Chapter Text
On the outskirts of Tokyo sits a sizeable Victorian-styled house by the mountains. Not a lot of people notice its existence because you’d have to follow a long, winding path into a cluster of large trees in order actually to see it.
However, this very house is actually the humble abode of two young men. Some say they’re best friends and others say they’re lovers.
Satoru looks down at his ring finger and smiles softly at the diamond glinting in the sunlight leaking through the tall windows of the living room. He fiddles with it gently as he lounges about on the plush couch. Feeling a slight breeze grazing his cheeks, his lips quirked into a more mischievous shape before he looked up at his dear husband smiling down at him.
“Hi, Suguru~” the older man coos. “Didn’t see ya coming there.”
Suguru rolls his warm golden eyes before looking down at Satoru’s soft blues. He brings his hand down to playfully pinch his beloved’s cheek, causing the man to whine and pout in pain. Satoru doesn’t complain for long though, as the matching glimmer of his husband’s ring brings him back to his initial mood.
“Don’t you ever get tired of that joke?” Suguru scoffs. His hair is hanging down like silky curtains as he tilts his head to the side and downwards to look at the other man.
“Never,” Satoru beams again. However, after a few moments, his smile drops to a sad one.
“Did Megumi and Shoko visit today?” he asks, and Suguru can only feel his heart aching at the hopeful tone in his husband’s voice. Sighing, he moves around the couch to sit beside him and takes his long legs, placing them on his lap. Rubbing small circles onto Satoru’s calves, he finally answers.
“You know how busy they both can get, right?” Suguru tries to reason with him, but it’s not enough to erase the pained expression on the older man’s face. “The last time Megumi came, he was starting his junior year of university. He’s probably swamped with schoolwork right now.”
“I know,” Satoru mumbles. “I’m just worried y’know?”
“Worried about what?” Suguru thinks he knows what exactly Satoru is implying. It’s a painful, heartbreaking thing to think about, but bottling it up is only going to make things worse. They’ve had this conversation before, especially when things were tough in the beginning, and he understands more than anyone else that it’s a heavy cloud of doubt that will never really go away.
“...That,” the taller man swallows before speaking up. “That they might forget me- us - and never come back to visit.”
Pulling Satoru into a tight embrace, Suguru rests his chin on his husband’s fluffy white hair. He feels his face nuzzling sadly into his chest as he speaks up about what worries him.
“We worry about this all the time, but not once have they forgotten to visit us. Plus, we have Mimiko, Nanako, and Yuuta visiting us weekly, right? No one is gonna forget us anytime soon love,” he peppers a few kisses on the crown of Satoru’s head. “No need to worry your pretty little head about that. They’ll definitely visit soon.”
Satoru only hums and nuzzles further into Suguru’s chest. His eyes flutter shut as he basks in the soft circular patterns being rubbed onto his back.
“There is something I have to tell you though,” the younger man speaks up, his tone apologetic almost. Satoru has a bad feeling about what this might be about but he only hums again as a cue for Suguru to continue.
“We’re having investigators visiting tonight…”
“What?!”
“I’m sorry! You know I can’t control who the owner lets in. It technically isn’t our-”
His apology falls on deaf ears as Satoru puts a hand up to stop him from speaking any longer. He’s sitting up straight now and his plush lips are twisted into a deep, displeased scowl.
“Who and how many?”
Suguru sighs again and rubs the junction between the bottom corner of his brow and the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t really get into the phone without making the owner suspicious of any interference, so he was only able to get a limited amount of information.
“I think three guys?” he murmurs in response. “YouTubers, from what I heard.”
Satoru only scoffs before rolling his eyes. “ Of course,” he mumbles to himself. “Fucking vloggers.”
He lets out one last huff before facing Suguru again with a straight face.
“Guess we gotta prepare ourselves for tonight.”
+++
If it wasn’t obvious already, Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo are dead.
They have been for a little over three years now. It was a freak accident that no one had seen coming and had left everyone in shambles. It’s morbidly hilarious, thinking about two tall men getting taken out by something as trivial as carbon monoxide poisoning.
However, it isn’t called the silent killer for nothing and this point had driven home for the two newlyweds as they woke up the next morning standing over their own corpses.
Not so funny when it happens to you, huh?
In hindsight, they should’ve bought those portable detectors as soon as they moved in, considering the house itself was a bit old. But it always slipped their minds. If they knew it would come back to bite them in the ass, they would’ve taken things a lot more seriously.
There’s no use crying over spilled milk, but it had taken them at least half a year to accept their fate. Both of them were inconsolable with only each other to provide comfort and solace. They felt the opening to pass over onto the other side, though neither of them could bring themselves to move on so soon.
Even though Yuuta, Satoru’s little cousin, and Shoko had arranged for them to have a proper burial at the city cemetery, their ghosts still reside here in an attempt to “live” their dream life.
No one except Shoko and Megumi visited the house for the following year after their deaths, and that’s mostly to clean up their personal belongings. They would still occasionally walk up the path with the twins and stand in the front yard, grief still etched in their features, before going back home. However, this only made Satoru and Suguru elated because at least they were being visited.
Fast forward two years later, a man by the name of Takahiro Kenji officially bought the house from the government. The house was considered a stigmatized property for so long that no one wanted to purchase it. So imagine the surprise of the two ghosts when this man had just waltzed into their house. He was kind enough to let their family visit the house from time to time, even though all of their things were cleaned out a year ago. He reasoned that this house was supposed to be an investment property anyway and that he would rarely be around. Kenji kindly even went as far as to give Shoko her own set of keys, as long as he was informed of any visits. The two ghosts would be grateful. However, things started changing rapidly for them ever since the first incident .
The two men can’t bring themselves to blame each other, honestly. Often they forget that they are, in fact, dead and that any kind of activity is bound to spook future, living homeowners.
“That Takahiro,” Satoru grumbles while standing behind the man at the doorway as he welcomes in a trio of supposedly college students. Suguru had been slightly wrong because one of the members was a girl with a bob and thickly framed glasses. “Everything is a business opportunity to him, Suguru. Can you believe that? He’s making money off of our deaths.”
Suguru hums in agreement from his spot on the foyer chandelier. Usually, they don’t involve themselves with the small amount of visitors they get. Why would they, when all they wanted was some privacy? However they can be clumsy sometimes, even when they’re trying to stay low-profile, and this has only caused their house to gain more attention. “I think it’s more of him making money off of the fact that you pushed his mug off the counter, which had been caught on footage, may I add.”
“It was a hideous mug anyways,” Satoru replies haughtily as he frowns at the man giving these kids a tour of their home. Observing more intently, he notes that the taller boy of the trio is the one behind the large camera, while the pink-haired brat seems to be the “host” of their channel. The girl asks useful questions for the most part but otherwise remains silent. Finally, Takahiro leaves them alone after reminding them that they have until three in the morning to fully investigate the place.
As soon as they’re left alone, Pinky decides to do their video’s intro. They have all the lights turned off except for their strong camera light, probably to create a scarier ambience.
“Hi, guys! Welcome to an episode of Occult TV,” he starts. “If you are new to our channel, my name is Yuuji Itadori. Beside me is Setsuko Sasaki and the lovely man behind the camera is our good friend Takeshi Iguchi.”
Both of his friends mumble a greeting before the boy, Itadori, continues.
“Today, we’re here in one of the most haunted modern houses in Tokyo. The current owner, Takahiro Kenji-san, was able to catch compelling evidence on camera,” Iguchi follows him to the kitchen as he stands in front of the counter. “It was right here where he recorded a mug being pushed off the counter on its own! It’s also been said that doors open and close when no one is around as well as lights flickering randomly.”
Satoru aggressively points at Suguru and mouths That’s all you! to which Suguru only shrugs nonchalantly.
The girl, Sasaki, speaks up this time and Iguchi directs the camera toward her. “The hauntings had only started earlier this year. Before Kenji-san, the house was abandoned for about two years and listed under the government’s ownership. It was considered a stigmatized property.”
“Stigmatized property,” Itadori echoes. “That usually happens when there has been a death in a house, which makes potential buyers less inclined to actually purchase the said house.”
“That’s right,” Sasaki replies. “The main reason why we’re here today is actually to speak with the two deceased men who lived here before their untimely deaths. It’s believed that they’re the ones doing the haunting.”
“How do we know it’s them for sure?” Iguchi asks. “In past investigations, we’ve encountered some malevolent energies masking as people.”
“Well,” Itadori replies, hope evident in his tone. “We’ve heard that one of them is a playful guy and he’s probably the one who pushed the mug off the counter. Kenji-san also believes that there’s nothing evil about their presence either. However, we’ll only know after we conduct our investigations throughout the night.”
With that Iguchi stops recording and they all huff out a breath as they finally take in their surroundings. Satoru is itching to fuck with them and is about to blow some air or make some noise. One thing that isn’t well-known about the paranormal is that the size of a living person’s aura is what allows spirits to affect them. In this regard, mediums tend to have very large auras that spirits can easily tap into, and right now, Satoru notices that Itadori has the biggest field out of the entire trio.
However, the next thing the Itadori boy says off-camera has him freezing in his spot.
“I hope Megumi is actually okay with us investigating this spot. I know he was the one who asked us to, but…”
“It’s a touchy subject for him, right?” Sasaki asks. “It’s only been a little over three years since they passed. How were they related to him again?”
Satoru and Suguru stare at each other in shock. They can both feel the hot tears welling in their eyes despite being dead as they continue tuning into the group’s conversation.
“They were his guardians,” Itadori says sadly. “Gojo-san took him in when his parents and sister died in a car accident several years ago. He was a family friend before that and Geto-san was his husband.”
Suguru warps right beside Satoru and hugs him as the taller man starts to choke up, desperately trying to conceal it. Of course, their deaths were sudden and shocking to everyone. They just didn’t expect Megumi to be actively thinking about them three years later.
“One more thing guys,” the boy continues. “Megumi asked not to mention any of their names in the video for privacy reasons. He just wants to know if they’re actually here or if it’s his mind trying to cope with everything.”
This makes Suguru halt. He’s always had a feeling that Megumi was more tuned into his presence than anything. His aura wasn’t too big, but coupled with Suguru’s energy whenever he visited, the raven-haired boy would turn in the general direction of where the raven-haired man would be, before shaking his head and continuing with cleaning up the rooms. Unfortunately, he doesn’t believe Megumi feels that same gravitation toward Satoru, despite knowing him longer. Suguru never tells his husband that though, instead bringing the older man whenever Megumi sensed him so that it looks like he sensed both.
This small white lie was totally worth it whenever he saw Satoru’s big, happy smile during these moments.
“We should give them something,” he whispers to Satoru. It’s stupid and it would expose these kids to stronger energies. But, if it’s something that will get Megumi to visit them more, he doesn’t see a problem in indulging these kids. They seem respectful for the most part.
Satoru swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, before nodding in agreement.
A few minutes later, each of them is in separate rooms setting up static cameras and EVP recorders in case anything happens when they’re not there. The two men take this opportunity to devise a plan in the living room.
Or just stare at each other in silence.
“Should we scare them?” Satoru finally speaks up. Suguru only shakes his head at this with a small frown.
“That’s counter-productive,” he replies. “You heard that tidbit in the beginning. They’re not sure if we’re the ones they’re dealing with yet. We have to make it obvious that it’s us.”
“Well, it’s not like they can hear us talk right now,” Satoru pouts. “HEY, GUYS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”
Suguru glares at his husband but waits for a response as well. Upstairs, they briefly hear Itadori ask the other two if they heard that, to which they deny it.
“See? They can’t hear me. That Itadori kid is not an actual medium either, so even if we try through him, it’ll take too much effort.”
They both warp upstairs and watch the kids set up the equipment. As Satoru walks down the hall to the room Itadori and Sasaki are in, he brushes past a device that he doesn’t notice at first. At the loud beeping, however, all five of them jump.
“Oh my god!” Itadori almost shouts. “Iguchi. Camera. Now!”
INVESTIGATION ONE: REM POD SESSION
His friend immediately starts recording and Itadori takes a second to compose himself before speaking in a firm voice.
“Okay, so we weren’t able to get this on camera,” he starts, his voice wavering despite trying to stay calm. “But the REM pod detected something just now. For those of you who are new to all this, the REM pod is able to detect electromagnetic interference. I want to emphasize that this is not a motion sensor, so it does not react to normal human movement.”
“The closer the interference, the more noise and light flashes it will make. I think the highest light it could go to is green or blue, but that would mean something is grabbing the antenna,” Sasaki continues. “Also, the middle red button will flash when there’s a temperature drop.”
During all this, Satoru remains frozen as he stares at the device in bewilderment. He finally looks up at Suguru who is watching him from the other side of the hallway with a knowing grin on his face. His husband then glides through the walls to avoid the device and make his way next to him.
“We can use that,” Suguru murmurs. “It reacts to your energy.”
“Does it react to yours?” Satoru asks him in the same quiet tone. “Check if it does, so we can both use it.”
The younger ghost hesitates at first before slowly walking toward the device. About two feet away, the middle red light starts flashing. Satoru only tsks at this playfully.
“You’ve always been a cold bastard.”
“Oh, shut up.”
The trio, however, are even more spooked now. They all back away from the REM pod, just to make sure the phones in their pockets won’t interfere with the session they’re about to have.
“Temperature drop…” Sasaki whispers. “They’re making themselves known to us. We should probably start with some questions.”
The other two nod at her and Iguchi focuses the camera on the device. Itadori is the first one to ask a question.
“If there’s anyone in the house with us, we would like to communicate with you,” he states before pointing to the REM pod. “We have a device here that you’re allowed to touch, but if you want to show yourself in other ways, please feel free to do so.”
“Should I?” Satoru asks his husband excitedly. “Or do you wanna?”
Suguru chuckles softly before gesturing to Satoru to do the honours. The white-haired man almost skips excitedly over to the pod before gently poking it with his finger and scooting away. This time, the light flashes to blue as it beeps loudly in the hallway. The two ghosts watch the kids with amusement as they tremble a little at this reaction.
“O-Okay,” Itadori exhales. “Thank you for answering. If we’re talking to the two men who, unfortunately, passed away here, can you make that device flash again?”
Satoru points to the long-haired ghost with a wide grin. “It’s your turn now,” he whispers. This only makes Suguru shake his head and sigh as he starts walking toward the pod. As soon as it indicates a temperature drop, he backs away.
“W-wow,” Iguchi stutters. “These are intelligent responses for sure.”
This makes Satoru scoff as he casts a glance at the other ghost. “Do they think we’re stupid or something?”
Suguru only shrugs at this. He’s trying to act like he’s uninterested, but he finds it a little interesting that gadgets like this actually exist. He always assumed that paranormal investigations only consisted of seances and Ouija boards, but this…
This is kinda cool…
“Guys I noticed something,” Sasaki responds. “We’re getting two different types of responses. I think when the regular lights flash it’s one person and when the temperature drops it’s the other person.”
“She’s a smart one,” Satoru smirks as he pokes the device again to confirm her theory. Suguru tries not to bark out in laughter at the way Satoru bobs up and down in the air to touch the device. “I like her.”
Itadori continues his questions. “This is more of a yes or no question. If the temperature drops, we’ll assume that is a no; if it flashes, that’s a yes. Again, we would like to reiterate that we mean no disrespect and we understand that this was- is - your home. I would still like to ask: do you want us to leave?”
Of course not, both men think as Suguru immediately walks forward.
The two ghosts suppose that the crew had gotten enough evidence that they needed through this method, as Itadori announces that they will be moving forward with the spirit box.
“The fuck is a spirit box?” Satoru deadpans. “Are they trying to trap us or something?”
“Stop asking me like I know.”
+++
INVESTIGATION TWO: THE SPIRIT BOX
The crew had moved back down to the kitchen as they all circled the counter and stared down at this tiny, recorder-like device. Itadori fidgets with the camera on the far end of the counter and fixes the angle toward the center.
“I swear that’s just a tiny radio,” Suguru whispers to his husband. “I don’t get what that’s supposed to do.”
However, when Sasaki clicks a button on the device, a horrid static noise starts blaring out of it. It makes all five of them wince for a brief minute before they get accustomed to the sound. Itadori starts explaining this next investigation.
“Right here on the counter is our spirit box,” he states. “It goes through multiple radio channels in either A.M. or F.M. at a very high speed. Whoever is here with us can use this to interfere and say whatever needs to be said. If we catch any words or sounds, it’s safe to say that something is communicating with us.”
“This is a load of bullshit,” Satoru whines loudly. “How is this supposed to help us?”
“Load.”
“Help.”
“Us.”
Both ghosts slap their hands over their mouths as they stand there, paralyzed at the fact that the recorder actually picked up on what Satoru had just said. The three investigators are equally shocked as they try to decipher the message based on these three words.
“Did that say ‘Lord help us’ ?” Iguchi whispers to his friends before speaking up more clearly. “Whoever is here, are you struggling to move on to the afterlife? Do you need God’s guidance? We can pray for you if you want.”
This time, Suguru tries to answer in a tone loud and firm enough to go through. “No, of course not!”
“No.”
“Course.”
“No course?” Sasaki mumbles as she frowns at the spirit box. “Do they mean that they have no path? No path to God?”
Oh for fuck’s sake.
Satoru throws his hands up in the air exasperatedly and accidentally swats the girl. Or he would’ve accidentally swatted her if he were still alive. Instead, his arm glides up and through her back and she positively shrieks.
“ Guys! Guys, oh my god!”
“What?! What is it?!” Itadori and Iguchi are looking at her worried as she freaks out for a few seconds. “Did you hear or feel anything?”
Sasaki shakes her head and takes a few gulps of air. Unbeknownst to them, Suguru is glaring daggers at a guilty-looking Satoru. So much for trying not to spook them.
“N-No, I just…” she breathes in deeply a couple of times before calming herself down. “I just felt a sharp chill going up my back. It’s not like those regular chills; it was swifter.”
“They’re making themselves known quite a bit,” Itadori confirms. “Are you feeling alright now? We can always take a small break.”
She shakes her head again at this before patting his shoulder. They resume the investigation and this time, Sasaki starts with the questions.
“I know we asked this before, but are we still talking to the two men who used to live here?”
Satoru takes it upon himself to answer again, slowly losing patience at this line of miscommunication. “Yes. You’re still talking to us. I’m the dude who broke the mug.”
“Yes.”
“Talking to us.”
“Broke.”
“Mug.”
Suguru nods at him, impressed, from the other side of the counter. All they had to do was emphasize the words that they wanted to get across the most. If the kids, especially Itadori, were smart enough, they’d be able to make out what the two men want to tell them.
This isn’t too bad, Satoru thinks. We can work with this.
“Oh!” the pink-haired boy exclaims. “We are talking to the two guys. I think they also confirmed that they were the ones who broke Kenji-san’s mug.”
Suguru scoffs at this and rolls his eyes. “That was Satoru. Not me.”
“Satoru.”
“Satoru?” Iguchi asks, a little confused. “Like, enlightenment?”
This time, it was Satoru’s turn to glare at Suguru. They were supposed to be vague and ambiguous for Megumi’s sake and now they’ve made it more difficult for these kids.
Sasaki mutters under her breath this time. “It almost sounds like a familiar name…”
A wave of realization washes over Itadori’s face as he makes eye contact with his other friends and shakes his head lightly. Their eyes widen as they suddenly remember that Satoru is, in fact, the first name of Megumi’s guardian. Not missing a beat though, the pink-haired boy speaks up again while turning the spirit box off.
“Thank you for speaking to us! We’ll be in touch again when we speak again via the Estes method. Until then, feel free to follow us around while we investigate the house.”
“Suguru.” Satoru is fuming now.
The man in question looks anywhere else except at his gorgeous, albeit angry, husband. He messed up really bad, but thankfully the Itadori kid was smart enough to sweep it under the rug for now. He glides over to his husband and smooches his cheeks obnoxiously, much to Satoru’s dismay.
“Sorry sweetheart,” the younger ghost sings in his ear. “I’ll be careful next time. Promise.”
“You better.” Satoru snaps, a bit irritated. Usually, this attitude would cause them to start bickering, but Suguru sees right through his husband. This is the first time since their deaths that they were willing to communicate to anyone, let alone to people who were willing to pass a message on to their dear Megumi. While Mimiko and Nanako have fully accepted their deaths and made peace with them, the young boy seems to hold onto a sliver of hope, even if it's subconscious. It’s enough hope that had made him reach out to his medium friend in the first place.
Who were they to disappoint Megumi like that?
+++
A few minutes later, they watch the group take pictures of corners and hallways with a Polaroid camera. Satoru is trying to be respectful about the entire thing, but even this seems way too silly for him.
“Suguru,” he drawls. “They can’t be serious, right?”
Suguru blows his bangs out of his face, also baffled by what the group is doing. It was hard to take them seriously, especially when they looked so determined about taking pictures of, well, nothing. Suddenly, he realizes something, mentally slapping his forehead for not thinking of it before.
“Satoru…I think we’re supposed to stand in front of the cameras…”
“Huh, why the heck would we do that?” The white-haired man argues. “They would see us- oh…”
Suguru nods at him as they come to a mutual understanding. However, neither makes a single move to reveal themselves to the group.
“Well, go on then,” Satoru pushes him slightly with an annoyed whisper, causing his husband to frown and shove back a bit harder. “Stop wasting time!”
“Why me?” Suguru counters, his voice wavering a bit. “You go first! Weren’t you more excited about this?”
Before the two of them were married, they were a pair of bickering childhood best friends who would often get into physical fights with each other to resolve arguments. As they matured their physical fights merged into heated bedroom activities, but there were times when they would revert to their old ways and make sure their fists kissed each other’s faces.
An example of such a scenario would be right now, as they start brawling with each other over who gets to appear first on the camera. They had both forgotten about being quiet and were swearing profusely at each other as they tumbled about. However, this translated into heavy creaking of the floorboards causing all three group members to whip their heads around with fright. Only when the flash from Itadori’s camera goes off, the two ghosts are frozen mid-punch, staring directly at the group like deer caught in headlights.
As the pink-haired boy pulls the developing film out with shaky hands, the other four huddle around him nervously, not knowing if they want to see what the camera has captured.
Both ghosts have not seen what their ghostly appearances look like since they only appear to each other as if they hadn’t died at all. A part of it comes with the fact that a part of themselves hasn't accepted their demise, so they subconsciously erase any visual indication that may show they’re dead. It’s a way to comfort themselves and each other.
When Itadori flips the picture, all five of them scream in absolute horror.
In the picture of the hallway, there’s a tall dark shadow roughly in the same position Suguru was in, and in Satoru’s position…
Well, it was a tiny, bright, blue orb.
“WHAT THE HELL? WHY DO I LOOK LIKE THAT?!” The white-haired man cries out without thinking and it makes the bedroom doorframes rattle around them, adding fuel to the group’s terror. Sasaki bursts into quiet tears as they all huddle closer to each other.
Suguru on the other hand had a literal cloud of depression hanging over his head.
“I’ve been reduced to a smudge on film…” He mumbles to himself. “I look like a bogeyman…”
“That’s technically what we are, Suguru,” Satoru deadpans. “At least your height and shape are somewhat there. I literally look like a blob!”
At this, Suguru finally notices Satoru’s appearance beside him in the picture, his eyes widening before bursting out into loud cackling. The house rattles yet again making the group scream. Itadori starts apologizing profusely in their general direction.
“I- we’re sorry for being d-disrespectful. We only have g-good intentions.”
Enough, Satoru thinks before grabbing his husband by the bun and teleporting downstairs momentarily. The raven-haired ghost yelps at his hair being messed with but doesn’t stop laughing until he catches his husband glaring at him, his face twisting into something wrath-like.
“Suguru,” the taller ghost starts with an uncharacteristic solemnness. “Can we take this seriously?”
“I am taking this seriously,” he scoffs, his dark brow raised at the implication that he was anything but. Usually, it would be him in position of lecturing Satoru about behaving himself, but somehow he gets lectured for finding something funny. “If you hadn’t shoved me earlier, it wouldn’t have caused such a huge commotion. Plus we both look stupid in that picture. I expected you to find it funny too, so I don’t know what the big deal is.”
However, inside, Suguru is wary about how this conversation is going, especially because Satoru is still silent, with an unreadable expression on his face. He’s about to backtrack and maybe even apologize when suddenly, his husband vanishes in the blink of an eye.
“Satoru…?”
He’s a bit worried. It’s hard to tell if Satoru just needs some space right now or if he’s so upset that he’s…gone. Suguru shook the thought away, yet the feeling of nervousness still lingered. Sure, his beautiful, goofball of a husband can get upset sometimes, as he does too. Yet, most times it’s resolved with a couple of arguments and petty gestures until they can’t help but gravitate towards each other again. Never has Satoru required space. It’s not even in his vocabulary.
But Suguru knows the reason for his unusual behaviour. He had noticed it ever since Itadori and his friends revealed that they were doing this entire thing for Megumi. He’d seen the way Satoru was on edge despite his initial excitement about fooling around with all the new gadgets they had seen today.
When he hears a far thudding towards the roof, he sighs in relief and floats upwards through the ceiling he is met with the full moon tonight. He feels the crisp air of the night flow right through his form and it grounds him just a bit. In the corner of his eye, Suguru sees Satoru sitting against one of the roof’s peaks, hugging his knees against his chest with a troubled pout on his lips. It’s hard for Suguru not to feel an ache in his chest at the sight of his beloved so upset.
Taking a seat beside the other ghost, he lets out a sigh while admiring the moon above. “I’m sorry Satoru,” he says gently, reaching out and brushing his fingers through snowy white hair. “I was having too much fun in a really long time, and I got carried away.”
Satoru furrows his brows even more, looking like he wants to smack the hand in his hair away. However, after a beat, the white-haired ghost lets out a huge frustrated sigh and scooches closer to Suguru.
“Being dead sucks,” he grumbles, earning a snort from his husband. “This entire thing feels like a carrot-on-a-stick situation. It’s humiliating that I’m so desperate to…”
“To grasp any means of communication?” Suguru finishes for him. “I think if anyone were in our position, they’d be just as eager if they knew there was a way to reach out to the people they loved. Even better if their loved ones were open to trying.”
Satoru softens when Suguru says this last part. While all of their adopted children were dear to them, it was obvious that similar to the affection Satoru has for Megumi, Suguru has with his girls. However, as devastated as Mimiko and Nanako were, they weren’t open enough to believe that he was still lingering around, watching over them. Giving them his blessings.
But that was completely fine with Suguru. He wanted them to move on and grow stronger. In fact, he would’ve been more upset if he held them back emotionally. The content he’d feel by sensing their happiness and success throughout time was more than enough for him. And Suguru knew he wouldn’t be forgotten like that.
It’s not that Suguru didn’t care about getting a message across to Megumi, it was actually quite the opposite. The fact that they now also have a spiritual bond speaks volumes. But he was also ready to accept if things didn’t exactly go the way they planned.
Satoru, on the other hand, grew up being forgotten about until Suguru came into the picture. As successful as he was during his short life and as charming as he can be, no one ever sought him out as a person. A small part of him even believes that he won’t be missed after a while, being long forgotten if it weren’t for his husband, Shoko, the twins, Megumi and Yuuta. But even then, no one can really sense him like Megumi does with the raven-haired ghost.
Suguru smiles at Satoru, who gives him a weak smile back before crawling into his arms. Chuckling, the raven-haired ghost rubs soothing circles into his husband’s back.
“Suguru…” he mumbles into the crook of the younger ghost’s neck. “No one’s going to take me seriously if I look like an orb…”
“Hey now,” his husband whispers softly. “Some people take orbs as a great sign. I think it’s kinda cool that your orb form matches your eyes.”
“You’re just saying shit at this point.”
Before they could start bickering again, however, they started hearing excited chatter coming from the floor Itadori’s group was currently on. Both men give the other a confused glance before slowly descending through the roof.
They’re met with Itadori enthusiastically explaining what showed up on the photograph to the recording camera. Shockingly, Satoru feels a warmth in his chest when the pink-haired boy points at his orb and proudly boasts about how they were able to catch evidence of one. Beside Satoru, Suguru smiles softly and gives his cheek a little pinch.
“Told ya,” he whispers. “They’re taking you very seriously. Don’t you think we owe them one last show?”
A huge grin spreads across Satoru’s face as he nods. At the same time, Sasaki comes back upstairs, having gotten over her initial fright and looking determined as ever, to tell the group they’re ready for the final investigation.
+++
FINAL INVESTIGATION: THE ESTES METHOD
A candle is lit in the middle of the table. All the lights turned off. Three youngsters and two ghosts sit ominously around in deafening silence.
“Is that pecan and vanilla?” Satoru whispers to his husband beside him after a few sniffs. “That’s my favourite! Do you think Megumi told them that?”
This earns him a jab to his side, and while it doesn’t hurt anymore, he does not spare the theatrics and yelps rather loudly. Still, he gets the message and shuts up quickly, turning his attention back to Itadori, who is now blindfolded with a pair of headphones in his hands.
“Whenever you’re ready Itadori…” Sasaki says quietly and Iguchi hits the record button. This time, he explains the investigation as Itadori puts the headphones over his head, immediately tuning out of the present. The loud static can be heard, but the other two members make sure he can’t hear them by calling out his name.
“The Estes method allows us to use the spirit box and enter a meditative state in order for us to become a better conduit for spirits. It is said that spirits can communicate much easier with this method and we’ve been getting plenty of activity tonight. It only makes sense that we try this for our final investigation.”
Satoru watches as Itadori’s aura suddenly starts expanding, so much so that it’s actually tangible. He gives Suguru a look and finds him to be equally as surprised. Slowly, the white-haired ghost reaches his hand out to gently trace along the soft green glow emanating from the boy.
“Hello there,” Sasaki starts the session with a greeting. “We invite any spirits to communicate with us through our friend here.”
Satoru keeps his hand connected as he swallows nervously before speaking up. “Hey, kid…”
“Hey kid,” Itadori parrots him immediately and he has half the mind to jerk away. He takes in a few shaky breaths before looking at his husband, who gives him an encouraging nod.
“H-Hello…” Sasaki responds, still not used to the intelligent responses they were getting tonight. “Are we still speaking to the two men that lived here?”
“Yes, you are,” Satoru responds. “I’m the one who broke the mug.”
“Yes. One. Mug.”
“I see,” the girl adjusts her glasses before continuing. “Are you in a good place? Is something holding you two back from moving on?”
“Sasaki, maybe ask one question at a time so they can answer properly,” Iguchi suggests quietly. They allow a moment of silence for the two ghosts to answer.
Satoru sighs, speaking up again. “We’re happy,” he says softly. “We like it here and we don’t plan to leave.”
“Happy. We don’t…leave.”
“Interesting…” Iguchi mumbles. “They’re here by choice. I guess they want to continue being with each other after death in the place they were last happy. Speaking of which, we’ve only heard from one of them…”
“You’re right,” Sasaki agrees. “To the other man who lived here, we’d like to communicate with you as well. We mean no harm and come with respect.”
Suguru looks at his white-haired husband, who smiles at him warmly with one hand extended. With a soft exhale, he connects both his palms to Satoru’s and Itadori’s aura, feeling the energy thrumming under his skin.
“Hello there,” he greets the group. “Sasaki-chan, can you hear me?”
“Hello. Sasaki-chan. Hear me?”
Sasaki stares at Iguchi with wide eyes and Suguru tries to stifle a laugh. He wasn’t banking on that entire sentence going through, but he’s pleasantly impressed that it was coherent enough.
“Y-Yes sir. I can hear you loud and clear,” she squeaks. “Thank you for coming through. Is there anything you’d like to tell us?”
Suguru is about to respond when he suddenly thinks of something. Staring at the way Itadori’s aura starts expanding, he contemplates the thought for a bit before turning to Satoru.
“I want to give a private message,” he mutters softly. When his husband raises an eyebrow at him, he shakes his head. “Just trust me on this. I think it will go through with Itadori.”
Satoru only shrugs his shoulders, following Suguru as he guides them right behind the pink-haired kid. With his free hand, the raven-haired ghost makes direct contact with the top of Itadori’s head and whispers hesitantly.
“Hey kid, let’s have a conversation. Just you and us.”
“Wait,” Itadori suddenly says with a jolt, pulling his blindfold down. “I think we should do this slightly differently.”
“How?” Iguchi asks while adjusting the camera’s lens, a little taken aback by his friend’s sudden decision. Sasaki pulls out a large notepad and a marker and hands them to the pink-haired boy.
“I was thinking the same thing, actually,” she says quietly. “Itadori, do you want to try that thing you’ve been working on?”
Itadori nods and takes them, immediately putting the blindfold and headphones back on as he tries to reach that meditative state again. Satoru looks at Suguru with a bewildered expression, thoroughly confused about what’s happening right now.
“What gives, man? What did you even do?”
The younger ghost sighs, taking his hand off of Itadori’s head to allow him to concentrate first. “You always hear me talk about intuition, don’t you?” He asks after a minute.
“Like the weird vibes you get?” Satoru asks slowly, his brows furrowed trying to figure his husband out. “What does that have to do with this?”
“I managed to tap into Itadori’s intuition because I was able to sense it growing while he was trying to concentrate. It’s like when Megumi can sense me- and us. I think Itadori can do the same thing,” He explains quickly, catching his slip-up at that last part. Satoru only looks weirdly at him as he puts his hand back on Itadori’s head.
“So you…rewired his intuition and gave him vibes that made him understand…your intention?”
Frankly, it sounds like a whole load of bullshit to the older ghost. Despite being paranormal himself, he was never into hardcore spirituality and “messages from the universe”. However, as he focuses on Itadori’s aura, he can feel it ripple with increasing intensity the more he falls under the trance. Slowly, the pink-haired boy draws small repetitive circles in the margin before taking a small breath and scrawling something at the top of the page.
Two men. Lovers. Married now. Fiancés before.
“Holy shit…” Satoru breathes, giving that same bewildered look at his husband. “What did you do this time?”
However, this time, Suguru is just as confused about what happened. His brows are furrowed and he shakes his head gently. “I didn’t do anything this time…I think he can ‘see’ us now though.”
However, when Suguru is about to address the kid again, Itadori scribbles something else on the paper. Everyone in the room leans closer to see what’s going on.
Megumi’s puppies. Shiro and Kuro.
Don’t be afraid Megumi-kun, Suguru-san is right here. You can pet them.
Sasaki and Iguchi stare at each other in shock. The girl mouths at her friend: The big dogs? To which he nods quickly before turning his attention back to Itadori.
Suguru, however, is frozen in shock as if he’s seen a ghost, which is saying a lot considering that he was one himself. Satoru is equally as paralyzed, and if it were possible, he probably would have burned holes into the page with how hard he was staring. The memory had never left them even after death.
Two puppies wag their tail excitedly as they stare up at their new owners: two tall men and a nervous little child.
While they were pretty small, they were packed with enough energy to make Megumi wary about getting closer to them. Satoru laughed at him as he scratched the ears of the white puppy, Shiro, who yipped excitedly at the attention. The boy scowled and tightly hugged Suguru’s leg, wanting to pet the dogs badly. The raven-haired man chuckled gently before crouching down to the seven-year-old’s height.
“What’s wrong Megumi-kun,” he had queried gently. “Didn’t you want to take these puppies home? Are you scared to pet them?”
Megumi’s scowl deepened as he shrugged and looked away. Suguru didn’t let it go though. He brings the child into his embrace and comforts him with gentle words.
“Here, watch me until you’re ready,” he says softly, letting the black puppy sniff and lick his hand before scratching his ear. “See? Nothing’s wrong. These puppies are nice.”
“They won’t bite~” Satoru croons from above, shutting up when his then-fiancé glares at him. Megumi takes a shaky breath before reaching a trembling hand out to graze his fingers along the midnight black fur of the puppy. Thankfully, this one was a bit calmer than its daylight twin, waiting patiently for the boy to pet it properly.
“Don’t be afraid Megumi-kun…”
He was right there. Suguru would always be there for him if he had the chance.
He doesn’t notice the tears that stream down his cheek until a gentle thumb wipes them away. It’s only then that he’s met with Satoru’s watery smile and reddened eyes, having experienced the trip down memory lane beside him.
Itadori continues scribbling, and they realize it’s a compilation of memory fragments that they’ve subconsciously channelled into the boy. Ones they thought they forgot, but will never let go now.
“This is sweet and all,” Satoru croaks, trying not to get too worked up but failing. “But how are we going to send a message? I don’t think he can hear us yet.”
“Why don’t you try,” Suguru suggests, motioning Satoru to come closer. However, Satoru shakes his head.
“I don’t think it works when I do it by myself …”
Suguru’s heart aches at Satoru’s uncharacteristically defeated tone. Yet, he tries to encourage his husband regardless.
“I think it will. If all their gadgets work with you, this should definitely work too,” he reassures the white-haired man. “Here, try placing your hands on his shoulders and feel his energy for a bit.”
Satoru begrudgingly does as he is told and places his palms on the kid’s shoulder as Suguru moves away, still holding his husband’s hand. Slowly, evening his breathing, he feels himself connecting with Itadori a bit more than before. Sighing, he leans down before speaking up.
“Please don’t ghost me—“
“You’re seriously starting with a pun?” Suguru interrupts incredulously, but he can’t help the laughter that bubbles in his chest at the stupid joke. Satoru rolls his eyes.
“This probably won't even—“
“Dude!” Itadori suddenly shrieks, startling everyone in the room. “I hear a man’s voice beside me but not inside the headphones!”
“What?!” Sasaki jumps to a stand before bombarding her friend with questions. “Where is it coming from? Is his voice deep or higher?”
“He can’t hear you,” Iguchi reminds her, pulling her back down to her seat. Itadori starts swiping his hand through the space beside him. Satoru tilted his head back to avoid getting smacked in the process, not that it was even possible.
“Oh shit,” he mumbles with wide eyes. “He can hear me…”
“Told ya,” Suguru smirks, but inside, he is relieved on his husband’s behalf. “The stage is all yours, baby.”
Satoru inhales sharply before introducing himself. It’s clear that he’s nervous, which is unusual for the cocky ghost, but Itadori seems to be becoming more receptive to him.
The boy with pink hair mumbles, “He’s, like, saying his name,” as he begins to jot down what he perceives in his notebook.
This goes on for a few minutes, with Satoru trying his best to say whatever is on his mind in regards to Megumi. Over Itadori’s shoulder, Satoru could see fragments of his sentences being brought to life by the kid’s messy handwriting and, if he still had a beating heart, it would be pounding in his ears with how exhilarated he felt right now. Suguru watches from the side, watching how naturally connected his husband seems to be with Megumi’s friend as they continue the session.
Finally, Satoru runs out of things to say, yet he still hesitates to let go of Itadori’s shoulders; the feeling is almost like he is physically holding his hand. After a moment, however, he was able to move away, allowing the boy to disengage from Satoru’s energy. Itadori shifts in his seat before his shoulders relax and his aura subsides. Suguru pats his back with a reassuring smile.
“You did good,” he whispers, nodding to the trio when Itadori finally pulls the blindfold off. The three members of the group gawked at the very clear, yet cryptic message that was written messily across the page. Iguchi glances at his two friends before quickly stopping the recording, and they all let out a simultaneous, shaky exhale.
“We should definitely show Megumi…” Sasaki whispers, and the two boys nod quietly. “He’d probably understand this more than we do.”
+++
“Satoru, get that pout off your face. Remember how it got stuck for a few days that one time?”
That seems to make the taller ghost fix his expression, but he can’t help but whine as the group hurriedly collects their equipment and packs it up as it nears three in the morning. They had filmed their outro quickly before deciding it was time to go. He sulks from the foyer chandelier upside down, meeting his husband’s beautiful, yet tired face.
“They’re leaving so soon! We barely did anything…”
Suguru sighs. Surely after everything that transpired tonight, Satoru’s usage of barely seems a little misplaced. However, he understands it as his husband wanting to be able to connect and share more with the first-ever group who were so receptive to them.
“Hmm,” he ponders for a second, reminiscing the very few visitors Takahiro had brought in before Itadori’s group. “It’s interesting to see that there are actual techniques to somehow blur lines between the mortal plane and whatever dimension we’re on. I’m starting to think the people who came before were super inexperienced or they weren’t taking things seriously.”
“Well, we weren’t taking them seriously either,” Satoru responds, sitting up properly as Suguru warps to sit beside him. “We practically ignored everyone else, if you ignore that one time that dude was trying to summon Hanako-san in one of the mirrors upstairs and he saw you passing by while scratching your balls–”
“I was not scratching my balls!”
“--and then he screamed absolute, bloody murder. Yeah, that was the most action we’ve got since we died until now,” Satoru snickers before continuing. “Also, no one brought in super high-tech like these guys. You can tell they’re legitimate!”
Not to mention, the thing Itadori did in the end…
“Hey,” Suguru interrupts quietly, as his eyes drift over to the boy in question, who is helping Sasaki lift one of the bags. “Do you remember what they called that trance thing Itadori did?”
“Huh,” Satoru stays quiet for a second, before muttering. “No. The girl just called it ‘that thing he’s been working on.’”
The raven-haired ghost hums at this, lost in thought for a few minutes until he hears his husband whine for attention again.
“Suguru, you’re zoning out on me…”
“Sorry…I just feel like we’ll be seeing them again soon.”
Satoru looks at him with a raised eyebrow before a grin slowly spreads across his face.
“Your intuition? I don’t think I would mind that, actually,” he declares. “These guys were fun and they know Megumi. They’re welcome back here whenever.”
As the trio finally exits the large, isolated estate, the ghost couple floats up to the roof to watch their departure. Satoru waves at them, not expecting them to notice, to which his husband only chuckles.
However, when Itadori turns the engine of his grandpa’s old van on, he catches a glimpse of two silhouettes in the moonlight on the roof. A chill goes down his spine, but he chooses not to voice it as he slowly starts backing out of the lot. One look at Sasaki and Iguchi, who were already knocked out in the back seats, told him that this was probably a conversation meant for the morning after.
+++
Yuuji
Dude. So I’ll send you the raw clips in the morning but I think you should see this (3:55 a.m.)
Yuuji
Attachment: 3 Images (3:56 a.m.)
Typically, Megumi is one to value sleep for what it is. However, tonight was obviously different, with his best friend and his little paranormal investigation group visiting his guardians’ house. So it was quite understandable that he immediately jumped to open Yuuji’s messages the second he texted.
With shaky hands, he clicks on the images attached and his eyes skim over his friend’s barely legible handwriting. With each word, he feels the tips of his fingers and toes going numb from shock, before turning the screen off with trembling hands.
There’s absolutely no way. It has to be fake. Yuuji’s just pulling a horrible trick on him.
He turns his phone back on and rereads the last image.
You’ll always die alone.
That never changes.
But now we’re here for what comes afterwards
Pet the puppies for us.
Not caring for the time, Megumi hits the call button on Yuuji’s contact. Unsurprisingly, his friend picks up immediately.
“I swear to fucking God, Yuuji,” he seethes, unable to keep the shakiness out of his voice. “If this is a stupid prank, I will actually hunt you down. Don’t fuck with me.”
“Megumi, I swear on my life, my scholarship, and everything I consider valuable: this is real,” his friend reassures on the other end of the line. “You probably already know that. You’re just coming to terms with it.”
The older boy exhales shakily. Yuuji was right; he was coming to terms with it. He knew it was real because Satoru had always said that first part to remind him how to be more selfish for himself and set personal goals. It was not something the pink-haired boy could have guessed at all.
“Yuuji, I want to go there with you next time,” he says quietly after a minute of silence. His friend makes a baffled noise on the other end, but Megumi ignores it, feeling strangely determined at this hour.
He needs to settle his doubts and maybe find closure once and for all. There’s no way he’s going to let this opportunity slide.