinating on it.

He didn't even get to read about the previous six eyes' inheritor’s name when Yaga-sensei had called both him and Satoru on a mission to find Utahime and Mei Mei, who they haven't been able to contact for two days now. He also allows Shoko to tag along since they might need medical attention.

He snaps back into reality from his flashback when Utahime’s gawking gets louder, rubbing his ears as he watches her get out of the rubbles with no trouble to scream something about not needing help at Satoru.

Then, his eyes widened when a curse shot out behind her, letting out a noisy groaning sound that hurts to be heard. Utahime froze and slowly turned to look at the curse with a nervous smile, fueling Suguru’s amusement.

He thought about letting the curse mess with her a bit more but ultimately forced himself to not go through with it. It's a shame but he thinks that he probably shouldn't be too mean to her. Between him and Satoru, one of them needs to be the ‘good cop’ and there's no way Satoru can be it.

He summons one of his grade one curse, bigger than this one to swallow it, walking over to all of them while instructing the curse to not eat it as he needs to consume it later. Then, looking up at Satoru with a smirk, he said, “Satoru, it's not nice to pick on the weak.”

Satoru snorts, knowing how much Suguru is also enjoying this. “Okay, but what kind of idiot picks on the strong?”

“I think you're the one fanning the flame here, Getou.” Mei Mei chuckles, her hand on her waist while Utahime fumes at them behind him before Shoko’s voice interrupts them.

“Utahime-senpai? Are you okay? We haven't heard anything from you for two days. I was worried about you.” She explains nonchalantly while Utahime’s mood improves drastically before charging at her with a hug and rambling things that he couldn't make out.

Huffing a small laughter, he makes his way towards them, climbing the makeshift stairs Utahime had used just a moment ago.

“The path Utahime walked is falling apart, Suguru!” Satoru calls out, cupping his mouth to make sure Suguru can hear him clearly with a teasing lit in his tone.

“Pft, shut up!” He replies, hands in his pocket as he continues to climb the stairs.

He got to the top eventually to hear them talking about the curse domain. Apparently it's one of those that messes with time. He supposed it's nothing special. Those kinds of curse are annoying since they cause tons of false reports of sorcerers dying but most of the time they're not too lethal.

Then, Mei Mei pipes up. “Did you guys remember to put up a veil?”

The three of them looked at her with realization dawning on their faces when they noticed that the sky above them looked a bit too blue and clear.

Which means that they did not, in fact, put up a veil.

When they got back to school after a painfully silent car ride, Yaga-sensei told them off. The news was playing as the background noise in the teacher's lounge, a report about the house blowing up due to gas leaks, no doubt just a cover story made up by the school. He, Satoru and Shoko knelt in front of him, looking anywhere but at their furious teacher in front of them.

When asked whose idea it was to ditch the driver and charge in without thinking of putting up a veil, both he and Shoko immediately point to Satoru. The six eyes holder tries to save himself by asking their teacher to stop the hunt for the culprit and ends up getting a fist to the head.

Still, as Satoru whines about Yaga-sensei’s punch while draping himself on Suguru to make him carries him all the way to the gym on his back for ratting him out with Shoko following behind them, Suguru couldn't help the way his lips curl up in a warm, gentle smile.

He didn't stop the punch even though he probably could with his infinity. He allows it to happen because he trusts Yaga-sensei.

And for someone like Satoru, him gaining trust in someone is something to celebrate.

They started playing basketball after they got to the gym just because they can and everything kind of went off the rails so suddenly that even Suguru wasn't sure how it happened.

After spending so much time together, Suguru never thought that they would still be arguing about their beliefs. Granted, both him and Satoru never brought it up anymore since that first joint mission the year before but Suguru thought that Satoru would have understood his reasoning and at least tried to adjust to it for his own sake.

He was wrong, unfortunately.

“I mean, seriously? Is it really necessary to put up a veil? Ordinary people can't see or understand jujutsu anyways.” He complains, hugging the basketball to his chest before throwing it into the air while Shoko looks around the gym in confusion as she tries on his sunglasses.

He catches the ball, frowning. “Of course it is. It's necessary to suppress Cursed spirits by giving them peace of mind, you know.” Suguru bounces the ball as he walks to the middle where Satoru and Shoko are at, one hand in his pocket “And this can only be done if we hide the threats that they can't see. Not only that-”

“I get it!” Satoru runs by him, snatching the ball he was dribbling and running over to throw it into the net. “But you know, it gets exhausting to care for the weak. We have ourselves to worry about too after all.” He continues, Shoko coming over to place the sunglasses back on him as she leaves to go to the side of the gym, not eager to get caught up on whatever the hell is about to happen with them.

Suguru’s frown deepened as he caught the basketball that Satoru had thrown right after it fell down from the net. “A proper society can only be achieved by making sure that the weak are protected. Support the weak and suppress the strong.” He stares at the ball in his hand before running over to the net and throwing it in, wary of what Satoru might say to reply to his next words. He has a feeling it's going to pissed him the fuck off. “Listen, Satoru. Jujutsu exist to protect non-sorcerers. As one of the strongest, you need to understand that.”

Satoru, much to Suguru’s displeasure, smirks at him, challenging. “What, That's your moral argument? You know that I hate those. I thought we talked about pushing your beliefs onto others back in the village, Suguru.” He hisses his name, clearly anticipating a reaction out of him.

Suguru, with his big sense of righteousness, takes the bait with no hesitation. “What?”

“Imposing reasons or
responsibilities on power. Isn't that a behavior only the weak have?” Suguru watches him with a sharp, piercing gaze as he picks the ball that has fallen near his leg and throws it into the net again, this time using only one hand. He could feel some traces of Satoru’s curse energy lingering in the air when the ball flies past him on its way.

“Quit saying bullshit like that to make yourself feel better.” He stuck out his tongue.

Suguru doesn't pay attention as Shoko practically sprint for the door, feet moving by itself as he leans forward.

Fighting with Satoru is nothing new. If that's what he wants, then Suguru is more than happy to provide.

He points towards the door with his thumb, an eye close as his curse appears from beyond behind him. “Want to take this outside, Satoru?”

Satoru, unflinching, looks at him dead in the eye with that annoying, overconfident smirk of his. “Are you feeling lonely? Go by yourself, Suguru.”

Then, the door to the gym opens and Yaga-sensei appears, scolding them for messing around and announcing a mission that makes both of them back off with an annoyed groan.

And oh. The mission is from Tengen’s request? Yeah. Absolutely no pressure at all.

What an irritatingly chaotic day.

The three of them strolls through the school all the way to the science lab as Yaga-sensei explains how he thought that the mission is probably too much for them but relented at Tengen’s wish.

“You are to escort the Star Plasma Vessel to school and bring her to Tengen-sama to start the assimilation.” Yaga-sensei said as he grab a hold of the sliding door to the lab.

“Escort a kid and then erase her?” Satoru asked, peeking over the wall at Yaga-sensei in front of him. Suguru could hear Yaga-sensei grunts of agreement to what Satoru said, sighing at the thought of playing bodyguard to the Tengen’s vessel.

This whole thing feels like some sort of sick joke, if he were to be honest.

“Have you finally gone senile?” Satoru covers his mouth, lips wobbling in fake sadness. Suguru snorts, placing a hand on his shoulder as he walks forward.

“Well, it is spring. He probably got his head full of the thought of being the next principal.” Satoru lets out a huff of laughter at that, following Suguru as he enters the room behind Yaga-sensei. “Jokes aside though…”

“I'm the one that decides if that was a joke or not, Suguru.” Yaga-sensei’s voice sounds from the inside to which he outright ignores. “Is Tengen-sama Cursed Technique about to be initialized, Sensei?”

“What?” Satoru asked.

Yaga-sensei crossed his arms disapprovingly while Suguru sighs. That idiot really ought to read some actual Jujutsu history books aside from his clan’s sometimes.

“Look,” Suguru began, taking down a chair from the top of the science lab table with Satoru doing the same thing. “Although Tengen-sama's curse technique itself gives them immortality, they are not ageless. They’ll still get older and their body will be ruined. At some point, when their aging exceeds a certain stage, their curse technique will try to rebuild their body and they will reach an evolution.”

Satoru rubbed the back of his neck, confusion written all over his face. “So what's the problem? That sounds awesome.”

Suguru shakes his head. “Well, according to Tengen-sama, it's not very awesome since their will is going to cease to exist and they will no longer be the Tengen-sama we know that have been maintaining the barrier. If this happens, it'll cause the barriers that rely on their help to exist to weaken or even worse, disappear entirely. We can't carry out our mission peacefully if that happens.”

Suguru points to Satoru. “And so, every five hundred years, they have to merge with a star plasma vessel, a suitable human for them and rewrite their body's information. As long as the body is rejuvenated, the Cursed Technique's effect
will be restored, no evolution will happen.”

Satoru nods with his arms crossed. “I see. So from what I understand, it means that it's okay for them to turn into MetalGreymon, but we can't have them turn into SkullGreymon, so we have to have him start over from Koromon.”

Suguru gapes at him. “Eh… Well, alright… If that works for you…”

“The location of the Star Plasma Vessel has been exposed and now there are two organizations wanting to kill that girl. The Curse User group Q, whose goal was to make sure Tengen-sama lose their will so they can subvert the current Jujutsu realm.” Yaga-sensei shows the computer a picture of the organization logo before switching it with another. “The other is the Time Vessel Association, a group that worships Tengen religiously.”

Yaga-sensei drilled the importance of keeping her safe for the next two days and sent them on their way, Suguru and Satoru only smirking as they exited the room.

-

It's too damn early for the day to get as bad as it does but well, just like everything else in life, he doesn't exactly have an option but to deal with it, he guesses.

Whatever the fuck just happened was way flashier than it probably should be. Like, really? A bomb? So over the top for no reason. He thought that they were assassins. Shouldn't they be working in the shadows?

Suguru takes a sip of his tea while sitting on the ruined room couch, examining for any injuries on the Star Plasma Vessel, Amanai Riko and her caretaker, Kuroi Misato unconscious form across from him while a member of the Curse User Group was trapped by his curse behind him, shouting something about retiring in the countryside. He turns to look at him, cupping his ear to pretend he couldn't hear him, making the man shout even louder.

“There's no way a curse users can make it as a farmer.”

“So you did hear me?!”

Suguru shrugs, putting down his tea cup and reaching into his pocket to pull out a box of cigarettes. He's really craving nicotine right now.

“How dare a student like you look down on me?!” Suguru continues to ignore him, taking a stick of cigarette out of the box and putting it into his mouth before reaching for his lighter. “You cocky little-! Mr. Bayer will kick both of your asses, you hear me?!”

Suguru takes a drag out of the cigarette and exhales, raising an eyebrow at his phone lighting up on the table. Holding the thing between his fingers, Suguru turns it on to see a message from Satoru.

“He is the strongest combatant in our organization and he will-!”

“Say, Mister.” Suguru shows the picture Satoru had taken of him and a beaten member of Q. “That's Mister Bayer, isn't it?”

Suguru laughs, switching to his camera app and taking a picture of the trapped guy to send to Satoru as well before deciding to finish his cigarette as soon as he can.

Satoru acts like his mother sometimes whenever he sees him smoking, to the point that it's funny. Still, Suguru doesn't feel like listening to his rant about the effects of smoking today.

After everything was settled, he called Satoru to come up to the building after giving him a room number.

He points to Riko and tells him to bring her to another room that Kuroi had managed to ask for after she woke up. She had left a while ago to meet up with the staff to explain the commotion.

“Why me?” He questioned even as he moved to take her into his arms, surprisingly gently.

“Because I've been doing all the work up here. Let's go.” Suguru said, pocketing his cigarette pack and phone. He was about to move when he realized his lighter was still on the table and snatched it quickly before moving to direct Satoru to the room. He uses the card Kuroi had given to him and lets them both in before going in himself, standing right in front of Satoru.

Satoru watches the girl in his arms with a very well hidden worried look, something that no one but Suguru could pick up from observing his behavior for almost two years.

“Should we bring her to the doctor or something? Why is she not waking up?”

Suguru waves the suggestion off, flicking his lighter on and off. “She’ll be fine. Still, it would be rather nice if we could use Reverse Curse Technique like Shoko…”

Satoru rolled his eyes. “Please, you can't even begin to make heads or tails of what she was saying. Like, Fyu hyoi? What the hell does that even mean?” He glanced at the lighter distastefully. “Wait, did you smoke? Really? Weren't you the one who always told me not to let my guard down?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You only smoke when you feel relaxed or need to relax. There's no way you're anxious over THAT guy after all the people and things we've fought so far so it must be the former.” Satoru explains, his grip on the girl in his arm tightening unconsciously as he looks at Suguru with a disappointed look.“You were letting your guard down, weren't you?”

“Oh, fuck off. Are you seriously going to start this now- Oh, she woke up.”

The middle schooler rouses from her slumber and stares up at Satoru’s eyes covered by the sunglasses before she-

Oh wow.

Suguru stifles a laugh as he watches Satoru stumble from a slap to the face while the girl got into a cartoonish looking fighting form, shouting something about her killing them first before they could kill her.

He placed a hand on Satoru’s shoulder while the other cup his red looking cheek, smiling reassuringly. “Riko, please calm down. We are not one of those assassins. Matter of fact, we are here to protect you from them.”

“I'm not so dumb to believe that, you weirdo! That weird bang of yours tells me all I need to know! You're totally a liar!”

His smiles widened as he tilted his head.

This girl is quite particular, it seems.

-

“Y-You two, Please stop!”

Suguru turns to the elevator door, pulling and twisting Riko’s hands with Satoru on the other side doing the same thing with her legs, noticing Kuroi-san on top of one of his curses.

Oh well. The fun is over.

He lets her go at the same time as Satoru, letting the girl fall onto the ground with a loud thud. The girl gives them both a dirty look before turning to Kuroi-san.

“What is that thing you're riding, Kuroi?”

“Oh, it's the curse technique from the gentlemen with bangs over there!”

Suguru deflates. “Please do not call me that.”

Riko shifts her eyes to him, curious. “Huh? But that's a curse isn't it?”

Suguru nods. “That's right. Curse Spirit manipulation. That’s my technique and it works exactly as it sounds.”

“This kid is more aggressive than I thought.” Satoru chips in, fiddling on his phone on the couch in the room. “I thought the merging would make you more sentimental. I was even considering being nicer than usual for once.”

Suguru walks over to him with a dry laugh, leaning against the couch. “As if you're ever nice, Satoru.”

Riko’s eyes shine as she smirks at them, standing up from her crouching position where she was patting the curse. “Hmph! What a commoner way of thinking!”

“What?” Satoru answers, turning to look at her.

She climbs up the curse and stands up on it, her chest puffed proudly as she places a hand on it before starting on a monologue about how she is Tengen and Tengen is her. Suguru held back a yawn when his eyes caught Satoru turning back to his phone, not even paying attention to her.

“You change your wallpaper?” He asks, interested.

Satoru shows the wallpaper to him, grinning widely. “It's Waka Inoue.”

“Hey, listen to me!” Riko calls, her face flushing red in embarrassment. Satoru turns his phone off and looks back at her, frowning.

“With the way you talk, you probably don't have any friends.” Satoru said.

“There's no need for us to be worried about sending her off, I guess. No one's going to miss her after all.” Suguru continues, just to fuel the flame as her face gets redder.

“I talk normally at school!” She screams before her eyes widen as if she's realizing something. “Ah, right! School! Kuroi, what time is it?”

“It's not noon yet but going to school…”

“Shut up! I said that I'm going so I'm going!”

Satoru exchanges a look with Suguru, who looks as curious as he does.

“... So…” Satoru starts, watching as Riko darts out of the room while searching for her school bag, Kuroi not far behind her.

“... Yeah.”

Satoru groans, standing up from his place on the couch. “Fine, let's go.”

-

“... What?!” Satoru shouts over the phone, catching Suguru’s attention. “Wouldn't it be safer for her to be at school? Assasins lurk everywhere, you know!”

Suguru watches his face contorted in annoyance and very well hidden concern as Yaga-sensei’s voice on the other side of the line explains that Tengen instructed them to let Riko do as she wishes.

Satoru kicks the water in the pool he was sitting at the edge off as he turns off his phone after hanging up on their teacher before standing up, slipping it into his pocket. “Isn't this spoiling her too much?”

Suguru sends him a look. “Don't be like that, Satoru. Imagine if you're in her shoes. She won't ever see her friends and family again after this assimilation since she will literally become the foundation of the barrier at the bottom of the school.” He looks at the building, solemnly. “Just let her do what she wants. This is our mission.”

“... Riko-sama has no family.” Kuroi-san sounded from behind him where she's sitting under the small shack at the side of the pool. “Her parents died when she was young so I've been taking care of her ever since…” She bows at them slightly, her hands clutching at her skirt tightly. “So I hope you're willing to let her spend more time with her friends at least.”

Suguru smiles at her, his hands in his pocket. “Then you're her family, Kuroi-san.”

Her face flushed and she nodded. “... Yes.”

Satoru walks over to him, leaning on his shoulder. “Any news from the curse spirits you sent to watch her then?”

He shook his head, sighing. “I can't share their vision like Mei Mei but if anything goes wrong, I can-” He paused, feeling a tug of something being forcibly pulled away from him inside his body. “Satoru.”

Satoru hums, alerted at the sudden seriousness in his tone as Suguru walks away from him.

“We need to go find her. Two of my curses have been exorcised.”

Satoru perks at that, beckoning Kuroi-san to follow after them as they run inside the building.

-

Suguru curses under his breath, as he reads the message in Riko’s phone while Satoru stood silently at the side, looking after Riko who is sitting in the makeshift prison cell they found at one of the deserted alleyways.

“... Sorry, this is due to my own negligence.” He apologizes, handing the phone to Satoru as he remembers what she told him before he left just an hour ago.

“We should be prepared for
a worst-case scenario.” She had said, still holding onto the mop she had used to fight off the attacker. “Getou-san, you are faster than me. Please go to Riko-sama first.”

Satoru pats him on the shoulder, turning to Riko who is sitting very still in the cell. “I wouldn't call this a serious negligence though.”

“Still… I underestimated Kuroi-san’s value to the enemy…” Suguru continues, fist clenched tightly. Satoru removes his hand on his shoulder, leaning against the wall as he speaks.

“The enemy probably will demand a hostage exchange… For example, asking us to exchange Amanai for Kuroi-san, or threatening us that they will kill her if we don't bring Amanai to her.”

Satoru contemplates the situation, probably thinking of the most efficient way to handle it. He might be a little shit but he's a smart little shit most of the time so Suguru stays silent, waiting.

“... But, with that said, we have Amanai here so we have the upper hand in this negotiation. If we could just decide on the place to meet them…” Satoru meets his eyes, making Suguru flinch slightly when he sees them glow for a moment behind his sunglasses. He swears he just feels his heart skip a beat. “We will find a way. We should take Amanai back to the school and find a stand in for her while rescuing Kuroi-san.”

Suguru was about to agree to the plan when Riko suddenly slams her foot down as she stands up. “No. I'm going to the trading site with you two. I don't trust both of you one bit about this.”

Satoru bristles. “Listen, brat, this isn't the time for you to-”

“Even if you two manage to rescue her, can you guarantee she’ll be back before I merge with Tengen-sama?!” She asks, stomping her feet again. “I… I haven't said goodbye to her yet…”

Satoru quiets down while Suguru resists the urge to pull out his cigarette. It probably won't do to smoke in a place like this but damn it does he needs one so badly right now.

After a minute of silence, Satoru walks towards the cell and swings it open, looking down at her while she looks up at him with no fear in her eyes.

“Alright.” He hears Satoru say. “But if you chicken out halfway, let me just say this now. We wouldn't give a damn, you understand me?”

“Hmph. Fine. Wouldn't think of it anyway.”

Suguru groans. He really, really needs a smoke after this.

-

“Sea cucumber!” Satoru laughs, holding onto a sea cucumber to show Riko, who is also laughing uncontrollably at the strange thing.

“Gross! It's so gross!” She shouts, their joyful laughter echoing at the otherwise silent beach.

“Is it okay for us to go sightseeing like this…?” Kuroi-san asked, still worried.

They managed to rescue her in record time with no incident on their way, thankfully enough. Satoru suggested that they stay in Okinawa a bit longer afterwards, just to go sightseeing a little.

“I think we all deserve it after all this bullshit, don't you think?”

And well, Suguru can't argue with that. So here they are, sightseeing until it's time to meet up with Nanami and Haibara to come back to school.

“It's Satoru’s idea.” Suguru explains, watching Satoru chase her in the water while holding the sea cucumber as she laughs happily with a fond smile. “Satoru is never good with words so this is his way of showing that he cares.”

Then, He sighs, clenching the paper he was holding that requires the details of the rescue mission. “Still, we should be going now…”

Kuroi-san nods, and both of them stand up, Suguru stepping forward. “Satoru, it's time!”

Satoru, who was laughing his ass off after causing Riko to slip and fall into the water, stops and blinks. “Oh, it's that late already?”

Riko looks up and pouts, lowering her gaze into the water. Suguru feels his chest constrict with guilt but there's nothing he can do about this. They still need to complete their mission.

Satoru jogs towards him, causing Suguru to turn his attention back to him. “Suguru, let's go back tomorrow morning. One more day wouldn't hurt.”

Suguru frowns. “But…”

“The weather's stable, right? Besides... There's fewer curse users here than in Tokyo.” He said, dramatically turning to look at Suguru. Usually, Suguru would laugh but…

“Satoru, let's talk seriously.” He lowers his voice, glancing at Kuroi-san and Riko talking in the water.

Satoru shook his head. “I'm being serious. It would've been better if her bounty ended while she's on the plane, don't you think, Suguru?”

“Satoru.” He said in a stern tone, making the other mum. “You haven't stopped using your Cursed technique since yesterday, nor have you slept a wink. You're not planning to sleep tonight either, are you?”

Satoru didn't answer.

“Are you sure we don't need to go back anytime soon?” Suguru asks, gently. The other boy closes his eyes before giving his chest a light punch.

“It’s fine, Suguru. Playing ninety-nine years of Momotetsu drains me out even more than this. Besides…” He retracted his hand, not even looking at Suguru as he turned back to the front. “You're here too, aren't you?”

Suguru's gaze doesn't leave him as he walks away from him. Then, a smile broke out on his lips as he followed him, taking out his phone to send a message about their extension to Haibara.

If Satoru thinks that it'll be fine, maybe it is.

-

The two of them find themselves awake until midnight, Suguru unable to sleep and Satoru to keep on monitoring the area with his six eyes while sewing, as per usual.

“... These two days are the most stressful I've ever felt in my whole life.” Suguru complains, a cigarette in hand and a can of sugar free soda in the other as he leans against the balcony fence of their hotel room.

Satoru, who is sitting on the chair of the balcony, chuckles, his hand moving non stop as he sews a pattern on a handkerchief. Suguru turns to him and raises an eyebrow. “You bought those things with you?”

“I never left them no matter where I went, actually.” Satoru shrugs. “They're mostly in the car whenever we went on a mission but I never left them at the dorm. These things can be useful to sew up serious injuries too, you know?”

Suguru took a sip from his soda, turning to him and leaning his back against the balcony fence. “And here I thought Shoko was the only doctor between the three of us.”

Satoru pulls the needle upward with a noncommittal hum. “She is. I'm just talented like that.”

With a rolled of his eyes, Suguru took another sip from his soda, silently watching Satoru work, appreciating the ocean breeze bringing him a sense of calmness after a very tiring day.

Then, he blinks when he realizes that the handkerchief looks rather familiar.

“That's… Kuroi-san’s handkerchief, isn't it?” Suguru blurts out. Satoru hums again, wordlessly cutting an excessive thread before starting to sew at another part of the handkerchief.

“It’s good that both her and Amanai can spend a fun day together but she’ll be losing her soon. I thought that I might as well do something to make sure that she remembers this day as a beautiful memory rather than a sad one. Not like I care if she doesn't notice though.”

Suguru takes a drag out of his cigarette before exhaling it, eyes focused on the floor. He didn't even know Satoru is capable of being so emotionally considerate. It's a little scary, if he were to be honest.

“... You're secretly a nice guy, huh?” He teased, tapping his cigarette off the balcony, carefully to make sure that the dust didn't fly back to Satoru due to the wind.

“Rude, Suguru! I've always been a nice person. I sew those clothes of yours for free and this is the thanks I get?” He whines, setting down the needle and handkerchief to look at him properly, pouting.

Suguru, instead of responding, frowns as he takes in Satoru’s exhausted complexion. He looks paler than usual and the eyebags under his eyes are so obvious if he's not wearing his sunglasses. Anyone can tell that he is three seconds away from collapsing.

“... Satoru, are you sure you're okay? My curses are looking around the area too so you can take a break if you want. I'll wake you up in a few hours.” He offers, unable to hide his worries. He's not really looking forward to explaining anything to Shoko or Yaga-sensei if Satoru got sick from this or something.

Satoru shook his head stubbornly, continuing to sew even though his hands were trembling slightly. Unsurprisingly, Suguru’s worries only multiplied by the detail. “It's alright. You should go get some rest, Suguru. I'll need you to watch my back a lot tomorrow just in case.”

Suguru hesitates. “... Satoru…”

“Suguru, come on. I'll need you to be in top shape tomorrow. One of us has to get a good rest and it will be you, alright? I trust you. You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?” Satoru smiles, the awfully familiar soft, beautiful smile that Suguru had seen before but never fails to make his heart skip a beat regardless. The moonlight shining on him from above almost makes Suguru choke.

Not for the first time, he wonders if Satoru is an angel of some sort.

A resigned sigh escapes his lips. “Fine, I'll listen to you. Be careful while sewing then. Your hands are trembling so I won't be surprised if you prick your finger by accident.”

“Mhm! I'll be careful, Suguru no worries~”

Suguru extinguishes his cigarette and gives Satoru’s shoulder a squeeze as he walks past him into the room and makes his way to the bed.

Hopefully he won't get any nightmares tonight. Satoru trusts him to keep them all safe tomorrow so Suguru will need all of his energy that he can muster.

-

“Well, great job everyone.”

Suguru sighs in relief as they arrive past the Tengen barrier. “Now we can rest assured since we're inside the school barrier.”

Riko heaves as she puts her hands onto her knees, tired. “Yes, finally.” Kuroi brings out her handkerchief to give to Riko, who accepts it with a smile.

Suguru couldn't help but notice the pattern that he's pretty sure wasn't there just a day ago, turning to look at Satoru who had been oddly quiet the whole day. Placing a hand on his waist, he gives him an encouraging smile.

“Satoru.” He called. Satoru doesn't even flinch. “You did an extremely good job this time.”

Satoru’s eyes finally dim, closing his eyes with his hand itching to rub them. Suguru should probably treat him to something after this. He's been working his ass off for two days straight now. It's the least he deserves.

“I never want to get stuck babysitting some brat again.” Satoru said, catching the attention of Riko who let out an offended noise.

Suguru opens his mouth, about to respond with a joke when suddenly-

Suguru’s eyes widened, watching as a blade emerged from Satoru’s chest before noticing the man standing behind him but-

But-

They're already inside the barrier-!

“Hey, old man...” Satoru said amidst their shock, a pained smirk on his face. “Have we… met somewhere before?”

The man grins, his grip on the weapon not loosening one bit. “Don't worry about it, brat. I'm not good with remembering names either.”

Satoru lifted a hand to push him away with his blue while Suguru’s immediately shot upward, sending one of his worm looking curses to trap the man inside of it. Then, he rushed to Satoru, alarmed.

“Satoru!”

Satoru stops him, shaking his head as sweats pooled on his forehead. He's still exhausted from the consecutive use of infinity and six eyes for the last two days… They both can't fight like this!

“I'm fine.” Satoru said, turning to look at the man who is still trapped inside the worm. “My infinity didn't make it in time but it didn't hurt my vital organs and I used my curse energy to strengthen my body to make sure it doesn't hurt anything else. It's like a safety pin going through a Knit sweater. Seriously, I'm alright.”

He takes off his sunglasses, fully turning his back towards Suguru. He can still see the damn stab wound on his uniform for fuck sake-

“Don't mind me and go, Suguru. Amanai’s safety is the priority here. Leave this guy to me.”

Suguru hesitates, eyes shifting to look at Kuroi shielding Riko, then back to Satoru, who has already put his sunglasses into his pocket. He can't just leave Satoru alone, especially when he's exhausted but He can't risk Amanai's safety either.

Suguru grit his teeth but nods. “Okay. Be careful, Satoru. Riko, Kuroi-san. Let's go.”

The two girls nod at him and they run straight for the tomb even if Suguru is itching to look back when he hears the sound of blade slashing from behind him and a tug of something being ripped away from him. His curse have been killed but Satoru-

“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”

So, Suguru continues to sprint. Satoru trusts him to be able to keep them safe so he needs to trust that Satoru can beat that guy.

-

Suguru glances at Riko as they walk, noting the redness of her eyes. She had said goodbye to Kuroi-san just a while ago, eyes full of tears but at the same time, of resignation.

He's relieved that she manages to say goodbye and declare their love for one another, at least. They are practically mother and daughter by this point but both of them probably refuse to entertain the thought, knowing that they'll lose each other sooner or later.

Suguru clenches his fist. He's been pondering this for a while now but he's… pretty much been leading her to her death all this time. This is not a protection mission at all.

Why does Jujutsu society need to sacrifice a… young girl who has her whole life ahead of her…? She's fourteen years old with dreams and desires. A human being, not an object. Why didn't they try to find any other solution than this?

It's… Unfair. Still, Suguru doesn't have any say in this. Only the higher ups and Tengen-sama do, so who is he to complain?

They both come to a stop and Riko gapes at the main hall. “This is the place…”

He nods. “Yes, this is where Tengen-sama is at.” He explains everything she needs to do, carefully analyzing her face. She has always been expressive, something both him and Satoru hadn't failed to tease her about for the last two days but now, it looks unnaturally blank.

She's trying to make herself brave. After all, for all that talk about her being Tengen, she is still a girl at the end of the day. A girl who should be at school, chatting with her friends about crushes and studying for her math exam, a girl who should be going on shopping trips with her mother and asking for overpriced sweets from her father.

A fourteen year old girl.

(To be honest, Suguru was probably being a bit of a hypocrite at the time. After all, both he and Satoru… All of the students at Jujutsu high, they should all be teenagers. They should be studying instead of writing a mission report. They should all be doing club activities instead of risking their lives because of a bunch of cowardly old men.)

“... There's a special barrier there where you can only enter if Tengen gives you special permission to. Just go there and they will protect you until the merging completes.” He explains.

Riko nods absentmindedly. “Okay…”

Suguru paused, still looking at her. “Or, you can also turn back and go home with Kuroi-san.”

Riko nodded again, still not paying attention. When his words finally sink in, however, she whipped her head up at him so fast he's worried that it might come off from the speed. “... What?”

Suguru smiles at her before turning to look at the scene in front of him, remembering his conversation with Satoru about abiding by her wish of not wanting to merge if she doesn't want to, as well as Yaga’s wording when he had given them this mission.

He makes them feel guilty about it by saying that this merging will erase her because he, the roundabout asshole that he is, wants them to do something about the situation.

This is one of the few times both of them decide to not prank the hell out of him when they get back later. They should help him be a bit more straightforward next time though. Not everyone can pick up his cues after all.

Even so, He tells her as such, both of them turning to look at each other as he offers his hand to her. “If you don't want to go through with this, it's fine too.” Suguru pictures Satoru’s usual, cocky smile and couldn't help but let out a huff. He can't believe he's about to say this. “No matter what choice you make, We’ll keep you safe. After all… We are the strongest.”

Riko grips her skirt tightly, looking at his hand with wobbly lips while Suguru waits for her to make her decision. It doesn't matter what she chooses because this is her life. It'll always be her choice.

-

Suguru fails.

(Riko was about to grab his hand when a shot rang out and she fell to the floor.

“... Riko…?”)

He fails, he fails, he fails, he fails so badly-

(“You… Why are you here?”

“Why? Ah, well…. I killed Gojo Satoru.)

Satoru’s dead. Riko’s dead. Kuroi’s dead.

(“Is that so… Then…”

“Die!”)

He messed up big time, his best friend, the people he was tasked to keep safe, They're-

(“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”)

He… He shouldn't have-

Suguru shot up from the place he was lying at, gasping for air. Shoko is crouching right next to him, eyes wide in panic. He's never seen her like that before.

“Suguru?!” She shouts, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You alright!? What the hell happened?! Yaga told me to come and find you here and- and there was a woman’s body in front of the fucking elevator what the fuck- and you- What the hell happened, Suguru?”

His tongue is frozen as he stares at the floor. He's still at the tomb and Kuroi is dead and Satoru is dead and Riko is dead and everything was destroyed but-

“Shoko. Did you see a teenage girl’s body when you came to find me?”

If that guy comes to kill her for a bounty, that must mean he’ll take her with him as proof and he can't- he can't let her use her body like that-

“What?... No, no there wasn't. There was a splash of bloodstain but that's all I saw…”

His ears are ringing. It hurts a lot. His chest is twisting and turning. His stomach is churning. It hurts. It's uncomfortable. It’s painful.

He stood up. Shoko stays crouched, a worried expression on her face. It's a weird look on her. She's always been the calm one. She never gets worried because she knows they can handle themselves. Why is she looking at him like that?

“... I…” He gulps. “I have to go. I'll be back soon. After… After I complete this mission.”

He didn't wait for her to reply, summoning the Manta Ray (he's pretty sure Satoru named it something else but-), his curse that had survived his fight with that man and flew away.

The Q have been disbanded after- after he and Satoru stop their assassination attempt.

(It was- It was Satoru that beat up the strongest of their group. That's right. Satoru… Because Satoru is strong. Satoru is strong but he-

“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”)

That leaves… That leaves the Time Vessel Association then. There should be the main base in the city somewhere. Where was it again… He thinks Yaga had sent it to him before in his message.

He takes out his phone from his pocket with shaky hands. Is it cold? Why is he shaking? Well, he does feel a bit cold but he's shaking too hard. Whatever, not the time.

He opens his messaging app and almost vomits when he sees Satoru's contact. The last one was-

From: Satoru :)

Buy some sweets on your back~ ^_^

Yesterday, 4:00 pm

Seen

(“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”)

Suguru keeps himself from throwing up, scrolling until he sees Yaga’s contact.

Right. Right. The base. He has to get to the base. He didn't see Satoru’s- He didn't see Satoru’s body either, oh god he's going to be sick but-

(“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”)

He didn't see Satoru. That man… Might have taken him too. He said something about being a monkey but still manages to beat both him and Satoru up but-

That's not the point. He needs to get Riko back. He needs to get Satoru back.

(“You'll keep us safe when-”)

He pats the curse. “... What… What was it that Satoru named you again? Ah, right… Sora. F-follow my direction, little one.”

-

Suguru looks at the worm curse on the floor in front of him, terrified. The man had used- had used this thing to store his weapon in, hasn't he?

“Mommy…” The curse cries, slowly crawling to him. Suguru couldn't hold it in anymore and ended up emptying his stomach at one of the nearby bushes. It's gross but it makes his stomach hurt less.

After forcing himself to take in the curse and vomiting again, he makes his way inside, his footsteps echoing loudly in his ears as he strides through the empty hallway.

He paused in front of a metal door. He can sense Satoru in there but his stomach is churning again.

Slowly, he pulls the door open, eyes wide in horror as the silence that filled his ears was suddenly replaced by a very loud applause, various men and women, clapping their hands and laughing with each other. Suguru’s eyes focused on the sight in front of him, hands fallen to his sides.

Satoru is… alive. He's walking through the crowd with what seems to be a figure of a young girl covered by a white sheet in his arms.

Riko… Right, Riko’s body. She's- She's dead. Her hands aren't warm and her eyes won't shine with happiness anymore. She won't laugh, or cry, or shouts in embarrassment and anger again-

Suguru’s stomach churns even more.

Satoru lift his head to meet Suguru's eyes, his uniform, his face, all full of blood and his eyes-

“You're… Satoru, right?” He ended up asking because- because- his eyes, something is not right-

“You've seen Shoko, right?” Satoru cuts his thoughts off. “You're thinking out loud again, Suguru. It makes my ears hurt. I hope you're not thinking about your crushes at a time… like this…”

The joke falls flat between them but Suguru nods at his first question. “I did… Shoko heals me. I'm alright… But… I'm sorry, Satoru.”

(“You'll keep us safe when I'm out of commission, yeah?”)

Satoru’s grip on Riko tightens, shaking his head. “No, it's not your fault. I messed up.”

Suguru wills his hands to stop trembling due to… what? Anger? Sadness? He doesn't know, eyes lowering to the floor.

“Let's go back, Satoru.” Suguru couldn't even hear what he just said cause… the clapping, it's too loud-

“Suguru.” Suguru looks up at him. “Should we…”

Satoru stops himself, blinking as if he just had a realization, his mouth clicking shut before he could get whatever he wanted to say out loud.

“... Satoru?” Suguru asks, tensing.

“... Nevermind. Let's go, Suguru. Let's go back.”

Suguru tries to tunes out the clapping, (̶w̶h̶y̶a̶r̶e̶h̶t̶e̶y̶c̶l̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶w̶h̶y̶i̶s̶i̶t̶s̶o̶l̶o̶u̶d̶f̶o̶r̶f̶u̶c̶k̶s̶a̶k̶e̶a̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶,̶a̶l̶i̶i̶t̶l̶e̶g̶i̶r̶l̶j̶u̶s̶t̶d̶i̶e̶d̶i̶t̶s̶t̶o̶o̶l̶o̶u̶d̶t̶o̶o̶l̶o̶u̶d̶-̶)̶ nodding as Satoru walks ahead of him. His eyes has moved back to the floor at some point and for some reason he couldn't stop staring at it.

“... Alright. Let's go back.”

-

Suguru summons Sora again before turning to Satoru who is still looking at Riko in his arms. One of her limp hands has fallen from her body, causing it to dangle outside of the sheet.

Suguru feels sick. That hand… That hand was one of the two that she used to hug Kuroi just a few hours ago. That hand was one of the two that was about to grab his hand. That hand was one of the two that had hesitantly braid his hair just last night. That hand was-

Suguru swallows the bile rising in his trachea, reaching over to lift the sheet slightly, putting her hand back on top of her body.

“We… Should go, Satoru.” He said, looking up at him. Satoru’s eyes look dimmer than when they were back in the room. It's probably him turning off his infinity.

Satoru’s head barely moves to be registered as a nod but he takes a step towards the curse. Suguru makes sure he lowers it enough so that Satoru doesn't need to climb it before getting on himself.

He commands the curse to move and it lifts them up into the air, high enough to not be detected by anyone and heading off to the direction of their school.

Satoru leans against him on his back, making Suguru jolts. “... Satoru?”

“Everything in this world that happens has its reason. It's important to have a reason when you make a choice… Jujutsu Sorcerer or not.” Satoru lets out a laugh, the sound quiet and subdued. Not like his usual boisterous, booming laugh. It sounds wrong. “Suguru… do you think there's a meaning to Amanai's death? Is her role in being alive is to die as Tengen’s vessel? Do you think there's an actual reason they killed her? Is it… Is it all just because of their stupid beliefs?”

Suguru bit his lips. He doesn't have an answer to it.

(Because Satoru was right. Was there any reason they killed her except for their belief? Can that be a valid reason to kill… a… kill a little girl? What did they see her as? An object? An object they believe needs to disappear? Is… That the only reason for those… those non-sorcerers to kill her?)

A soft sight resounds from behind him and Satoru leans against him even more. “... Suguru, I'm tired.”

Suguru didn't say anything when he heard Satoru sniffling and breathing shakily behind him, nor did he move when Satoru’s body started trembling.

Suguru’s eyes catch the sight of people walking back and forth below him, small like ants from the height he's looking at them at. Those people are the weak that Jujutsu Sorcerers must protect.

Suguru looks up again, staring at the orange sky above. The day is ending peacefully, as if what happens to them today is nothing unusual. Something that happens everyday and everywhere.

Who knows? Maybe it is. Maybe it always has been happening and that he just refuses to acknowledge it.

…

He's tired too.

-

A lot of things change after that day.

Satoru has mastered the Reverse Curse Technique, meaning that he can pull out a blue and red anytime now. He can heal himself, he can defeat any curse in a blink of eyes using hollow purple.

Satoru has become the strongest and Suguru… well, Suguru is just the same as always.

Still swallowing curses, still summoning them to fight. Still haven't gotten a hang of reverse curse technique. Same old Suguru.

The taste of curse has been getting worse lately. It keeps reminding him of that day when he takes in Toji's, that was the name of that man who had… yeah, he'd rather not think about it, curse worm. It had tasted so bad and it lingered at the back of his tongue, making it difficult to stomach anything these days.

They're currently outside, listening to Satoru rants about his curse techniques to them. Suguru would pay attention but the sound of cricket is too loud in his ears and Satoru’s voice is-

“Suguru? Did you lose weight? Are you okay?” Satoru called out, a hint of concern on his face.

Suguru lifted his head with a hum. “I'm fine. It's just the heat.”

Shoko throws a rock at Satoru and infinity stops it from reaching him, causing him to laugh as she groans. Suguru couldn't bring himself to do anything else but smile.

This is the first time he sees Satoru this week.

He's been busy lately.

Well, both of them have been busy, actually. They're being sent to different missions all the time now. After all, Satoru doesn't need any back up anymore. It'll just slow him down since he's the strongest and he can just evaporate the curse to thin air just by a snap of his finger.

Unfortunately, being sent to missions all by himself makes him unable to do anything but think. Satoru is not there to talk off his ears as usual so Suguru is stuck in his own head all the time, entertaining some very unsettling thoughts that have been popping up in his head.

He can't stop thinking about Riko and Kuroi. Why did they have to die? Those non-sorcerers had asked them to be killed… for what? Is there even any meaning to their death?

Is… Is there a meaning to what Suguru has been doing? He's been protecting those… those non-sorcerers, those weakling because that's what he believes to be right so that society could continue to thrive.

“Suguru?”

Suguru blinks, realizing that he has been staring at the mirror in the bathroom all this time. He turns to see Satoru, a toothbrush in his hand and a towel on his neck. The other had just finished showering, he guesses.

Suguru looks at his eyes, noticing a slight darkening under it.

He could feel his stomach twisting into a knot.

“Suguru?” Satoru calls again, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are you sure you're alright? You look a bit off these days.”

Suguru looks down at the cup that holds his own toothbrush, picking it up. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. We've both been busy, haven't we, Satoru?”

Satoru’s eyes shifted to the toothbrush, frowning. “Suguru, you just finished brushing your teeth. I thought you were going to shower.”

Right. He was going to shower. He doesn't like showering much these days but he can't be walking around the school without showering, especially when he gets covered in the curses blood a lot.

“Seriously, are you alright?” Satoru asked again and Suguru’s right eye twitches, an irrational anger appearing in his chest.

“I'm alright, okay? It's none of your business anyway. It gets annoying to say the same thing over and over again, Satoru. Stop it.”

Satoru raised both of his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I'm sorry. No need to get mad.”

The anger dissipates and Suguru sighs, guilt bubbling up inside of him. “... No, no I'm sorry, Satoru. I don't know why I got mad like that. Just… leave me alone for a bit. I'll… go and shower.”

“Alright. I'll be taking your uniform. You ripped it last mission, right? Doesn't look too bad though. Nothing my godly skill can't fix.” Satoru said as he walked out, not even waiting for his answer.

Suguru, despite himself, smiles.

For what it's worth, he's glad that at least one thing doesn't change even after they get sent to separate missions. Satoru is busier these days but he always finds time to fix and patch Suguru's clothes.

Satoru would occupy his mind for at least a few minutes whenever his eyes laid on his freshly fixed uniform and keep his… less than ethical thought at bay. He's grateful for it, really.

With a sigh, Suguru turns on the shower and steps under it silently, bracing himself against the wall.

As the sound of water dropping onto the bathroom tiles filled the room, his mind started speaking again against his will, making Suguru frown deeply.

Is there even any point to what they're doing anymore? Protect the non-sorcerers? Is that the reason? Is that the point?

Is it important to do that? Weren't those people the one that celebrates Riko’s death? Weren't they the one that caused Kuroi’s death as well? Wasn't Toji a non sorcerer who makes it his life mission to kill the sorcerers who literally have been doing nothing but protecting the society from the threat they can't even see?

What… What is he doing? Why is he doing this? No one is going to thank him for doing this. People would look at him and his friends and think that they are weird for being able to see what they couldn't.

What… is the point of being a sorcerer?

…

What is he even protecting those fucking monkeys for?

…

Suguru jolts from his own thoughts and turns the tap off, hurriedly exiting the room before his mind could plant any more ideas. He needs to talk to Yaga to ask about the loudness of the shower. It's too distracting.

…

He's tired. Maybe he should go to bed early tonight.

-

“... Oh? Getou-Senpai. What happens to your uniform?”

“What? Is something wrong with it, Nanami?”

“There's something… pinkish on the back. You didn't notice?”

“... Ah. Ugh, it must be Satoru's doing. I'll talk to him later. Thank you for pointing it out, Nanami.”

“It's fine. You can drop the last name by the way. Just call me Kento.”

“Right… I'll see you around, Kento.”

Suguru couldn't help but let out a fond sigh as he walked away. What a rascal, that best friend of his.

-

Being alone is so damn annoying, Suguru decides.

He's sitting at a bench near the vending machine again today, fresh out of the shower and staring at the floor while he thinks about everything that has been happening. He's exhausted, having just come back on a two day long mission and Satoru is away, somewhere in Osaka if he remembers correctly.

A low, melodious hum interrupted his musing and Haibara rounded the corner, cheerful as usual. He wonders if Haibara minds giving some of that carefree feeling to Suguru a little. His already shining eyes brighten when he spots Suguru and Suguru decides to stop slumping so much. He still has his pride after all.

“Ah! You're here! Good job on your last mission, sir!” He praised, giving him a salute.

Suguru’s lips curl up at the younger’s antic. “Come on, Haibara. I'm your senior, not your teacher. I heard you're leaving on a mission with Kento tomorrow? Come and sit. I'll buy you a drink.”

Haibara thanked him and eagerly accepted the offer, making Suguru chuckle. Suguru hands over some coins to him and Haibara press the button for a can of soda and coffee.

“Yes, Senpai! But no, it's not with Kento, actually. Gojo-senpai offers to go with me cause he… wants to go to a store there? I'm not sure of the details.”

Suguru raised an eyebrow, surprised. He didn't even know Satoru is even allowed to go on a mission with someone but then again, knowing him, he probably pulls some sort of string to get his way even if he's not allowed to. “Really? But… I thought that your mission is at a very small village up the mountain. What store could he want to go to?”

Haibara shrugs, taking a sip from his can of soda. “Well, I read the file and searched up the area. You know, as research. Apparently there's this store there that’s famous for selling sewing and knitting things. The items are all like, handmade and stuff, I don't know.”

“... Ah. That makes sense.” Suguru blurts, nodding to himself as he takes a large gulp from his coffee. Haibara blinks at the reaction.

“... Oh, does Gojo-senpai know how to sew?” He asked. Suguru rolled his eyes at the mention of his sewing hobby.

“I'd say he's obsessed with it rather than knowing how to do it. Every Time I saw him not killing curses or playing games, he would be knitting or sewing something.”

Not … like he sees Satoru much lately but it hasn't been that long so he probably hasn't changed all that much.

Haibara hums as he takes another sip of soda. “Eh… I wonder who teaches him that. I heard from Ieri-senpai that he was raised as a clan kid so…”

Suguru shrugs. “I'm not sure about who teaches him but he's quite good at it. Why don't you ask him to patch up your clothing too if you ever got the opportunity?” He teases, causing Haibara to shake his head vigorously.

“No, no it's fine! I always found him a little scary, to be honest. Although… Now that I think about it… Maybe it's a good thing we're paired up together. I wouldn't mind getting to know him a little…” Haibara said before he continued to mutter to himself.

Suguru stares at him.

A beat passed.

“... Haibara.” He called, turning to look at the floor when Haibara’s head moved to face him. “Are you okay with being a sorcerer? It's not too much for you?”

Haibara blinks, putting his soda can next to him before crossing his arms and closing his eyes. “Hm… I'm not the type to think too deeply about stuff.” Then, He opens his eyes, a determined glint in his eyes as he points to himself with his thumb. “It just feels nice to me to do my best in what I can do.”

Suguru looks at him, blinking. “... I see. I guess I should've expected that from you…”

A pair of footsteps echoed and they both turned to look at the direction it came from, Haibara letting out a noise of confusion when they saw a tall woman with long, blonde hair approaching them.

“Are you Getou-kun?” She asked, a hand on her waist and another behind her head, standing like one of those models in magazines he sees often. “What kind of woman is your type?”

Suguru frowns at her. She looks familiar but he couldn't place where exactly he had seen her before.

“...Who are you?”

“I like girls who eat a lot!” Haibara pipes up, making Suguru turn to him tiredly.

“Haibara…”

“No worries! She means no harm! I'm a very good judge of character so I should know!” He declares proudly. Suguru paused at that, eyes moving away from his junior.

“You say that while sitting next to me?”

“Hm? Of course!”

The woman laughs at him merrily. “Boy, he's being sarcastic, you know.”

Haibara excused himself right after getting Satoru’s number from Suguru, saying that he had to pack his bag for his trip tomorrow while waving.

“Is he your junior? He's so cute and honest.” The woman waves back at Haibara, still smiling.

“And gullible. He needs to be more cautious as a sorcerer.” Suguru grumbles downing the rest of his coffee, watching him go with a pang of worry in his chest. He hopes his mission goes well tomorrow.

Oh well. Satoru will be there with him so they'll be fine. Probably.

The woman turns to him, an expectant look on her face. “So? You're going to answer my question?”

Suguru meets her gaze head on. “Not before you answer mine. Who are you?”

She smirks at him. “Special Grade Yuki Tsukumo. Ever heard of me?”

He gives her an unimpressed look. “Oh, you're…”

Her eyes shine when she sees recognition in his. “Oh? You've heard of me?”

Suguru thinks for a moment, nodding. “I did yeah… Everyone says you haven't been going to any missions and just mess around overseas.”

He holds back a snort when he sees her deflate with each of his comments before she slumps against the wall, crossing her legs, looking clearly displeased. “Geh. I hate this college.”

He sighs, throwing the empty can he was holding into a trash can next to him. What is it with his luck of getting stuck with childish special grades? At least Satoru’s tantrum is cute. Her though… He can't say the same exactly, if he were to be honest.

Tsukumo chuckles, waving her hand dismissively. Suguru can sense a change of demeanor from her, making him tense slightly. “I'm kidding. Still, it is true that my objectives don't align with the college. The people here are only treating the symptoms. I, on the other hand, want to treat the cause.”

He perks at that. “... The cause?”

She didn't turn to look at him but hummed as a response. “I don't want to hunt cursed spirits. I want to create a world where it never even exists in the first place.”

Suguru fixed her with a puzzled and intrigued look, one that she can sense, judging by her next words. “I'll give you a short lesson. What are cursed spirits in the first place, Getou-kun?”

Suguru gulps. “... They are excess curse energy leaks by humans, which then form them as a curse.”

She clicked her finger at him. “Excellent answer. As such, there are two ways to create a world without any curse whatsoever.” Then, she folded her fingers, showing only two of them except for her thumb. “The first way is to make all of humanity lose their curse energy. The second one is to make it so all of humanity knows how to control their curse energy.”

His gaze follows her hand when she lowers it as she leans forward. “I think that the first route is a very good option to take, seeing as there was a model case.”

“A model case?”

“He's someone you know well. Zenin Toji. I've seen a lot of people being born with heavenly restrictions causing them to have the same amount of curse energy as civilians but he was the only person who didn't have a drop of curse energy inside his body.” She answers as Suguru's frown deepens. “Not only that, he also sees curses using only his five senses and because of his restriction, his body has a resistance to curses as well. He's superhuman so you don't have to be ashamed of losing against him. It's a pity that he turned down my offer to study him.”

He turns away from her, ready to excuse himself. He rather not hear her rant about this anymore and rest up instead. The rain outside is starting to hurt his ears.

Then, she mentions something that makes him freeze in place.

“... By the way, did you know, Getou? Sorcerers don't create curses at all. Unless they leave behind vengeful spirits after dying, of course.” Suguru’s whole body stopped moving. He can hear his blood rushing in his ears, his heartbeat faster than it ever has in his life. “When compared to non-sorcerers, sorcerers leak way less curse energy. There's the difference in capacity and consumption due to Jujutsu technique but… since sorcerers have their curse energy flowing in their body…”

She winks at him and Suguru’s stomach twists. “... If I were to put it in an easy way, curses wouldn't be born if all humans were sorcerers.”

Suguru’s shoulders slumped slowly, eyes widening in realization. The sound of rain falling onto the pavement outside is growing louder and unwillingly, he finds himself standing back at that dreadful room, men and women clapping to celebrate the death of an innocent girl-

“Then…” He starts, mouth moving entirely in autopilot. “We… Should just kill all non-sorcerers then, right?”

Right. Satoru was about to say that, wasn't he? When he called his name in that broken, tired voice…

Tsukumo falls silent at his suggestion.

Fear starts to course through his veins. He needs her to disagree or else-

“You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, Getou-kun.”

Suguru’s blood runs cold, turning to her.

She doesn't turn to look at him, seemingly contemplating his idea.

“It's an easier thing to do than my plan, to put it plainly. If we continuously begin killing them, it's possible that they'll eventually awaken Jujutsu Technique as a survival strategy.” She explains. “They could evolve, so to speak. Just like how birds gained wings by using their fear and sense of danger.” Then, she huffs a disbelieving laugh. “But unfortunately, I'm not that crazy. Do you hate non-sorcerers, Getou-kun?”

Suguru swallows the lump in his throat, his eyes falling to the floor once again. “... I don't know.” He shakes his head. “I used to think that we sorcerers exist to protect non-sorcerers but lately… it doesn't feel very worth it anymore.”

Suguru remembers Satoru, his eyes shining with power yet lifeless, standing in the middle of that white room. He remembers the adults around him clapping as he carries the body of a young girl that wants nothing more than to live a peaceful life with her family and friends.

“... I can't seem to… differentiate the beauty and the ugliness of the non-sorcerers. I can't accept them and I… I look down on them… Then, I try rejecting those thoughts but…”

Suguru could hear the sound of clapping echoing in his ears.

“My own vision of this marathon called sorcery starts to blur. I don't know… I can't tell what I am even feeling right now.”

Tsukumo crossed her arms, looking to the side with a smile. “Well, it's probably neither. You're not at the stage of finding your answer yet, Getou-kun.”

He stays silent. The clapping is growing louder.

“The part of you who looks down on non-sorcerers…” She points at the path she was coming from. “And the part of you that rejects the idea…” She points to the hallway Haibara had disappeared to moments ago. “These are just possibilities you've found.”

She uncrosses her legs as Suguru turns to look at her again. “The one you commit to being from now on, will define your true feelings.”

…

He escorted Tsukumo out after that. She complains about not being able to see Satoru as well but Suguru simply smiles at her, reassuring her that he will tell him about her.

Then, she mentioned something about Tengen’s assimilation and the Star Plasma Vessel.

“Either they already had one on standby or a new one has already been born. At any rate, they are stable. Since the Time Vessel Association is gone, they won't be in any danger either.”

He watches her go with a bad taste in his mouth.

“Suguru… do you think there's a meaning to Amanai's death? Is her role in being alive is to die as Tengen’s vessel?”

Suguru took out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. He's outside. Might as well consume some nicotine while he's at it.

-

“Haibara?” Suguru blinks as he catch Haibara leaving the infirmary, the cigarette in his mouth almost falling if not for his reflex to catch it between his fingers first. He was pretty sure that the mission he was sent to was supposed to be longer, especially if Satoru was there. He does love buying more souvenirs than needed after all. The fact that they're back so early must mean… “Did… Something happened?”

Suguru stops himself from jolting when the boy turns to look at him, his head wrapped in bandage and a gauze taped using medical tape on his cheek. Suguru also spots his uniform having a little bit of dried blood on it. Still, He smiles, even if it doesn't look like his signature, twinkling one. It seems forced, meant to reassure him more than anything.

“Hey, Senpai. Nothing too bad… Just… An accident.”

Suguru nudged his head towards the bench in front of the infirmary. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Haibara hesitates, glancing at the infirmary door. An awkward silence engulfed the air and Suguru felt the need to take back his question but eventually, a slow nod answered his question.

Suguru sits down first, Haibara still hesitant as he joins him.

“... What happened?” Suguru asked again, properly extinguishing the cigarette he was smoking.

Haibara lowers his gaze to the floor, eyes devoid of any emotion. “... The mission was wrongly graded. It wasn't a second-grade. It was a local deity, a first grade case.” He explains.

Suguru's grip on the cigarette tightens. “... Satoru was there… wasn't he?”

Haibara chuckles, though not a shred of amusement can be heard. “Yeah, Senpai was there. I got beaten up a little…” He points to his head, sheepishly. “But Gojo-Senpai makes quick work of it. He was late buying sweets but I can't blame him since both of us thought that it was an easy curse that I can handle…”

Haibara glanced at the infirmary door again. Suguru couldn't help but do the same as well, wondering what it is that is making the younger boy so anxious. “What is it, Haibara? There's something you're not telling me here.”

Haibara took a deep breath. “Look, Getou-Senpai, Gojo-Senpai told me not to tell you this because he said that you look a bit… off these days but-” Haibara stops, his fist clenched tightly.

Suguru, irritated at his constant hesitation, snaps. “Just fucking tell me, Haibara.”

Haibara flinched but his eyes shot up to meet Suguru's. “We got most of our injuries because of the… non-sorcerers.”

Suguru stares at him blankly. “... What?”

He couldn't help but notice that Haibara had said, ‘we’. Satoru, the untouchable Satoru, got injured because Satoru never has his infinity up against non-sorcerers because he thought that they are harmless. Too weak to be a threat. But even Satoru knows to bring them up when he feels like he's in danger, curse or people.

He chose to not have it up because he trusted that those people wouldn't hurt him.

And they betrayed that trust.

Haibara takes another glance at the infirmary door, probably expecting Satoru to walk out at any moment but he looks back at Suguru, intent on telling him everything that happened. “I… The curse was a local deity… The people were worshiping it so um…” He shrugs. “They got angry when we said we killed it.”

Suguru stays silent.

…

Is this how it is?

His friends, himself, his teacher, they all work their ass off to keep them safe and this is how they're treated?

Countless sorcerers die everyday just to keep them safe but this is what they're doing? They make these curses then worship it? Then when one of their own dies or when the curse dies, they curse out the sorcerer?

“... I got a mission.” Suguru declares, standing up from his spot while Haibara sputters.

“You… don't want to see Gojo-senpai first?”

Right. Satoru. He should see him first at least. It has been a while since they last saw each other.

“... Go get some rest, Haibara.” Suguru enters the infirmary and closes the door behind him, leaving his junior sitting in the barely lit hallway. Immediately, the smell of antiseptic greets his nose and he can hear two voices arguing from behind a closed curtain.

Shoko and Satoru.

He walked over to it and slid the curtain open, making the two stop.

“Oh, Suguru, hey!” Satoru grins at him, his face covered in small cuts while his eyes are covered by bandages. “I haven't seen you in a while. Are you doing okay?”

Suguru stares in horror at his condition.

Those damn monkeys did this to him-

“... What the fuck, Satoru?” He asks, rushing to his side and taking a hold of his head to examine his face. “Your reverse curse technique… Why didn't you use it?”

“Reverse curse techniques have their limits too, you know.” Shoko sighs, taking a seat next to Satoru on the bed he is sitting on. Her eyes are droopy and half lidded, clearly exhausted. “Especially when you haven't rested in three days. Suguru's question was right. What the fuck, Satoru? I know you've been busy but you need to sleep.”

Satoru chuckles nervously, scratching his cheek. “Ah well… You know how it is. No rest for the wicked and all that.”

A spark of anger appears in Suguru’s chest, backing away from Satoru with gritted teeth. “You're a human being, fucker. You need to rest. We can take care of a few curses without you for a few hours. Don't think you're all that just because of your techniques, Satoru.”

Shoko looks at him, frowning. “You know, I think that's a bit too far, Suguru. I want him to rest too but-”

“Oh? Well, sounds like you got a problem with me, mister tough guy.” Satoru starts, gripping the mattress with his hand. “If YOU think you're all that, mind proving it to me? You're going on a mission right? Take me with you. Let me see what you got.”

Shoko turns to him. “Satoru-”

“Fine!” Suguru barks out. “Maybe then you'll realize this world don't fucking revolve around you.”

“Hey-!”

“Wow, fuck you too, I guess. Hopefully you can prove how strong you are to the point that I'm not needed.”

“Hey, can one of you please listen to me-”

Shoko didn't even get to finish her sentence when they both storms out of the door, Satoru after Suguru, ignoring Haibara who is still sitting on the bench with Nanami who probably arrived at some point during their talk and walking over to the exit in silence.

-

When they arrived at the village, it was nighttime.

Satoru didn't say anything the whole time and part of Suguru does feel like he might have gone too far, saying what he said in the infirmary but it's not the right time to address it.

He makes quick work of the curse, Satoru not even looking at him as he swallows it, too busy nibbling on a bar of chocolate he had bought on their way up the mountain in the background. Suguru sighs after that, tapping him on the shoulder to let him know they're leaving to report their mission to the village head.

Satoru ignores him but follows behind when Suguru starts to walk away towards the village. They both didn't say anything until they reached the dimly lit town hall, Suguru knocking the door while yelling out a hello.

A man who seems to be in his 50’s with a balding head opens the door, introducing himself as the village head before asking them who they are in a rough voice.

“We're the sorcerers sent to deal with the curses.” Suguru explains, a plastic smile on his face.

The village head scans them up and down, crossing his arms. “They sent you two? A bit too young but you'll do, I guess.”

Suguru held back a particularly nasty comment sitting at the back of tongue while he can feel Satoru tensing up behind him, probably holding back as well. Suguru was about to say that they have already dealt with the curse when he suddenly beckons them to a small warehouse right next to the town hall. “Come with me. We already captured the monster for you.”

Suguru blinks, exchanging a look with Satoru who looks equally confused.

“Come on. What are you waiting for? Everyone is waiting.” The man snaps, glaring at them.

Suguru looks at him warily, turning to Satoru again.

The other boy appears unsettled, something very not normal for him but nods.

Suguru nods back. They both walk side by side this time, trailing after the man in front of him into the warehouse.

He feels very uneasy for some reason.

A warm hand slips into his and Suguru almost takes his hand out of it, turning to Satoru in surprise.

Satoru didn't turn to look at him though, practically dragging him as they walked.

The thought of Satoru touching him feels somewhat… wrong but Suguru only tightens his grip on his hand. It seems like he needs some sort of reassurance so Suguru will try his best to give it to him.

…

“... What is this?” Suguru stares down at two littles girls huddling together in a cage, eyes wide in fear while they look up at him.

What the fuck do these monkey think they're doing?

Satoru places a hand on his shoulder and Suguru looks at him, noticing a slightest bit of unusual expression on his face that makes the rage slowly growing inside of him almost explode violently.

Satoru has always been very carefree and nonchalant. Rarely anything phase him, not even a Special Grade curse. He would always have that irritatingly smug and egoistic smile on his face as he beat his opponent down or dealt with a rude non-sorcerer outside of school.

So when he sees the mixture of horrified, disgust and barely conceal anger on his face, Suguru was more than ready to unleash his curse at these fucking monkey who just won't stop yapping about these little girls that is appearently being the reason of the town's many death-

“They almost killed my grandson!” One of them shouts angrily, venom spitting out of their disgusting mouth. One of the girls seems to narrow her eyes at that, tugging the other girl in her arms closer to her.

“He’s the one that-!” She blurts out only to be silenced by those damn monkeys again.

“Shut it, you monster! We should've just killed you when you were born!”

God, they're so fucking noisy. He supposed he should've expected it from animals. You can't expect a goddamn parrot to shut the fuck up when you don't teach them to. They're the same thing.

“We… We already identified and eliminated the cause-” Satoru’s voice cut through the various voices floating in his head only to be silenced by another one of the voices.

Suguru stares at the floor in front of the girls.

He can hear people clapping, he can hear Toji Fushiguro’s grating voice as he brags about killing Satoru and defeating him as a non-sorcerer, he can hear Riko’s laughter, Kuroi-san’s gentle scolding voice, Satoru’s sheepish laughter even if his is face littered with small cuts along with his bandages eyes no doubt for being overused to protect these monkeys that does nothing but hurts everyone and-

“Okay, enough of this.” Satoru’s loud voice brings him out of his own head, making him slowly lift his eyes up to his best friend standing with his head held up high, arms crossed. His eyes are still covered with bandages but Suguru is pretty sure he's glaring sharply at the villagers now. “Shut the fuck up. We’ll be taking these girls and all of you will not have any say in it.”

“Taking? You're not going to kill them?!”

Suguru clenches his fist to keep himself from summoning his curse to just obliterate these bastards. They deserve it, don't they?

“Satoru.” He calls using a voice that is so soundless that he might as well not be saying anything at all. “Should we… Kill them all?”

Satoru’s eyes moved to him but he didn't flinch or show any reaction to the sudden question. Instead, he clicked his tongue and shook his head, crouching in front of the cage to face the girls this time, smiling.

“Hello. Are you girls alright?”

The two girls, twins now that Suguru is looking at them properly, blinks at him, mouth opening in an ‘O’ shape. “... Why are you wearing bandages on your eyes, mister?” One of them, the one with blonde hair asks, causing Satoru to let out a small laughter. “I'll take that as a yes, then. Now, back away from the door, yeah? I'm going to get this to open and answer your question.”

The girls look at each other again, still unsure but did as told, moving to the left of the cell and as far away from the door as possible. Satoru conjures up some curse energy and he realizes that he’s trying to use red to break the door open.

“You dumb brat! Are you trying to kill us all!?” One of the villagers steps forward to grab Satoru but Suguru was faster, he blocks the man’s path and takes a hold of his collar, glaring at him with contempt.

Suguru can't even bring himself to touch Satoru let alone these damn monkeys.

“Don't.” Suguru warns, his grip on the other’s collar tightening. “Your hands are filthy. Don't even think of touching him, you monkey.” He hisses.

“You little-!” The man grabs him by his own collar but Suguru throws him to the side, hard enough for him to hit the wall, but not enough to kill.

Unfortunately.

The sound of wood breaking from behind tells him that Satoru is done and Suguru turns to him again, watching as the two little girls look up at Satoru in fascination while pointing at his bandaged eyes.

Suguru places a hand on Satoru’s shoulder, smiling, a curl of lip that doesn't even reach his eyes. “Come on, let's go. Can we carry you or do you prefer to walk by yourself?”

One of them, the blonde one who speaks up just now, looks at her sister’s feet and frowns. She still doesn't trust them but she also has no other option than them right now.

Suguru hates that she even has to think about them as an option because this shouldn't have been happening in the first place.

“... Can you carry Mimiko? Her feet are injured. She can't really walk…” She asks, voice lowering with each word she speaks..

Suguru nods. “Of course. I'll carry your sister and my friend here,” He squeezed his shoulder but Satoru still hadn't said anything, looking at something on the floor to his left. “Will carry you. Is that alright? If it helps, we pinky swear that we won't hurt you.”

They still look distrustful, understandable really, but agree. Satoru leans over to pick something up before taking the blonde girl into his arms while Suguru takes the brown haired one, Mimiko, in his.

They left the room and no one bothered to stop them.

They should be thankful they got to live another day.

-

“Here, you two must be cold.” Satoru wraps a black and white patterned scarf on the two little girls sitting between them in the car.

They thanked him quietly while Suguru looked at the scarf with curiosity. He didn't even notice Satoru has it with him.

“... Isn't this one of your knitting projects? You said it was something important for someone.”

Satoru shrugs. “Yeah, but it's not like we have anything else to give them and they are cold. I can always make another one later.

“... Alright then.”

-

Shoko was livid at them when they got back, as expected. They did storm out while ignoring the fuck out of her so the fact that she didn't curse them out is mercy in itself.

That said, He has no doubt she would be doing exactly that if it weren't for the two injured little girls she saw in each of their arms. Her demeanor shifts immediately and she ushers them inside hurriedly.

Satoru tells her all the details while Suguru stays back with the girls, reassuring them that she won't be doing anything bad to them and that him and Satoru will be there in the room if it makes them feel safe.

“I'll chew both of you out later. I got a job to do. You two better not start arguing out of nowhere again or so help me god I will kick both of you out of the school.” She huffs and gets to work.

Satoru slumps into the seat next to him, sighing. “Ugh, what a day.”

Suguru didn't say anything to his comment, staring at the white tiled floor under his feet. There's so many things that he has to say but couldn't. At least not yet, not with Shoko and kids still being near them. This is something they need to talk about privately.

“... Did you buy anything new at that mission of yours?” Suguru turns to him, his bang falling in front of his eye. “Haibara said that there was a shop that sells sewing stuff.”

Satoru isn't phased by the random conversation starter, shrugging. “There's nothing there to buy, to be honest. They're all not that good of a quality. I think I got scammed by the reviews.”

Suguru hums. “Well, it was a small village. Shouldn't have such high expectations for such a place.”

Satoru groans, placing his head on Suguru’s shoulder. “It's places like that usually have the best stuff, you know.”

Suguru turns to him, frowning. Satoru shouldn't be touching him.

“... Satoru, get off my shoulder.”

“No.”

Suguru clenches his fist. “... Satoru-”

“Hey, lovebirds.” Shoko calls, making a pair of heads turn to her. “I'm done. I think you two should talk things out with Yaga about this. He should still be awake at his office.”

Satoru finally gets off of him and they both stand up to get to the girls, Satoru kneeling in front of them while Suguru scratches the back of his neck, trying very hard to not pull out his cigarettes.

This is going to be a very long night.

After a few short conversation, both with Shoko and Mimiko and Nanako, the girls agree to follow them to meet their teacher who, without a doubt, would have a fucking stroke when he finds out about this. He just hopes he won't die from it. He was getting quite old.

“I can hear you thinking, you know.” Satoru comments with a quirk of his lips with Nanako dozing in his arms as they make their way to Yaga's office. “Are you worried about Yaga’s reaction? He might have a stroke but he won't die from it. Probably.”

Suguru snorts, Mimiko already asleep in his arms. “What are you, a mind reader? I didn't know the six eyes have ability like that.”

A light kick to the back of his legs makes Suguru let out a small, genuine chuckle.

He's surprised he even has the ability to let that out anymore.

They arrive at the office before they know it and look at each other, Suguru gulping nervously and Satoru tightening his grip on the girl in his arms.

Oh well. Here goes nothing.

Suguru builds up the courage to knock and Yaga’s voice answers from the inside, telling them to come on in.

-

“... You two are plotting to kill me by giving me a stroke, aren't you?” Yaga sighs, rubbing his temple.

“Well, What are we supposed to do? Leave them? They might die if they stay like that any longer, Sensei.” Satoru protests. “Shoko examines them and tells us everything about their condition. Hell, she gave us a list of medicines we should start giving them. They're malnourished and dehydrated, their wounds are infected and it's a miracle they're still alive right now.” He huffs. “Let's not even talk about their trauma…”

Yaga raises a hand to stop his rambling, still rubbing his temple. “Look, Satoru, it's way too late for this. All I'm going to say is, get those girls to settle, take a shower, complete the report of the mission or go to sleep. We're discussing this in the morning.”

And with that, both of them were kicked out of the room, Satoru fuming while Suguru turns to him, impressed. He never knew Satoru could pay so much attention to stuff. Suguru didn't even understand what Shoko was saying aside from malnutrition and dehydration because of her excessive use of medical terms.

Well, also because he was thinking… hard about something but it's not something he wants to ponder about right now.

“Ugh, that old man can be so insensitive sometimes.” Satoru grumbles as they begin walking to their dorm. “Like, seriously! These are kids. What, he expects us to see what we saw, call the police and dip?”

Suguru couldn't help letting a bitter chuckle come out of his mouth. “Well, you said it before yourself, Satoru. Sorcerers are not here for that sort of thing. We're only here to kill curses.”

Satoru paused at that. “... Weren't you the one going on and on about protecting the weak and sh-” He glances at the children in their arms. “Stuff?”

Suguru shrugs, not giving a straight answes.

Satoru stops walking and stares at him from behind, clutching the young girl in his arms tightly. “... Suguru, can we talk?”

Suguru, who is already quite a few feet away from him stops, turning back to look at the six eyes inheritor. They both look at each other in silence for a while, Satoru seemingly more and more nervous if the way he keeps biting his lips is anything to go by.

“Are you alright?” Satoru asks. “You've been acting… off lately. Is something going on with your parents?”

His parents? Right, of course that's what Satoru would assume. Suguru is not like him so his biggest issue would probably be whether or not he can go home for Christmas this year.

“Nothing is going on Satoru. Leave me alone. It's been a long day and we both need to rest.” Suguru turns and begins walking again. He hears Satoru's sputtering behind him before hurried footsteps chase after him and a hand lands on his shoulder, yanking him to turn back to the other.

“Suguru, seriously if something is going on-”

“Do you not understand when I said I want to be left alone?” Suguru snaps. “For fuck sake Satoru, you're so goddamn annoying sometimes. Face it already. Not all of us can get what we want all the time.”

Satoru takes his hand off his shoulder, his mouth gaping and he swears he can see his eyes shining with hurt. Suguru blinks and realizes too late what had come out of his mouth.

“Wait, Satoru-”

“... Let's just get these girls to bed.”

Satoru walks ahead of him, Suguru follows behind him while stuttering. “Satoru I-”

Satoru didn't stop and Suguru clicked his mouth shut.

Fuck. He messed up so fucking bad.

-

When Suguru wakes up the next day, the sun is already high up in the sky. Satoru was nowhere to be seen and the twins are also gone, leaving only an empty messy bed next to the futon he is lying on to prove that they have been there in the first place.

Part of him was hoping that yesterday had been a dream but just as before, life shows him how powerless actually is.

“Fuck.” He curses to himself, taking his phone from the bedside table to check the time as he remembers what he had said to Satoru the night before. It's a miracle Satoru still decides to still share the futon with him after what he said. He turns on the phone, sighing when he sees that it's already twelve in the afternoon.

Thank God it's their day off today. A small blessing after all the bullshit both him and Satoru have been going through.

Suguru gets up from his futon and snatches his towel sitting on the rack next to the door, opening the door to see Haibara walking past, pausing when he sees him.

“Ah, Getou-Senpai.” Haibara beams. He already seems more cheerful than the day before. “Good… afternoon I guess. I heard about what happened yesterday from Shoko-Senpai. Are you alright?”

Suguru slumps his shoulder, smiling. “Yes, I'm alright, Haibara. I'm so sorry for snapping at you yesterday by the way.”

Haibara shrugs. “It's fine. You can call me Yu if you want, you know? I wouldn't mind. I know both you and Gojo-Senpai have been working hard these days so you must be tired. I hope I can catch up soon so I can help you out!”

Suguru pats him on the back, nodding. “I appreciate the enthusiasm but you gotta make sure the result shows for it, Hai-Yu. I hope you've been working on controlling your curse energy. It's all over the place.”

He grins. “Of course!”

Suguru suddenly got reminded of Satoru's and the twins' absence. “Oh yeah, Yu, did you see Satoru and two little girls somewhere?”

“Hm? Ah, yeah I did! I saw Gojo-senpai sewing something at the training ground stairs with a pair of twins. He asked me to make some food for the girls actually so if you don't mind…?”

Suguru lets him go with a wave. He should go and take a shower. He has an apology due to someone.

…

“Well, well, look who's awake.” Satoru declares loudly, looking up at him from where he was seated at the bottom of the training ground stairs, eyes no longer bandaged while holding onto a black fabric on his lap. He sees Nanako and Mimiko curl up on each of his sides, not moving an inch except for the slow rise and fall of their shoulders indicating their calm breathing. “Did you have a good sleep, sleeping beauty?”

Suguru sighs, descending the stairs to them, noticing the two little girls' closed eyes. They're both asleep, it seems. “What are you doing, Satoru?”

The boy shrugs. “Your button fell off yesterday. I'm sewing it back on.”

Suguru blinks, finally noticing that the fabric he is holding in his hand is his school jacket. It must have fallen off when that… guy grabs him by the collar last night for yanking him away from Satoru.

Suguru shook his head, taking a seat right next to Mimiko who is hugging a cat plushie tightly in her arms, snoring softly as she pressed herself into Satoru’s side.

Huh. Interesting.

“They're quite comfortable with you.” He pointed out. “Never knew you're good with kids.”

Satoru snorts at that, pulling the needle high before putting it through the fabric again. “I'm not. They trust me because I helped them before, that's all. It took me a while to convince them to shower and I had to teleport into the city at eight in the morning to buy some clothes. It's a bit of a hassle, to be honest.”

Suguru huffs a sound that could barely be a laugh before falling silent, watching as Satoru works. He knows he should say something to him, especially after that shit he said yesterday but apologizing has never been easy to him.

Well, it does but this kind of apology is not something he does often and he doesn't know why but lately, he can't find it in himself to actually converse with Satoru about anything anymore.

They're too different. Suguru couldn't help it.

Satoru, despite all his behavior and words, has always been too good of a person. He is not a god or anything like that. He's a human being with feelings and stupid obsession with sewing and knitting. He also has a ridiculously high sense of duty and some ridiculous number of complexes.

Despite all that, Satoru is… perfect. That's what Suguru thinks at least. He could make the ideal world Suguru and Tsukumo desired.

He could create a world that has no curse spirits because he's the strongest. He could kill every non sorcerer if he wants to because of the power he holds. He can get rid of those piles of shit that called themselves the higher-ups just because they sent kids to their death for the sake of what they claimed humanity.

But he won't because Satoru has always been a better person than Suguru. He lets himself be controlled by those bastards because he wants to, because he believes that his whole life is not his own.

Satoru Gojo believes that he is a weapon through and through. He will be used when he needs and discarded when he isn't.

Suguru paused, his mind going to a place he really has been trying so hard not to entertain ever since Satoru figured out Reverse Curse Technique.

Satoru… Wouldn't mind it if Suguru were to ask him to kill everyone, would he? He trusts him. He always thought Suguru could be trusted. The only reason Satoru didn't obey what he said back in the village is because of the girls, he's sure.

He was so close to making Satoru become the very thing he tells him not to be.

Suguru has to place his hand over his mouth to keep his nausea at bay.

“Stop thinking too hard, Suguru.” Satoru said, cutting the excessive thread. “What's going on in that big head of yours? Nothing dumb like what you said to me back in the village I hoped.”

Cold sweat starts to form on his forehead.

Fuck. He remembers.

Satoru seems to sense his nervousness if his giggle is an indicator. “I told you before, Suguru. That mindset of yours would ruin you.”

Suguru shot him a look but didn't say anything. It's not like Satoru was wrong.

A sigh escaped the white haired male, examining the jacket for any other tear or hole. “... Say, Suguru, do you hate non-sorcerers?”

Suguru looks at the girls sleeping beside them. Mimiko’s eye that was swollen shut looks like it has lessened a little and her legs are wrapped in bandages. Nanako’s injuries are milder than hers, though it does look painful. There was a burn mark on her neck that is covered by bandages now and her face that was full of cuts and bruises seems to be cleaner.

“... I can't do this anymore, Satoru.” He admits, lowering his head. “I hate them all so much. I can't believe we're protecting them from something they create. We're dying for this shit, for fuck sake and they don't- they don't even know, hell-” He wipe his face, feeling his eyes starting to water from the overwhelming anger. “I can't even look at my parents anymore so I just stayed at school, giving them all kinds of excuses to not come home. I'm-” He sighs, squeezing his eyes shut. “I am so… So tired, Satoru.”

Satoru hums as a reply. “I see… I'm guessing this might be the reason for your constant anger issue lately?”

“Is that all you have to say to me?” Suguru asked, raising his voice. “Don't you feel disgusted? Or are you just too good for that?”

Satoru scowls, spotting a small tear at the sleeve of the jacket. “You of all people should know why I'm not feeling anything about what you just admitted to Suguru. I never cared. I only did what people expected me to-”

“Ha!” Suguru barks out, receiving a look from the other when Mimiko flinches slightly at the loud noise before falling back into slumber. “You never cared? Well, maybe you're right, Satoru. You just have to prove to everyone that you're a good person that's all there is to it. You don't give a fuck about anyone because you're-”

“Suguru, shut up.” He whispered-yelled with gritted teeth, putting down the jacket to put both of his arms around the two little girls leaning onto him who were starting to stir.

“No, Satoru, I will not shut up about this-!”

“For the love of god, don't take things out on someone else when you're mad about something!” Satoru hisses. “We will talk about this but not when they are around. I am not going to be the reason these two girls get traumatized twice.”

Suguru was about to retort when Yu’s voice called out for Satoru, his hand raised to catch his attention, a container filled with food in his other hand. “Senpai! I brought lunch for the girls!”

Satoru turns to him with a smile. “Thank you Haibara! But uh…” He glances at Suguru before averting his gaze back to the younger. “I'm sorry but can you take them inside? I need to talk with Suguru.”

Haibara, who was approaching the top of the stairs, blinked and stopped. “Huh…? Oh, sure I guess…”

Satoru shook both of them awake and ushered them up the stairs gently while reassuring them about their underclassman, Haibara meeting them halfway to carry Mimiko in his arm and taking Nanako’s hand in his other. He bows to them and leaves, Nanako carrying the container with their lunch in it in her little arms while she looks at them warily.

When they were out of sight, Satoru’s shoulders slump and his smile drops, glaring at Suguru. “You're supposed to be the responsible one here, for fuck's sake. What the fuck is up with you?!”

Suguru scoffs. “What is up with me? Now you wanna ask.”

Satoru groans. “I've been asking you that since forever, goddamn it. You never told me anything! What was I supposed to do? I'm not a fucking mind reader. It's called six eyes not six ears, you dumbass!”

Suguru doesn't know why he's so mad. He knows that Satoru didn't even do anything but the anger just won't stop bubbling from inside of him. “Well, boo hoo, Six eyes inheritor. Unfortunately there is something impossible for you to do after all, huh?”

Satoru lifts a hand up, the way Yaga usually does when he wants to silence them. “Okay, since you're going to be a dick and an immature kid about this, I will be taking the role of an adult. Shut up, Suguru. Don't take your anger out on me. I know you're mad at-”

Mad? Hah, he has no fucking idea.

“I am not mad, Satoru, I am furious. Those... those fucking monkeys-!”

“Suguru-!”

“No, you listen to me talk right now!” He roars. He can hear something being cut from the inside of him, something like a thread. “I am sick and tired of living like this. I have to spend the rest of my live saving those worthless pieces of shits who knows nothing about what we do and swallowing curses that taste like a dishcloth that was used to wipe shit and vomit, I have to watch my friends, my peers, becoming corpses due to something meaningless like this and you want me to be okay with it?!”

Satoru flinches, his eyes wide. Suguru almost feels bad for yelling at him but he's not backing down from this. “No, I do not expect you to be okay with it because of that stupidly fragile heart of yours but Suguru, it's not right to pin the blame on the non sorcerers alone-!”

A humorless laugh from Suguru cuts him off. “It's not right? It's not right?! What did we just see yesterday, Satoru? What did Toji Fushiguro did to you just for being born with some technique that is passed down in your clan? What was he willing to do for quick money and prove a point that no one gives a shit about?!”

“A few bad people don't speak for the rest and you know it, Suguru.” Satoru counters, voice turning desperate. Suguru thinks he sees a bit of wetness running down his cheeks but maybe it could be his imagination. His vision is starting to blur for some reason and his own face is starting to feel wet as well.

“Who fucking knows, Satoru?! These animals won't learn anything until they're put in their place-”

Suguru's head whirled to the side and he blinked, slowly registering the pain that was starting to appear on his right cheek.

Did… Satoru…

…

Did Satoru just slap him? Not even a punch or anything like that, just a slap?

Satoru takes a deep breath as he steps back from Suguru a little. “... Are you calm now? Can we finally talk properly?”

Suguru, too baffled about what the fuck just happened, cradles his red cheek and sits down at the stairs steps when Satoru collapse onto it, leaning against the steps above the one they're sitting on.

He stares at the sky silently for a moment while Suguru looks at him quietly, waiting for the other boy to speak.

“... You know, Suguru, my mother was actually a non-sorcerer.” Suguru’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. “Shocker, I know. My father fell in love with her while he was out on a mission. She said he came to her house one day, asking her to marry him.”

Satoru laughs softly at that. “She obviously doesn't accept him that fast but he keeps coming and asking her out. Eventually she caved and they both got married. They're both one of those disgustingly sweet couples, you see. Father loves her to the death and she is the same.” He paused, tracing the cloud using his finger. “Mother told me that they faces a lot of hardship because she is a non sorcerer. He was the clan head after all. The clans' people were worried the child that they would have would be a worthless non sorcerer but both of them never wavered.”

Satoru’s hand stop and he drops it, leaning forward. “... A few months before I was born, my father died. A Special Grade curse spirit that was terrorizing a nearby village. He manages to defeat it but he succumbs to his wound pretty fast. My uncle ended up taking the role as the clan head after that.”

Suguru’s eyes move to his covered wrist instinctively and Satoru smiles at the reaction. “... You saw them then.”

“Satoru, I…”

“It's fine. My uncle is smart about it and we do have a healer back in Gojo's estate. Bruises on the face can be covered with makeup sometimes and the rest on my body is automatically covered with clothing.” Suguru swallows the bile that was beginning to crawl up his throat. “... When I was born, my clan threw my mother in a house somewhere to make sure she stayed away from me. She demands they let me visit her at least thrice a month and eventually, they agree.”

He heaves a long sigh, closing his eyes as a cool breeze starts to blow, making his messy hair sways in the wind. “Mother was the strongest person I've ever known.”

…

What?

“What?” Suguru blurts out.

“You heard me.” Satoru answers. “My mother was treated like shit by my clan but she never broke. She never complains about her suffering to me and she gives me advice and taught me things that the clan elders probably wouldn't approve of. She even taught me how to hold a baby once using a pillow, can you believe it?” He laughs, eyes opening to stare up at the sky again. “She was an amazing woman, really. Stubborn and reckless. Her hobby was knitting and sewing so she taught me. She likes to tease people and she was, well, for me back then, quite annoying.”

Suguru, despite everything, couldn't help a snort coming out of him. “Sounds like someone I know.”

Satoru pouts and flicks him on the forehead, making Suguru yelp as he rubs it. Why is his forehead flick so strong?!

They both went silent for a while.

“...What… Happened to her?” Suguru asks, cautiously.

Shrugging, Satoru picks up Suguru's abandoned jacket, dusting it. “She passed a year before I came to school because of an illness.” He paused, glancing at Geto as he lowered the jacket in his lap. “... To clarify, I’m telling you this not to gain pity point or anything like that but because I want you to realize something, Suguru.”

“... Which is?”

“You can spout nonsense about non-sorcerers creating curses all you want but take it from me who was raised by Jujutsu sorcerers my whole life, in one of the most prestigious clans at that, our kind are not that different either.” Satoru takes out a needle and a roll of thread from the sewing box sitting on the stairs step. “It’s human nature, really. One of the ugliness of humanity, sorcerers or not. No one likes anything different.”

He rolls out the thread, cutting it when he deems it long enough. “If Mimiko and Nanako were to be raised by a pair of windows or sorcerers like Shoko, that's nice. They wouldn't push her to be a sorcerer if they don't want to and would know when to start training them if they do but well… If they're born in a clan like mine or, god forbid, the Zenin or Kamo, shit wouldn't end up well for them either.”

“... Get to the point, Satoru. What is it that you're trying to say?” Suguru frowns, clenching his fist so tightly he can feel his nails digging into his palm.

*What I'm trying to say is, your point of view is shit, Suguru.” He said bluntly as he threads the sewing needle. “Sorcerers or non-sorcerers, they're both equally shitty. Ignorant fuckers there, child killer pieces of shits here, no one and nothing is a saint. This world is full of fucked ups. That said, at the same time, there are also good people, non-sorcerers or sorcerers. Yaga is a good example of that, you know?”

Suguru watch as he begins sewing the tear on his sleeve, his fist that was clenched tightly just moments ago loosening. It was silent for a while before Suguru breaks it with a croak. “... Then what are we supposed to do, Satoru? Are we… just going to keep living like this? Are you going to keep this up?”

Satoru stops. “... To be honest, Suguru, I don't have a choice in the matter. I will always be a sorcerer until the day I die because that's the whole purpose I'm born.”

Suguru’s eyes widened. “Satoru-”

“You, on the other hand, have no obligation to the Jujutsu society.” He continues, squinting as he puts the needle through the fabric. “You don't have to be here if you don't want to anymore. We can still be best friends, don't worry, but you can leave. I won't blame you. You've always been too soft anyway.” Satoru teases.

Suguru frowns as Satoru ties the knot of the thread. “... I thought we talked about this, Satoru. Stop talking about yourself like you're a weapon.”

Satoru waves his hand. “That is my issue that we can tackle another day. We're talking about you here. You're on your breaking point, Suguru. The fact that you haven't snapped yet is a miracle.”

Suguru debates to himself for a moment.

“...Then what do you suggest I do?”

“Leave.” Satoru deadpanned, shoving the jacket at Suguru's lap. “Get out of here and recover. Stop eating curses, get yourself settled somewhere and then think about everything. Make your decision. Yaga wouldn't mind you taking breaks, I'm sure. That is, if you want to come back at all.”

Suguru… never thought of that before.

Leaving the school sounds good actually, even if it's only for a moment. Going somewhere and forgetting about everything for a while, not being a Special Grade but instead only Geto Suguru, a high school student taking a break from studying to focus on himself.

But…

“Satoru, we're the only available Special Grade… If I leave, wouldn't it mean that you'll be busier? You barely even sleep these days…” Suguru furrowed his eyebrows, concerned. Satoru simply chuckles at him, patting his shoulder reassuringly.

“It's alright! I can handle it. I'm not the only sorcerer here, you know.” He stands up with his sewing kit in hand, tilting his head at Suguru as his smile turning softer and sweeter while holding out his hand. “What do you say? You wanna leave? We can talk to Yaga now.”

Suguru looks at the offered hand and then at Satoru’s face, gulping.

When he accepts Satoru's hand, the beam the other male gives him almost makes Suguru let go of all of his restraint and kiss the fuck out of his smile.

-

“What… are these, Satoru?”

“Plane tickets? Come on, Suguru. If you want to relax, you can't do it at the place you've been suffering at. I've already arranged everything for you. Just bring the girls there with you and rest up, yeah?”

Satoru hands over the ticket with that stupidly beautiful, bright smile and shining, clear blue eyes so full of generosity.

Suguru couldn't help himself anymore.

He reaches to grab it only to go past his hand that is holding onto the three plane tickets to place it behind his head instead, capturing his lips on his own.

“... They forgot that we're standing right here, don't they?” He hears Shoko say at the back as Satoru relaxes into the kiss.

“I think he does it intentionally…” Kento comments and Suguru breaks the kiss with a gasp, turning to them with his face flushed while Satoru covers his in embarrassment, smacking Suguru’s chest lightly while muttering insults.

“Leave us alone! When did you guys even get here?!”

“It's alright, Senpai! We must be proud of our love!” Yu gives him a thumbs up, grinning widely.

“Shut up! Get out all of you!” Satoru shouts, eyes blown wide and his pale skin turning red at an alarming rate.

Shoko and Yu laughed while Nanami sighed tiredly. Suguru couldn't help his own laughter bubbling out from his chest before turning back to Satoru, tugging him into his embrace.

“I love you, Satoru. Thank you for this, really. I'll come back soon, alright?”

Satoru, still blushing and red, buried his face into the other’s neck. “Whatever. Don't need to come back if you don't want to…”

Suguru chuckles again.

It's been a while since he was able to let out such a genuine sound from the bottom of his heart. He's quite happy being here so he's definitely coming back.

“Nah.” Suguru chuckles again, pressing a kiss on his temple. “I'll be back.”

-

“Are you really really sure it'll be fine, Satoru?” Suguru asks as Satoru pushes him through the crowd of the airport, Nanako and Mimiko gripping on his hands tightly to make sure they don't get separated.

“I'm very sure! Go already! The plane is going to take off any minute now.” Satoru whines before giving him a very hard push towards the gate.

Suguru hesitates still. “Satoru…”

“Suguru, I swear if you don't go right now I will teleport you there myself.”

Sighing, Suguru nods. “Fine. I'll be back, okay? Wait for me.”

Satoru nods, waving frantically at him with a wide smile. “You know where to find me! Be happy, Suguru!”

Suguru waves back at him and turns. He needs to go back soon so he probably shouldn't be delaying so much.

Oh well. Time to get ready for a new life for a bit, it seems.

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2007, 12 a.m.

“Hey~ How is it going? Are the girls doing well? You're taking care of yourself over there? If you don't I will teleport there myself, haha! I miss you by the way. The school's been a bit quieter without you and the kids around. It's your birthday today so surprise! You're getting a birthday wish from me, your one and only! The others should be sending you birthday texts soon but I'll be the first one. It should be midnight over there so I'm glad that you're not picking up your phone. It must mean that you're sleeping right now. Love you. Hope to see you soon! Oh, I almost forgot. I found Toji’s kids a while ago. They were both not doing too well but I took them in. I hope you're looking forward to seeing them! Love you!

Save this voicemail?

Yes

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2008, 1 a.m.

“Happy birthday again, dearest~ I've seen the pictures you sent. I'm glad to see Nanako and Mimiko growing up good. Yuki have been treating you well, I hope? I still can't believe you decided to join her after I told you to stay away from the Jujutsu world… You can be so stubborn! Oh well, I guess one year of break is better than nothing. Oh, just to give you an update about Megumi and Tsumiki as usual, they're doing well too! Megumi is a genius. He already tamed two of his shadows! Tsumiki got all A’s for her test too. Oops, I gotta go. Love you. See you soon!”

Save this voicemail?

Yes

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2009, 2 a.m.

“Hey, how are you guys? I heard some stuff from Yuki. Nanako and Mimiko were making good progress, she said. Oh, I forgot! Happy birthday, love. Things are the same as always here. Haibara started working to be a therapist and Nanami left to become a salaryman a while ago. Both me and Shoko have been busy too these days so we don't really get the chance to feel lonely haha… Well, I think that's all from me today. Call me back soon. Love you.”

Save this voicemail?

Yes

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2010, 3 a.m.

“Happy birthday, Suguru! It's been so long since I last saw you. I'm sorry I'm a little short on time right now. I'm still working to become a teacher so things are a little hectic for me. Nanako and Mimiko texted me a while ago. They sent me some pictures for the new year and you guys all look so cute hahaha! I hope we can see each other soon. I love you! Bye!”

Save this voicemail?

Yes

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2011, 4 a.m.

“Hello love~ How are you doing? Mimiko and Nanako told me that you've begun exorcising and eating curses again. Are you alright? Don't push yourself, Suguru. I hope Yuki is taking good care of you. Happy birthday to you! I'll be sending you a picture Tsumiki drew for you. She's a little artist, that one! Very talented like her father aka me, haha! Megumi doesn't like you very much though so that will be a bit of a work for you. I love you. Call me later okay? Goodbye~”

Save this voicemail?

Yes

-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2012, 5 a.m.

“Hi, Suguru. Wow, it's been 6 years since we last saw each other. I missed you a lot, haha. We talked practically everyday but it's different, you know? I… ahem, haha, sorry. I got a bit nostalgic, I guess. Shoko is almost done with her studies. She'll be a doctor soon, can you believe it? Haibara is also coming back soon. I wonder if Nanami will? I suppose only time will tell fufu… Happy birthday love. I'm still here waiting for you so you better come see me soon… Blegh! Just kidding! Take your time, yeah? I'll be here. Bye~”

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-
Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2013, 6 a.m.

“You didn't pick up? Huh… And here I thought that you're the morning person between us. Oh, remember what I said about Nanami? Yeah, he ended up coming back to school! Funny, isn't it? You should've seen his face when he comes back and reluctantly admit that I was right about him coming back. Oh, I almost forgot to say what this voicemail is about. Happy birthday! You're turning old huh? Hopefully your back won't fail you anytime soon, hahaha! Come see me soon. Love you!”

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-

Voicemail from: Satoru <3

February 3rd 2014, 7 a.m.

“Helloooo~ I've heard from Yuki. You're training to use reverse curse technique? My, you must be exhausted. Trying to surpass me, is that it, hm? Hahaha… I'm joking, I'm joking. It's been eight years since I last saw you in person, Suguru. I miss you so much but well, I'll continue to wait. I'm patient like that, you see. Happy birthday my one and only…. You can be so mean sometimes, Suguru. Confessing to me and not coming back for eight years. I better see you soon or else I will cry and whine to Shoko to the point that she’ll be nagging you to come home. I'll be here, waiting. See you soon~”

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-

“Hello, Satoru. Happy birthday. I'm sorry for not being able to talk as much as I used to with you this year. I've been quite busy, training and all. Nanako and Mimiko still need homeschooling and I have to help Yuki with her research too and I'd rather not have her listen to our conversation. It's been nine years already, huh? I'll be home soon, I swear. Please wait for me.”

Voicemail sent to: Satoru <3 Successfully

December 7th 2015, 8 p.m.

-

“Hello? Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. It's been so long since I heard your voice… And no worries, it's all my fault hahaha… The reception around these places are really bad. The twins are finally starting to get a little homesick these days. Took them quite a few years but they're asking to see you very subtly. I can't go back yet and when I ask them if they want to go back first, they said they're staying with me. Hah… Teenagers can be so confusing. No matter. I'll come back soon, don't worry. You've been waiting for so long for me, haven't you? You're surprisingly resilient for someone who likes to whine. I'll be there soon, dear. Happy birthday. I love you.”

Voicemail sent to: Satoru <3 Successfully

December 7th 2016, 9 p.m.

-

“Sensei!”

Satoru, who was walking back towards the faculty room with a few Jujutsu history books in his hand, stops, turning around to see Yuta and Panda running while Maki and Inumaki walk over calmly towards him.

“Oh? What's going on everyone?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. “Don't tell me you guys are actually going to be asking questions about the lesson just now?”

Maki scoffs as she comes to a stop. “I don't even know if what you just taught us can be counted as a lesson.”

“What? I understood what he was teaching just fine though…” Yuta looks at her. She shot him a look but ultimately decides not to do anything, instead turning back to him. “Anyway, no, that's not what we were going to ask you about.”

He chuckles, ruffling Yuta’s hair when the boy recoils from the look Maki gave him.

“Lay off him Maki,” She rolled her eyes at him. “But sure, I'm all ears to your question. What's up?”

“We’ve been hearing about a new teacher coming lately. Any idea what that's all about?” Panda asks, curious.

Satoru himself was taken off guard by the question. He doesn't remember Yaga mentioning this in the last meeting…

“Oh? How interesting…” Satoru tilted his head. “I don't remember hearing about this either. Yaga didn't say anything about any new teacher in the last meeting…”

“Mustard leaf?” Inumaki furrowed his eyebrows while Yuta, Panda and Maki looked at each other in confusion.

“Really? Everyone is talking about it though. Haibara-san and Ieri-san look excited too. How do you not know if they do?” Maki scowls, crossing her arms.

Satoru huffs. “Just because I'm a staff member here doesn't mean I know everything about this school, you know.”

“Well, you should. Maybe you just don't pay enough attention and he did mention him in your meetings.” Maki sassed. Yuta raised both of his hands to placate her, chuckling.

“Come on now. Don't be like that. Maybe he didn't even attend the last meeting…”

Satoru pulls his ear, causing the boy to shriek and jump away from him. “I'll have you know I never skip a single meeting. These guys are all bad influences on you huh, Yuta? And here I thought that you were my favorite.”

Yuta rubs his ears, smiling. “You shouldn't be playing favorite, Sensei.”

“Well, regardless of whether or not the news is true, I guess it doesn't really change anything.” Maki sighs, shaking her head. “We’re still stuck with this idiot since he's our teacher for the first year.”

“Salmon.” Inumaki nods.

“Nawww, don't say that. You all love me just fine, don't you?” Satoru grins, slinging his arm over Yuta’s shoulder.

“Debatable.” Maki replies.

“Bonito flakes.” Inumaki shrugs.

“Somewhat.” Panda waves his hand dismissively.

“Well, you're cool enough for me, Sensei.” Yuta beams.

“You guys are all so mean!” He pouts, feigning hurt. “Just for that, all of you are in for a little hug attack.”

Maki blinks. “A what-?”

“Group hugs!” Satoru pulls all four of them into his arms before burying his face into each of their hair. Maki shouts in surprise, half heartedly pushing him away and Yuta laughs openly, hugging him back with one of his arms while patting his back. Inumaki and Panda made no move to escape, letting him squeeze them tightly.

He lets them go after a while and gives them all a pat on the head before leaving them to train. He probably should go and see Shoko. Maybe she knows something about this new teacher about to join them.

…

“The new teacher? Yeah, I do know about it. Why do you ask?” Shoko asks, her hand on her cup filled with coffee. Satoru pouts, turning to Yu who is in the process of drinking his tea.

“What about you, Yu? You knew about it too?”

Yu puts down his cup, smiling. “Of course! Do you not know, Senpai?”

Sighing, Satoru takes a sip of his sugary sweet coffee. “No, I don't. No one ever mentioned that there'll be a new teacher joining. I guess it'll be quite noisy around here now. Who is it?”

Yu opens his mouth to answer when suddenly, the door to the room opening interrupted him, Nanami peeking in. “Yu, a little help?”

Yu looks at him. “What?”

“Just come.”

“Oh, okay then! Shoko-Senpai, Satoru-Senpai, I'll be going now.” He nods to both of them and follows behind Nanami before closing the door. The two stare at the door for a moment before Satoru moves his eyes to Shoko.

“So?”

“Nah, not telling you.” Shoko smirks, twirling her long hair using her finger. He pouts again, taking another sip from his cup.

“Ugh… What are you being secretive for?”

“I'm not being secretive, Satoru. You're just dumb.” She stands up and walks over to the sink with her cup. “Like, aren't you supposed to be a prodigy? How can you not guess who it is?”

He paused, stroking his chin in thought for a minute. “... Is it someone we know?”

She turns on the sink, rinsing the cup under the water. “Yeah, it's someone you know well.”

“Uh…” He stares at the table. “... It's not Mei Mei or Utahime is it? I don't really know if I can trust Mei Mei’s education with the kids and Utahime is busy in Kyoto…”

Shoko groans as she turns off the tap, flicking the water on her hands at him. He immediately activates his infinity, a noise of surprise escaping his lips. “Okay, that's just rude and uncalled for!”

“It is called for. You're so stupid. How are you able to figure out Reverse Curse Technique literally a minute before dying but couldn't figure out something simple like this?” She sighs, grabbing a tissue from a container near the sink. “Oh well. He’ll be here tomorrow so you'll see him then.”

He groans but relents from questioning her. If she's not going to say anything, he can't make her anyway. Shoko can be pretty good at keeping a secret most of the time.

-

Tomorrow comes too soon for Satoru, to be honest.

The day started pretty roughly as a result of his overuse of his curse technique in the mission the night before. When he wakes up, his ears are immediately assaulted by an argument between Tsumiki and Megumi in the kitchen and his terribly sensitive eyes ache when he notices that the curtain in his room is wide open, probably done by Tsumiki, letting the sunlight into his room.

He sighs, forcing himself to stand up from his bed while rubbing his temple. Tsumiki’s and Megumi’s voices in the kitchen are getting louder and he knows that he probably needs to step in soon to make sure it won't get worse. After making sure he wouldn't keel over by merely standing up, he left the room to go to the kitchen.

Another sigh left his mouth when he notices that Tsumiki is chopping something while arguing with Megumi, something she had done before, and it hasn't ended very well. Megumi is sitting on the dinner table, throwing out his words like knives, something that Tsumiki didn't hesitate to bite back.

“Alright, wrap it up, you two.” He clapped his hands, causing a pair of heads to look at him standing at the kitchen doorway in surprise. “Tsumiki, don't argue while chopping something. It didn't end up well last time nor will it this time. Megumi, don't be rude to your sister. What is it? You can tell me.”

Tsumiki looks away, sulking as she continues chopping away while Megumi scowls at him. Eventually, after he looks at them in silence long enough, Megumi breaks. “It's nothing new. I just beat up some cocky bastards. I don't get why Tsumiki is so annoyed by it.”

Tsumiki slams the knife she was using down next to the chopping board, turning to him with an unusual expression on her gentle face, anger.

“I'm worried about you and Sato-san! What part of don't get into fight did you not get? You keep making Sato-san leave his job to meet up with your teacher. The only reason they didn't call him yesterday is just because I told them he’s not home for the week and bail you out! Besides, no matter how strong you are, there's still a chance you might get injured really badly!” She nags, pointing at him like a mother would while scolding a rebellious son, something that usually amuses Satoru.

Not today though. He has no energy for this today.

When Megumi opens his mouth to retort, he claps his hands again, another sigh leaving his lips. He has a feeling sighing is going to be something he's going to be doing a lot today.

“Enough of that. Megumi, say sorry to your sister.”

“But-!”

“Megumi. I said what I said.”

Megumi’s scowl deepened but he obeys when he scans Satoru’s face, seeming to sense that something is off with him that morning. Tsumiki seems satisfied with that, letting a hum be the answer to his short apology.

With a slightly forced smile, Satoru looks at Tsumiki. “Come on, Miki. Let me help you.”

“Oh, thanks, Sato-san!” She said cheerfully, going back to chopping another vegetable.

Thankfully, breakfast is a relatively calm affair. They don't start arguing again, though he is a little annoyed at the way Megumi keeps trying to figure something out by stealing glances at Satoru here and there while Tsumiki chatted about her English quiz the previous day.

He waves goodbye at them both as they walk out the door, hoping for his sanity that the day doesn't take turns for the worse.

But of course, just because that's what he hopes, doesn't mean that's what he gets.

Well, when he got to school, the first person he sees in the faculty room is fucking Gakuganji which really did not help his honestly foul mood. The damn old man is there to bitch about Yuta being left alive again and demanding to see Yaga only after insulting at least three of his students.

Fuck that old man, seriously. Why isn't he dead yet?

As if that's not enough of a headache for him, he found out that the higher-ups had requested his presence and it's never anything good with those motherfuckers.

It's a small mercy when Yaga offered to talk to them instead.

“They're probably going to ask you about your last mission and you did actually write the report.” Yaga said. “I'll meet up with them. In exchange, you go be a responsible person for once and introduce the new teacher to the students this morning. He said he’ll be in the first-year classroom at 8:30 so make sure both first years and second years will be there.”

Satoru, not wanting to show how grateful he is, rolled his eyes. “I'm always responsible, Yaga. You just don't understand me.”

“Just go, Satoru.”

And so, by 8:20, he had them all in their classroom. His eyes are still aching a little so he lets the students chat among themselves while he stands at the pedestal in the front, placing his hand on his already blindfolded eyes.

After a few minutes, the classroom door opens again to reveal Yu, Nanami, Shoko and Utahime. Utahime frowns when she sees him, expecting him to be insufferable as usual but all he does when he sees her is nod as a greeting before rubbing his temple.

At that, She furrowed her eyebrows. “Are you alright?”

Her question makes all of them turn their attention to him and he wills himself to not glare at her even if she couldn't see it. It's not like it's her fault to be weirded out.

“I'm fine, really. Aww, are you worried about me? I know you have a soft side for me- Oops!” He lets up his infinity when she throws the blackboard duster to him, chuckling.

“Who's worried about you!? Die!”

Shoko and Yu laugh at their interaction before making their way to the back, followed by Nanami who bow slightly at him and a still fuming Utahime.

Eventually, Maki raises her hand. “So, what's going on? Why's everybody in our classroom today?”

Satoru resists the urge to sigh and smiles pleasantly. “Well, today we're meeting the infamous new teacher everyone has been hearing about.”

“Oh, and two new students!” Yu pipe up.

Satoru’s smile twitched at his usually welcomed loud voice. “... Yes, and two new students. Let's give them all a warm welcome.”

She shrugs, looking back to Kirara to continue whatever conversation they were having and little noises of chattering fills the room again. Satoru ends up closing his eyes under the blindfold, trying not to sways in his place. Maybe he should take the day off today… He hopes Yaga doesn't mind. He hasn't used his sick days yet after all.

The sliding door to the room opens again and Satoru sighs in relief as the wait is finally over, ready to start introducing the teacher. “Well, everyone, meet your new teacher-”

He stops mid sentence, jaw clicking shut when he recognizes exactly who it is that is standing there with two young girls behind him.

He walks into the room and stands in front of Satoru, smiling that ridiculously handsome smile of his while the two girls brighten at the sight of Satoru, eyes shining in delight.

“Satoru-san!” They shouts in unison, one louder than the other, running past the man in front of him to tackle him into a hug. He barely manages to catch both of them to make sure they don't fall to the floor.

“Mimiko… Nanako…” He breathes out, raising his left hand to slowly tug off his blindfold, revealing his wide blue eyes as he scans the three in front of him, convinced that what he is seeing is a dream.

His six eyes are telling him otherwise however. This… All of this is real. Not to mention, deep down in his heart and soul, he knows that this is real even though he keeps telling himself it's too good to be true.

“We missed you a lot!” Nanako beams, looking up at him as her now much bigger hands clutched at his shirt, so unlike her smaller one that barely fit his palm when he guides her and her sister to the school’s bathroom years ago. Her blonde hair that used to be messy and dirty is now tied in a neat ponytail and smells of lavender, like a certain someone’s favorite scent. She is also wearing a yellow cardigan, the Jujutsu high’s unique button on her collar.

“We brought some sweets from abroad, Satoru-san. Sugu-san said that you like sweet things…” Mimiko continues, her smile more subdued but still radiating with happiness that rivals her sister's. Her left eye that was still swollen when he last saw her face to face is staring up at him in adoration and trust that he can't handle, so different from the closed off girl he helped to shower back when she was so distrustful of him and Suguru. She is wearing a sailor high school uniform, similar to what Amanai used to wear except it's in dark blue instead of white, the Jujutsu high button on her sleeve.

He gulps, eyes stinging. “... Yeah… Yeah I miss you guys too, Nanako.” He ruffled her hair, making her cling closer to him. “Ah, and thank you so much, Mimiko. I'm sure I'll like it.” He praises, ruffling her hair as well, making her nuzzle his hand like a content cat.

He is aware of the audience watching him but his heart feels so full right now that he couldn't help but ignore them, trying so hard to contain the tears that are threatening to spill down his eyes.

Shoko had stepped forward at some point, a hand in her pocket while she gestured to the man who is now facing the whole class while doing nothing but smiling. “This is Getou Suguru, the new second year teacher. Curse manipulation is his technique. Take care of him well, you guys.”

Suguru chuckles. “Shouldn't I be the one taking care of them?”

Shoko huffs a laugh. “Hah! With the way you are? I don't doubt that you'll be the one that needs to be taken care of at some point.”

Suguru shoves her lightly using his shoulder, making her chuckle. Then, she glanced at Satoru. “Welp, you break him, Suguru. Good luck with that. Come on, kids. Let's go before we all end up as the third wheel.”

“You're such a bitch.” Suguru laughs, teasingly.

“And you're an ass, motherfucker.” She shot back without any heat, urging everyone out of the classroom before leaving herself while giving him a thumbs up and shutting the door.

Satoru keeps his eyes to the floor, still processing what he had just seen while Suguru holds back a laugh. He feels bad about this really but he really wants to make it a surprise.

“... Satoru?” He calls, approaching the man who is now standing as still as a statue. “Hey, you alright? Oh no… did I go too far?”

Satoru inhales sharply, vision turning blurry as he finally looks up at him, scanning him from head to toe, still in disbelief. “... You're… I… You're actually…”

Suguru swallows nervously, eyes softening. “I told you I'll be back, don't I?”

Satoru scans him up and down again, eyes wide and glassy. “You're…”

Suguru blinks and short circuited when tears start to leak from the other's eyes.

“Satoru-”

“Fuck- It's been- Oh my god, Suguru-” He sobs, covering his face with his hands to muffle his voice. “It's been years- Why- You- I haven't heard anything from you since my birthday last year and you just waltz in here like that-!”

“Hey, Satoru, come on, uh-” He hovers over him, his hands clenching and unclenching. “Can- Can I touch you, Satoru? I'm sorry-”

Through his sobbing, Satoru finally moves his head as an affirmation and Suguru immediately wraps his arms around him, letting Satoru cry into his neck instead. He runs his hand through the other's hair, shushing him gently. “... I'm sorry, Satoru. I made you wait for a long time, huh? I'm back, I'm here. I'm sorry…”

Satoru mumbles something incoherent, shaking his head vigorously, causing his hair to brush against Suguru’s face repeatedly. He chuckles, smacking his back lightly. “That tickles, Satoru.”

It took a while but Satoru finally composed himself, backing away from Suguru while rubbing his reddened eyes. “You’re so mean, Suguru…”

“What, not going to curse me at least?” He teases.

“Fuck off, you piece of shit. The twins and Yuki didn't contact me at all for the last few months. I was starting to think that you guys died or something.” He said, grinning despite his words. “What the hell were you guys doing?”

“I told you, research.” Suguru shrugs. “If I were to go into details, it'd be too long but evidently, we are fine here. I'm back for good. I'm not leaving.”

Satoru raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Suguru scratches his cheek. “Well, not leaving for a long time at least. I still need to go around with Yuki from time to time but it'll be fine. I'll always come back. I promise.”

Satoru walks forward and puts his forehead onto Suguru’s right shoulder, sighing contently. “Good. Now that you're back, you're not allowed to leave anymore, alright? Those voicemails are not enough anymore…”

Smiling, Suguru links their pinky fingers together before kissing the side of his head. “You have my words, Satoru. I'm not leaving anymore.”

-

“... What is this, Satoru?” Suguru asked as Satoru wrapped a black and white pattern hand knitted scarf around his neck.

“Your delayed birthday present.” He declares proudly.

“My delayed- Holy shit, you mean back during 2006?!”

“Yeah? I told you that the gaming console was a placeholder gift.”

“Wait, so when you use the scarf for Mimiko and Nanako back then-”

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Come on, we're late. The students are probably in class already.”

Suguru sputters as Satoru walks, well, more like skips really, aheads of him.

“Satoru! sweetheart! wait-!”

“Yada, yada, I cannot hear you~”

“Satoru!”

Suguru shouts when he practically starts to sprint towards the school building while laughing. Still, Suguru simply stands in the middle of the pathway with a smile when he sees the cherry blossom petals from the few trees at the side of the path swirl in the wind around Satoru, reminding him of that time when they first met…

Blue eyes, red rosy lips, weight of the world on his shoulders, turning to him with a scowl. “...What are you looking at-”

“-Suguru?” Satoru calls, turning to look at Suguru when he notices that he wasn't chasing after him like he usually would even as a grown man. He is stuck at the spot he was at, thumbing the scarf wrapped around his neck, caught in the wave of nostalgia in his mind.

“Sugu-san, hurry up!” Nanako’s voice sounded from behind him and he's suddenly pushed forward, Mimiko walking ahead of him with the knitted cat plushie in her arms to go to Satoru's side. “What are you standing around for? You see Sato-san everyday. He's not so pretty to the point that you need to stare at him all day.”

Satoru gasps dramatically at her as they approach him and Mimiko. “Rude, Nanako! I'll have you know I'm regarded as the prettiest six eyes user in history.”

A snort came from behind him and Suguru turns to look at Megumi coming to a stop by his side along with Tsumiki who only smiles in amusement. “Maybe the standard of Gojo’s clan is just low. Ever thought about that?”

Another gasp escapes Satoru and the kids all snickers at his remark. “Suguru! Those are your kids bullying me!”

“Oh, so they're my kids when they're bullying you but your kids when they achieve something?” He grins as they begin walking again.

“Duh! They only got the best from me.”

“Ha! You wish, old man.” Nanako stuck out her tongue at him.

“Suguru!”

“Cut it out, Nanako. Sato-san might cry for real.” Tsumiki said, giggling.

“Betrayal! I can't believe this. After all I did for you guys this is what I got huh?”

Suguru laughs and sling an arm around Satoru’s shoulder, kissing his temple before looking at their children's faces one by one. “Alright, enough of that, all of you. If Satoru cries, I'm going to have to do something.”

Megumi makes a face. “Gross.”

Mimiko and Nanako fake gags to show their agreement while Tsumiki’s giggle almost turns into a full blown laughter.

Sighing, Suguru watches as Satoru begins to bicker with Megumi while the girls chat about the latest gossip in their magazines with a fond smile. Then, his eyes spotted a familiar pathway and a ruined building that looks like it would fall part any days now with a line of cherry blossom trees line up neatly at the sides.

Smirking, he turns to the girls. “Hey, guys, did you know? That was the first place I met Sato-san at.” He pointed to the pathway, catching the attention of Satoru and Megumi, making them pause their bickering.

Tsumiki’s eyes light up. She has always been a fan of cliche romantic manga, something that she might have picked up from Satoru, so Suguru doesn't doubt she's curious about their story now that he mentions it. “Really? How was it? What was Sato-san like back then?”

Suguru hums. “Hm… Where should I start…”

Satoru grimaces, clearly not too pleased about the idea. “You know, I think that you-”

“I wanna hear, I wanna hear!” Nanako said, bouncing slightly in excitement while Mimiko simply inches closer to him to show her interest. Megumi seems to raise an eyebrow at that and Suguru turns to Satoru who is sporting a look of half fake betrayal with a helpless sigh.

“No choice, Satoru. It doesn't seem like the kids will budge on this.”

Pouting, Satoru huffs. “Whatever. Just know that the bedroom door will be locked tonight.”

Suguru rolled his eyes at the empty threat before looking back at them again. “Well… On the day I met Sato-san, the cherry blossom was in full bloom much like today…”

Their eyes look at him with wonder when he begins telling the story, his hand finding Satoru’s to intertwine their fingers together as his other hand strokes the scarf around his neck gently while feeling the spring breeze pass around him and sending the cherry blossoms petals to scatter on the ground.

It's a very cold morning but Suguru thinks it's alright. The scarf Satoru had wrapped around his neck is very warm.

Satoru truly is the best at knitting. Even Suguru's heart and soul feels warm from his gift.