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“Suguru.”
Satoru’s voice was soft when he said his name. Suguru found it strange, honestly; after knowing Satoru for most of their youth, it was hard to imagine the same voice that disrespected their elders and annoyed their classmates could ever be so gentle. That wasn’t what had thrown him off, though.
When he looked up to see what Satoru had to say to him, that was the moment he was left speechless. Tears started to glisten in that heavenly blue gaze. If one could imagine stars shining in a gloomy morning sky, it would have been a spitting image of what Suguru was currently seeing.
After years of growing up together, Suguru had never seen Satoru cry. In fact, he never saw his old friend showcase much of anything. The people around them saw Satoru as someone arrogant, careless; someone who could half-ass their way through the cold world of jujutsu and still be fine. And they weren’t necessarily wrong either.
If someone was the closest thing to a god amongst men, the idea of losing or even fear itself was just not something that could have been understood. If Suguru were able to achieve anything in his hands and make the impossible suddenly possible, would there be such a thing as sadness? Anger? Failure?
No one knew but Satoru.
The same Satoru who would never show even the slightest hint of concern for himself. The same one who never mentioned Riko again after they placed her body to rest. The same one who didn’t even bat an eye when Nanami turned in his uniform months after Haibara’s funeral.
The same one who became more distant from Suguru and closer to the title as “The Strongest” as the months went on.
The curse user watched as Satoru continued to stare at him with blank, teary eyes. It was hard to tell what he was thinking right now. There was a second where he actually stiffened when the tears started to roll down his cheeks, almost as if he was now just realizing what was happening. And ever so slowly, he reached a hand up to wipe a tear away, looked at his wet fingers, and then blinked.
There were moments where Suguru would catch a peek of Satoru’s lips parting, as though there were so many words, so many questions, that were supposed to come out, but all that left instead were mellowed, choked noises that he quickly held back. Suguru’s eyes dropped down to Satoru’s hands for a brief moment, quickly noting the way his grip tightened around those bandages, and then looked back up at him again.
And before he could catch himself, a laugh had already slipped out.
Suguru laid his head back against the brick wall behind him, now completely unable to hold back the soft, breezy laughter that poured out of his tired body.
“Satoru.” His eyes were closed and he found himself smiling despite his dying moments ending soon. In fact, for just a moment, Suguru forgot about that. There was a warmth in his body that he hasn’t felt in years; the very same feeling he felt during the days where he and Satoru were still young and strong together. He didn’t bother mentioning the tears. There was no point when his body was giving up on him anytime soon now. So instead, Suguru decided to keep that conversation for when they met again and took in a deep, long breath. “... At least curse me a little at the end.”
Nothing more was said after that. All Suguru could hear before his vision started to blur was a comfortable silence that was followed by the quietest sob and then another one.