Archive of Our Own

Suguru is lost.

He remembers walking along the neighbourhood park with his parents, feeding some pigeons with his leftover bread, and chasing a dragonfly with golden rings across its body because Suguru finds it interesting. It flies across houses, and Suguru climbs up wooden fences in order to keep an eye on it, and when it disappears behind a shady tree, Suguru realises that he's nowhere near the park anymore, and he has no idea where he is.

Around his surroundings are several luscious trees that thrive in the summer heat and beds of colourful flowers in full bloom. There are bees, butterflies, and more dragonflies dancing across flowers, and Suguru crouches near the flowerbed to watch their performance underneath the scorching sunlight. This place, wherever he is currently, is like a little paradise in Suguru's small world - a garden so vibrant and full of life, shining under the sunny sky, unlike the wet, monotonous marsh that dominates the biome of Suguru's village.

There's a plethora of flowers here - all of them foreign to Suguru, who grows up with pickleweeds and cat-tails - and with the abundance of it, taking some of it won't hurt, right? Suguru turns his head to look for anyone around him, and when he finds none, he begins to pluck off the flowers, making sure that he takes at least one of each colour.

"Hey," a voice snaps, freezing Suguru in place. Whoever that is, Suguru knows he's in deep trouble. "Who are you, and why are you plucking off the flowers?"

Suguru drops his hand guiltily and turns to look behind him. There isn't anyone in Suguru's view, and his heart sinks. Who is it? Is it one of those disgusting creatures that keep appearing in Suguru's vision? Is it angry at him for interrupting its domain? Wait, do they even talk?

With fear and uncertainty gnawing on his mind, Suguru breaks down, sobbing. "I'm- I'm truly sorry- please don't hurt me-"

There's a sound of tongue clicking before a loud thud can be heard. Sounds of footsteps against the grass follow until two pale feet stop in front of Suguru.

"Answer my question."

Feeling calmer over the reassurance of a human, Suguru wipes away his tears with the back of his hand. "My name is Getou Suguru, I'm actually lost, and these flowers are so beautiful-"

A snort. "Is that why you're trying to steal them?"

"I- I didn't mean it like that-"

Suguru finally looks up to see the person who caught him red-handed, to see summer skies turning alive in the form of this boy - hair as white as the clouds above and blue eyes that shine so bright like no one else's. He must be around Suguru's age, but unlike him, this boy looks regal and majestic in the white silk kimono he's wearing, like a prince walking out of the children's storybook that Suguru's mother reads for his bedtime story.

"Oh? Then you better explain before I beat you up and let the adults deal with you."

"Well- I, uh," Suguru gulps, cowering under the intimidating scowl this boy throws at him, "I - I've never seen these flowers before. There's nothing like these in my village… I grow up in around marshes, you see-"

"What's a marsh?" the boy asks, and for the first time, the petrifying look in his eyes melts down as he tilts his head a little.

"Uh, it's a place with lots of water and weeds, I guess."

"I see." The boy nods, walking towards a shade to avoid the sun and leans on a bark. "How did you get in here?"

Suguru glances at the high fence behind him. "I climbed the fence… I think."

"You're interesting," the boy says, tilting his head again. "No one dares to do that around here. Do you know where you are now?"

"No," Suguru mumbles, looking away. All he knows is that he's somewhere around Tokyo's outskirts. "I was chasing a dragonfly and somehow ended up here. I'm… lost."

"You have parents?"

"Yeah. I was with them at the park before I got here."

A flapping sound catches Suguru's attention towards the sky, where a morphed, black bird-like creature passes through, looking at them with three eyes that are sticking into his left side. 

The creatures in this town are much scarier than the ones in his village. He's sure of that now.

"You can see that?"

Suguru turns back to the boy, looking at him in shock. Everyone in the village has been talking about him being crazy behind his back ever since he first saw them last year and how they pity his parents for bearing a child like him. "You can? "

"Of course I can," he says, rolling his eyes. "I'm Gojo Satoru."

"Satoru-kun," Suguru mutters, making sure to remember the boy's name. "Uh, sorry, but what does your name have to do with anything?"

Satoru replies with a flat look. "You really do know nothing, huh?"

Before Suguru can reply, Satoru climbs up that tree and sits on one of the branches, tapping on the empty space beside him.

"Oh, you want me to go up?" Suguru hesitantly asks, "But I- uh, is it okay for me…?"

Satoru doesn't answer, but he taps on the branch once again. Suguru climbs up the tree without any difficulty, though he's quite curious how Satoru does it with those layers of kimono, and sits near the bark beside Satoru.

"How old are you?" Satoru asks.

"I'm six years old."

"Since when did you start seeing those things?"

"Around last year."

"Have you ever heard about shamans? Or sorcerers?"

Suguru has heard a lot about them, actually. "Yeah, I read it in storybooks."

"Well, they're real. They are people who can see curses, like you and me."

"Curses?" Suguru asks, watching another grim creature floating through the sky. "Is that what we call those things?"

"Yeah. Do you want to know where they come from?"

Suguru nods. "Yes, please."

And so, Suguru spends his noon sitting on a sturdy branch with his legs dangling in the air to hear about sorcerers, curses, cursed energies, and about their history. This is the first time he learns about the truth behind his sightings, and with his newfound knowledge, Suguru can finally believe that he's not crazy and that there's a whole world that's invisible to most people - a world where he truly belongs.

In return, Suguru tells Satoru about the village he lives in, which is located in a remote area of Shizuoka. He talks about how different it is compared to Tokyo, and yesterday was the first time that Suguru has ever ridden a shinkansen train.

"I've never been on a train before."

"You mean the shinkansen ?"

"Yes. Or any train, in that matter. What is it like?"

"Are you serious?" Suguru gasps, "What do you use to travel, then?"

"I don't really go out," Satoru mutters, pouting like he's sulking about it. "If it's absolutely necessary, I usually use the limo."

Limo? Suguru has only ever seen it in magazines. All he knows is that they're fancy and expensive. "Oh wow. Your family must be really rich."

"Really?" he shrugs. "Hey, answer me. What is it like, riding a train?"

"It's nothing interesting. It's big, so a lot of people can use it. The one in my village has seats near the windows so people can also stand if the seats are full and it doesn't move that fast. But shinkansen is really different! There's a lot of seats, so no one has to stand, and there's also a person who sells food and drink inside it. It moves reaaaally fast too-"

"Suguru!"

Suguru's mother's faint voice breaks him off from his conversation with Satoru. Right, he's been gone for a while- no, it's been hours since he first arrived in Satoru's garden. The sun was still high up when he first arrived here, and now the sun is setting. Suguru must have made his parents worry.

"I'm sorry, Satoru-kun, I think it's time for me to go," Suguru regretfully says, earning a frown from Satoru. "My parents must be worried sick."

"Alright," Satoru says, removing himself from the branch, landing steadily on his feet on the ground. "I'll lead you out."

Suguru is too scared to jump like Satoru did. He climbs his way down instead and follows Satoru towards the hallway of his house with a hand holding the fabric of Satoru's kimono, trying to avoid the glares from the adults. They are stopped by one of them, and after Satoru explains Suguru's condition, she moves away and guides them towards the exit.

"Oh, you poor boy," she says, opening the doors for them. "I'll help you look for your parents. Satoru-sama, you must return back into the house."

"This is as far as I go," Satoru says, and Suguru removes his grip on Satoru's clothing. "Goodbye, Suguru."

"Can I come to visit you again someday?"

With a shrug, Satoru answers. "Perhaps. I can't tell."

"I'll send letters," Suguru offers, smiling. "Thank you for today, Satoru-kun. I'll be looking forward to seeing you soon!"

As the doors are closing behind him, Suguru sees a smile forming on Satoru's lips for the first time since they met as he waves him goodbye. "Me too."

Suguru waves back with a smile, and thinks, today is the best day I've ever had!

Every time his maid, Sayaka, goes out to check the mail, Satoru stands by the door, looking at her with wide eyes, waiting to hear good news.

“Is there…?”

“I’m sorry, Satoru-sama,” she says, right after she checks all of the letters. “None of these come from Shizuoka nor Getou Suguru-sama.”

“Thank you,” Satoru huffs, disappointed for the third time this month, and stomps his way back into the main house. He has finished his training for today, and as usual, without anything to do before his tea ceremony lessons this afternoon, Satoru goes out to the back garden and climbs up the tree to enjoy the breeze.

It has been a month since Suguru’s accidental breach into his house. Spending his whole life in the Gojo household, Satoru has never met anyone around his age except for Zen’in Naoya, who seems to be friendly - yet somehow, Satoru doesn’t quite enjoy his company. He suspects that the incompatibility between Gojos and Zen’ins is also inherited.

However, Suguru is different. He has a nice smile, is honest, and tells interesting stories about the outside world that Satoru never has the privilege to explore. Suguru doesn’t know the weight of Satoru’s name nor the powers and destiny that bind him because he grows up in a family that doesn’t carry on the legacy of their sorcerer blood, living his whole life believing that he’s only an ordinary person. Maybe that’s the reason why he treats Satoru like he’s equal, but Satoru isn’t bothered by that idea.

They had only met and talked for mere hours on that day, but it’s enough for Satoru to feel comfortable around someone’s company. Suguru’s aura brings out the things he buries inside him - questions, curiosity, and enthusiasm that are forced to stay dormant underneath the pressure of expectations - and making him willing to peek out of his shell.

Satoru likes him. His family’s obvious distaste over some plebeian young sorcerer can just suck it up because they won’t stop Satoru from having Suguru in the house.

The summer heat has long gone, replaced by shades of brown falling from the trees, into cold snow piling up in his gardens, and cherry blossoms scattering through the wind. Time passes, seasons change, but there’s never anything new to Satoru’s life that only revolves around training and sitting in meeting rooms or ceremonies. Even when summer comes along again, marking one whole year of Suguru’s absence, Satoru is still patiently waiting for the promised letter to arrive at his house.

He’s lying if he says that he’s not losing hope, but Satoru still wants to believe in Suguru’s promise.

One day when he’s experimenting with his Infinity in the gardens, he senses an unknown mediocre cursed energy nearby. Satoru is instantly on guard, preparing to fight off another assassin or hunter who’s coming for his head. When this presence makes themselves clear through the fence, Infinity is ready to be controlled on his palm, but as this person falls miserably to the ground instead, Satoru lowers his guard a little - whoever this person is, he or she is a child, and is certainly not a professional killer. Satoru comes closer to where this person fell and examines their appearance - black hair that grows past their shoulders, yellow t-shirt, brown pants, and weird-looking slippers with straps that Satoru has never seen before.

“Ow,” the person groans, and Satoru identifies him as a boy. He rubs his hand and looks around him, meeting Satoru’s eyes in the process- 

“Satoru-kun!” he exclaims, rising up from the ground. “Remember me? I’m-”

“Suguru,” Satoru says, wide-eyed, with bubbles popping in his stomach. “You’re back.”

“It’s been a while! And uh, I’m really sorry about the letters though, I didn’t remember your address…”

Satoru glares at him, giving him the best scowl he can muster. “I’ve been waiting for it, you know.”

“I’m really sorry for making you wait...” Suguru says, looking to the ground. “Anyways! We don’t need to wait for that long anymore because I’m moving to this neighbourhood!”

“You’re… staying here?”

“Yup! Starting now, this place is my new home. I’m not going back to Shizuoka anymore.”

A smile slowly creeps its way out on Satoru’s face. “Really?”

“Yeah!”

Satoru grabs Suguru’s hands, pulling him towards the tree, and sits underneath the shade. “It’s nice to see you again, Suguru. But why don’t you come over through the door instead?”

“I tried,” Suguru confesses, fiddling with his fingers. “But they said you don’t receive visitors. I tried climbing the fence yesterday, but there’s some kind of barrier that I can’t pass? I don’t know how I managed to get through it just now, though.”

There’s a curtain protecting the Gojo household from being ambushed, activated for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But depending on who puts the curtain on, sometimes children like Suguru are not filtered out. He explains it to Suguru, who listens to him with interest, and in the back of his head, Satoru makes sure to throw a tantrum on whoever forbids Suguru from entering the house.

Now with Suguru near him, his Six Eyes can’t miss the unmistakable flow of Suguru’s cursed energy that fluctuates differently from last year. “Your energy changes a lot, Suguru.”

“I’ve been training.” Suguru grins, scratching the back of his head. “There’s someone who came to my village not long after I returned. I guess she was a sorcerer? She stays for another few days just to teach me some stuff. And hey, how do you know about it?”

“You can drop the honorifics,” Satoru says. “My eyes - they’re called Six Eyes. It’s my family’s inherited technique. I can see your energy.”

Suguru’s attention is diverted wholly into Satoru’s eyes. “That’s really cool. So that’s why your eyes are so pretty.”

People have praised his eyes to be sacred and the most powerful, but no one ever calls them pretty. “ I- wha- what did you just say?”

“They’re pretty,” Suguru repeats, without breaking any eye contact, which renders Satoru to become more embarrassed by the second. “I like seeing your eyes.”

Satoru turns away, avoiding Suguru’s prying eyes. “S-stop talking about nonsense! These eyes are a powerful technique, you know! They’re not to be called pretty!”

“Okay, okay.” Suguru’s laugh only eggs on Satoru’s irritation and embarrassment. “I won’t say it again. You don’t need to get so angry about it, Satoru.”

Suguru is still laughing, and once Satoru gets over his embarrassment, he chuckles, and before long, a laugh breaks out of his lips. 

Satoru doesn’t mind the tears slipping off the corner of his eyes and the pain in his stomach that comes after the laugh, and he’s anticipating more to come in the future with Suguru beside him.

The first time Suguru enters Satoru’s house from the front doors, a tall, middle-aged woman with hair as white as Satoru’s comes to greet him. She introduced herself as Gojo Ichika, the current matriarch of the Gojo clan, who is also Satoru’s mother. She then brings him into a basement where deformed curses in many forms and sizes dwell behind sealed bars - with Satoru following close behind him. 

“This is the Gojo family’s collection,” she says, once they arrived in a vast space. “We use them for training, mostly.”

The basement is much bigger than Suguru’s expectation. The area is bigger than the gardens above, with curses bound to this place around the perimeter. 

He has never seen curses being captured before, moreso in this amount.

“I’m going to be frank with you, boy.” Ichika’s voice is cold and stern, and Suguru tries his best to not crouch away from her - how can someone be so beautiful and terrifying at the same time? “We don’t usually let outsiders interfere with our business, but Satoru has taken an interest in you. I may or may not give you my blessing,” she explains, and with a flick of her fingers, a seal falls off. Three curses then crawl out of their dungeon. “These are Grade Four curses. Show us what you have.”

Grade Four should be manageable. It’s the lowest grade in the jujutsu classification. After he met a sorcerer on a mission in his village last autumn, Suguru spent a week learning about his abilities through the sorcerer’s mentoring and has spent the last year training and experimenting with his energy by himself. Every once in a while, when a sorcerer comes to his village, Suguru would ask them to be his tutor, which most of them happily accept. During his short journey in mastering his gift, Suguru figures out his unique potential of collecting and manipulating curses.

Suguru moves around the area and quickly examines their movements and the energy they emit. They’re slow and sluggish, and their movements are predictable. One of them attacks Suguru with a flying fist in which he dodges while the other two try to surround Suguru to prevent his escape. He concentrates on pulling out one of his collections from his reserve, and as a black portal tears the air around him, a dysmorphic, monkey-like curse appears - a Grade Three that he assisted a sorcerer in exorcising - and with three whips from its enormous hands, the Grade Four curses are dead. Before it can dissolve into dust, Suguru activates the energy channel that resides on his palm to collect the corpse, forming them into three dense balls.

“Curse manipulation. Interesting.”

Suguru looks up to see Ichika approaching him. Gone is her previous stone-hard expression, and beside her, Satoru is watching him with wide eyes. Suguru releases a deep sigh - he supposes that he doesn’t disappoint the Gojo matriarch.

“Tell me about your technique,” she inquires, looking at the balls resting above Suguru’s hand. “What are you going to do with those?”

“I… eat them,” Suguru says, earning a grimace from Satoru and two raised eyebrows from Ichika. He inserts two of the balls into his pocket and gulps, preparing himself for the foul taste that’ll coat his tongue, and forcefully pushes the ball to his mouth. As he covers his mouth and struggles to hold in his gag reflex, he hears a loud gasp which he ignores in favour of consuming this abomination, and when the ball finally goes down to his throat, Suguru gulps in bouts of deep breaths and wipes his drool using his sleeves.

When Suguru regains his senses, he turns back to both Gojos with bloodshot eyes, and with a wave of his hands, he reopens the dark crevice that slices through the air, releasing the curse that he has just consumed, resurrected under his mercy. “I can control the curses I eat.”

“Ew, that’s nasty,” Satoru chirps, disgust clear on his face. “What do they taste like?”

“Like vomit… but worse.”

Ichika shakes her head and motions both boys to follow her. “We’ll fetch you something fresh to wash off that taste,” she says and glances back at Suguru behind her. “Welcome to the Gojo household, Getou-kun.”

A radiant smile unfolds in Suguru’s face, followed by a beaming Satoru who grins back as he latches on Suguru’s hand.

“You definitely have to spar with me sometime!”

Suguru grasps Satoru’s hand in return. “Of course.”

If Satoru is to describe his life before Suguru came along, he’ll say that his life back then was monotonous, tedious with each passing day. He’ll wake up, do his duties to train as the heir of Gojo clan, for he is the owner of Six Eyes, and return back to sleep. All fine clothes and dining his clan’s money could buy brings him nothing - no joy, no pleasure, no delight - it’s a privilege that is bestowed upon him as a precious, powerful weapon in the making. The spacious garden of his house and colourful flower beds are dull and lifeless through his Six Eyes, almost like he’s watching a 60s black-and-white film. 

As he grows up, along with the dramatic escalation of his power, the prohibition of going out from his house is lifted, although still limited. Suguru is more excited to hear the news than Satoru himself, and he immediately takes Satoru out to the train station nearby. There are many people in the streets - adults and children alike, elderly and newborns too. Suguru takes him to ride a train, and it’s the first time Satoru learns that trains can fit so many people. He has his eyes glued to the windows as they pass through roads and buildings until Suguru taps him out of it when they arrive at their station.

“C’mon, I’ve promised your mother that I wouldn’t take you that far.”

Satoru takes the hand that Suguru offers as he leads them out of the station. “Do you ride the train every day to go to school?”

“Most of the time,” Suguru replies, helping Satoru to insert the train ticket he’s holding. “Sometimes I use my bicycle too.”

“They say there’s a lot of curses in schools.”

“Yeah. They’re mostly Grade Four, though.”

Satoru has never attended a public school before, and he wouldn’t say that he’s interested in applying either. From what Suguru’s been telling him, Satoru thinks the kids in school sound annoying and troublesome. What’s with laughing at other kids who don’t bring homemade bentos to school? It’s just food. What’s with them and scaring girls with bugs and cockroaches too? There’s no purpose in it except for causing chaos. Satoru thinks they’re stupid, and he doesn’t want to deal with them. He’s better off homeschooling with his clan’s old private tutor, who also taught his mother when she was still a girl.

Walking beside Suguru hand-in-hand, Satoru looks around his surroundings. There are shops that sell clothes on the right and a book shop across the road. Various stalls and restaurants are also available, with red lanterns hanging above the stores, the hiragana 'udon’, ‘okonomiyaki’, and ‘ramen’ written on it. 

“We’re here. You want to see my school, right?”

He is so engrossed in the sight around him that he doesn’t realise how long they’ve been walking and when they’ve arrived. Satoru picks up a lot of low-level cursed energy inside the building from the gates, and his eyes found at least tens of them peeking from the windows. 

“Let’s look around. There’s no one here on the weekend anyways.”

Suguru takes him inside the building and gives him a tour of the area. He shows Satoru the shoe racks, classrooms, and clubrooms. They ignore the curses roaming around them and return outside towards the field. 

“This is where we usually have our PE lessons.” Suguru points to the connected pillars with a net attached. “That’s a goal for football. And that,” he says, now pointing to a tall pillar with a ring-shaped net in the middle, “Is for basketball. I’ll show you some videos of it sometime. It’s fun to play.”

Satoru nods. It’s a bit underwhelming, honestly speaking. He thought it would be at least bigger than his house.

“Well, that’s about it. Boring, isn’t it?” Suguru asks, grinning. “So, is there anywhere else you’d like to see?”

“Not really.” The only places that Suguru mentions often are the station and school, but Satoru is suddenly reminded of a shop that caught his eye during their way to the school. “Oh, when we were walking here, I saw a sweets shop. Let’s go there.”

“Okay.”

The shop sells traditional Japanese sweets like red-bean dango and mochi. Satoru excitedly looks over the racks and glass display that exhibits delicious-looking colourful desserts, and without thinking, he takes one of each, holding them along his arms.

“That many?” Suguru shrieks, holding a pack of dorayaki. “I don’t bring enough money for that, you know.”

Satoru pulls out the ten-thousand yen bill from his kimono and says, “Don’t worry. I have money with me.”

“Ten-thousand ? Okay, yeah, well, you can buy anything with that- why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Satoru smirks smugly. “Take anything you want, Suguru. I’ll pay.”

“Don’t mind if I do, then,” Suguru snickers, ordering some taiyaki and manju from the attendant behind the glass display, and Satoru requests for his portion too. They leave the store with bags dangling in both of their arms as they eat the freshly baked taiyaki in their hand.

“Mother always tells me it’s not good to eat while walking.”

“It’s okay to do it once in a while. Besides, your mother is not here.”

“Yeah, but the maids will report it to her, and she’ll get mad.”

“The maids won’t know, Satoru.”

“You don’t see them hiding behind that fountain, Suguru?”

“Wait, what ?” Suguru frantically turns his head to the fountain on his left, looking for women in kimonos. “I don’t see them. But do they really?”

Satoru rolls his eyes. “They’ve been following us since we left the house.”

“That’s not fair. Way to ruin our first trip,” Suguru grumbles. “Hey! Let’s hide from them.”

Before Satoru can ask, Suguru is pulling him towards a store. Inside, assorted stuff is arranged neatly on the racks.

“This is a konbini. You can take stuff that you want, and you pay at the cashier.”

“I want to look around,” Satoru says, dragging Suguru with him. He walks aisle by aisle, looking at the products, and takes stuff that catches his eye.

“Oh, you must try this.” Suguru removes their intertwined hand, sliding the freezer open. He takes out chocolate-flavoured ice cream and puts it in Satoru’s hand. “And this, and this, and this...”

There are chocolate, vanilla, melon, and strawberry ice creams in sticks, cones, and cups. “Suguru, it’s cold.”

“Oh yeah, let me help you with that. If you're done, let's go pay.”

With two more additional bags from the konbini, Satoru is now carrying two bags in his hands while Suguru has four, insisting on holding the bags because he’s not wearing a kimono that's hassling him. They travel back using the train, and Suguru takes him to his house.

“My parents are not home, so we’re free to eat all of these desserts!”

Suguru pulls out a bottled tea from the fridge, inviting Satoru to sit on the veranda, and pours all the contents of their bags to the ground. Satoru happily opens the chocolate ice-cream Suguru mentioned and sticks it into his mouth.

“Oh, this is good.”

“Right?”

He finishes it in several bites and continues to devour his shopping spree until he can’t eat anymore, ignoring Suguru’s warnings to stop because everything just tastes so good.

“I don’t think I can eat dinner.” Satoru pulls on his obi in a vain attempt to release his bloated stomach from the pressure. He can feel his stomach churning and rumbling. “And I think I’m going sick.”

“I told you to stop, didn’t I?” Suguru nags, rolling his eyes. “Eating that much sweets can’t possibly be good for your stomach.”

Satoru groans and lies on his back. The sun is still shining brightly in the sky, terrorising his poor eyes, forcing him to close his eyelids.

“Hey, Satoru, can I have your matcha dango instead?”

“No,” Satoru glowers, without opening his eyes. “I’ll punch you if you dare.”

The sound of a plastic box being opened and the munching sounds that follow makes Satoru rise up from where he lies. He glares dagger at Suguru, who’s grinning wickedly as he chews, and with Satoru getting up on his feet to hit him, Suguru flees, laughing loudly as he runs away.

“Come back here!”

There’s nothing beautiful about the old house that Suguru lives in, but somehow, shades of colours start to bleed into the monochrome world that Satoru sees.

"Suguru."

The said boy looks up from where he's sitting on the Gojo household's veranda with a blue popsicle sticking to his mouth. The summer sun is blazing unforgivingly, forcing them to find some ways to cool their body down. Satoru eyes the package near Suguru, and like he's reading Satoru's mind, Suguru takes out the other half and passes it to Satoru.

"What?"

Satoru sits down beside him. There's a question that's hanging on the back of his mind for a while now. "Where do you plan to go for junior high?"

"Hm…" Suguru hums, looking into the distance. "I don't really have plans for that yet. But I'll apply to Jindai, I guess? It's only one station away from my school."

It's good news for Satoru. Though he won't admit it, he's been worrying about Suguru moving to a school that's far from here, and with the busier schedule, he won't be coming to his house as often anymore. Soon enough, he'll meet new friends, join clubs, and maybe play with his clubmates on the arcades and have dinner after finishing their club activities. Maybe Suguru will invite his own group of friends to his house to do homework together or maybe have sleepovers where Satoru is not invited.

"I wanna apply there too, then."

"Really?" Suguru asks, surprised. "I was sure that you're continuing homeschooling. Does Auntie allow you to?"

"I'm twelve. I'm not a little kid anymore. They can't keep forbidding me to do stuff." Satoru huffs, crossing his arm in front of his chest. "I want to know what it's like to attend school. You know, like normal people."

"Well, you're not normal, are you?"

Though technically correct, Satoru still hits Suguru's arm with his elbow, earning him a pained groan. Suguru retaliates by punching his arm in return, and Satoru returns the punch back, and before they know it, Suguru's curses are attacking him. Satoru dodges their consecutive attacks swiftly and looks for an opening to get close to Suguru.

"What, not going to exorcise my curses? That's kind of you," Suguru taunts, and at that moment, Satoru finds an opening, and his leg flies through the air as his feet collide with Suguru's arm. He may have blocked Satoru's kick, but he knows that it'll leave a nasty bruise later. A curse attacks from behind, and Satoru activates his Infinity on his back as he goes for an attack on Suguru. He is Satoru’s equal in terms of strength and technique, so there’s no room for errors. He's approaching Suguru as fast as he could with Suguru going on the defensive, and with his Six Eyes noting a tentacle that's trying to trip his footing off at the same time, Satoru reinforces his energy to his feet, kicking off the tentacle and pounds over Suguru's figure. They wrestle each other on the ground, getting their clothes dirty with grass and soil until Satoru keeps Suguru pinned down to the ground.

"Ha, my win this time," Satoru proudly says, still holding Suguru's struggling figure underneath him. After his humiliating defeat on their previous spar, he's content to turn over the tables. 

"Dammit." Suguru sighs and stops struggling. Satoru releases his grip, and right at that moment, Suguru punches Satoru off his body, fast enough that Satoru's reflexes fail to catch up. "You're the one who started it."

Satoru turns away innocently and taps the dirt away from his clothing. There's a lot of them sticking to the cloth, and he's starting to kind of feel bad for the maids that'll wash his kimono later. Oh, and he's definitely going to get scolded by his mother for not changing into his training clothes instead.

Suguru washes some dirt away from his face using water from the tap nearby and grumbles, "It's bad enough that I'm sweating from the heat, but you just have to make it worse for us, Satoru."

"Just take a shower and change," Satoru says, rolling his eyes. "It's not like it's hard."

"I don't have any clothes left here, remember? I just took them home yesterday."

"You can use mine."

"You're telling me to wear your expensive silk kimono in this heat? No way."

"It's not that bad once you get used to it."

Suguru declines his offer and returns home early to clean up. Satoru fixes himself with a cold shower and a change of clothes before entering the main room where his mother is reading some kind of ancient spellbook. 

"Mother," he greets, taking a seat across from her. "May I inquire about something?"

"What is it?" she asks, not looking up from the book.

"I want to go to school for junior high."

Ichika pauses from her reading and stares at Satoru hard. "You know we don't do that here. Why waste your time studying at a slow pace with incompetent people when you can achieve more by private lessons? Besides, you'll get your chance to go to school for high school."

Satoru remembers his visit to Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College, a high school specialising in jujutsu where sorcerers study. More of a jujutsu sorcerers base camp than an educational institution, the school has graduated hundreds, if not hundreds of sorcerers ever since they were established. Even the children of the three great clans attend this school by the time they reach high school, including his mother, his grandfather, and his ancestors that came before his grandfather. 

"I want to,” he whines, “It’s boring here. I want to attend clubs and go to arcades with some people.”

Ichika glares at him. “Did Getou-kun influence you to go with him?”

“No, no. Of course not. Why would he?”

Satoru bats his eyelashes innocently. He’s not lying anyway, so he’s not in the wrong. It’s just Satoru who doesn't want to be left out of those club meetings and arcades after school in favour of pleasing old men for their compliments. It’ll be an added bonus if he could follow Suguru to join the aikido club to beat some people up.

“I will not allow it,” Ichika says, her tone of voice telling Satoru that it’s absolute.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s not like I’m going to skip out training,” he grumbles, leaving all the formalities to the drain. As expected, his mother scowls and glares at him back - there is no negotiating with her, after all, but Satoru figures that he can annoy her a little bit more. “Don’t be such an old fart-”

“Satoru. Out.”

Holding back in his snickering, he slips out of the door quietly. He’s going to change his mother’s mind no matter what. 

Since that day, all Satoru does is annoy his teachers and caretakers with his pranks and complain that there’s nothing that he can do around here, making sure everyone is fed up with him enough to send him away. No one dares to glare or scold Satoru for his antics, so he continues to do his thing until his mother has enough of being pestered by her underlings about Satoru’s rebellious phase and finally signs the papers of his transfer.

“Fine. Do what you want, boy. I expect you to be at least Grade-One by your second year, or else I’m dragging you back to this house.”

Satoru brings the news to Suguru immediately when he comes to visit.

“You finally did it.” Suguru shakes his head, flipping through the papers. “How unbearable...”

“Whatever. It worked, didn’t it?” Satoru hums. “I’m dragging you to join me on more missions, though.”

“Urgh, why must I do that?”

“Because if I’m not a Grade-One until my second year, she’ll keep me hostage again here. I can’t go on solo missions yet.”

“You do know that the even youngest Grade-One is fifteen by the time she receives the promotion, right?”

“Well, I’m going to break that record, then.” Satoru shrugs, not really finding it a big deal. If anything, it’s a challenge he’s looking forward to. “Aren't we going to be the strongest? Or are you too weak for the challenge?”

Satoru smirks upon Suguru’s irritation on his remark, knowing exactly that he pushes all the right buttons. It’s a win for him.

“If you’re getting that promotion, there’s no way I’m being left behind,” he grits back, pushing the papers back to Satoru. “Bring it on, Satoru. I’m looking forward to see your ass getting dragged back here.”

Satoru laughs, a bit mean, as he puts away the papers and throws a kick, initiating the start of their sparring session. “You wish.”

When Suguru finds out that Satoru is in the same class with him on their first day of junior high, he is sure that Ichika pulled some strings from behind. It’s too much of a coincidence to be not, considering today is officially Satoru’s first day attending any public institution that’s not exclusive to jujutsu sorcerers.

Suguru had to remove Satoru’s hand forcefully four times already since Suguru picked him up at his house, explaining to Satoru in exasperation that they’re not kids anymore and people will laugh at them for being such babies. Satoru is trying to maintain a neutral face, but the unruly look on his eyes and the tiny twitches on the edge of his mouth give out his effort in hiding his nervousness. It’s the first time Suguru has ever seen him so worked up over something, and to be honest, it’s quite entertaining to see Satoru in such an uncomposed manner. He can act all high and mighty back in the house and in front of the higher-ups, but his name isn’t something significant in this mundane world. This new world Satoru delves into is a world where curses and sorcery are nothing but urban legends.

Suguru supposes that Satoru will adapt soon enough because this new environment known as school is where hierarchy is determined by money and power - something that Satoru has been dealing with since he’s learned how to crawl.

Satoru grabs a seat behind Suguru’s near the windows. As Suguru gets acquainted with the boy sitting next to him, he drags Satoru to introduce himself too - and that’s how Satoru makes his first friends in this school until he joins in the delinquents’ group after he got into trouble with an upperclassman; the shy and docile kid Satoru once was had long gone.

Suguru doesn’t really want to deal with Satoru’s group of delinquent friends who sneak in dirty magazines to class and peeks on girls’ underwear, but unfortunately, he and Satoru are somewhat a package, and more often than not, he’s stuck with observing their misconduct. However, Satoru stays on the sidelines with Suguru if they’re not pranking other students or causing fights in the fields.

“I don’t think those porn magazines are that interesting.” Satoru shrugs as Suguru asks him about it one day when they’re observing the others peeking into the girls’ changing room. “And it’s more fun to beat shitfaced arrogant senpai s than peeking on girls. You should’ve seen the karate club’s captain after I crushed him on a spar.” Satoru laughs, loud and obnoxious. “It’s hilarious. He should’ve known better before he challenged me, black belt or whatever.”

Suguru snorts. He’s not that fond of that captain anyways - he’s the main reason Suguru switches clubs from karate to aikido. “Good for him. That’ll teach him shame.”

“I know, right?”

The phone in Satoru’s pocket rings, followed by Suguru’s. Satoru opens the message first, and he taps on Suguru’s shoulder as he walks to leave the area.

“C’mon, there’s a mission for us nearby. You’ll love this one.”

Suguru raises his eyebrows as he follows Satoru exiting the school, unlocking his phone to read the message. Exorcise a suspect Grade-One curse on Building X.

“A Grade-One curse.” Satoru smirks, “More for your collection.”

“Oh? They’ve been giving us more higher-grade ones to deal with.”

Satoru winks and points his thumbs up. “Bingo! Which means promotion is coming to us sooner than later. The youngest holder of Grade-One? Yeah, I can feel that title coming for me already.”

“You? Sorry to break to you, Satoru, but I’m younger than you, so I’ll be the one who holds that title.”

Suguru laughs, dodging Satoru’s attack towards his hips. “Like hell you will, Suguru. I’m getting it first before you do.”

They are promoted into Grade-One two months later, and Suguru makes sure to rub it on Satoru’s face for the entire week.

When Satoru invites himself to Suguru’s house to watch a movie, Suguru definitely didn’t expect them to be watching porn.

“What the hell, Satoru,” Suguru hisses, the moment the woman throws the man into the bed and unbuttons his clothes until nothing covers his body anymore. The movie starts off light, with the woman dressing up and going to her friend’s birthday party in a club, meeting this man for the first time as she drinks by the bar. And what’s with that giant-sized dick - it should be impossible for dicks to be that big, right? “Turn it off.”

“Your dad is on a business trip, and your mum isn’t coming home before seven,” Satoru replies, swatting away Suguru’s hand reaching for the remote. “The guys lend it to me. They say it’s hot.”

“How did they even manage to rent it anyway? Only those above eighteen can!”

“Takeda has a brother who owns a CD rental shop, you know? He can just pick whatever.”

The woman is starting to let out some noises, and Suguru glares at Satoru, who is innocently lying on the couch. “We’re not watching this in my goddamn living room, god.”

A mischievous glint flashes on Satoru’s eyes, and Suguru knows he picked out the wrong words to say. “Oh, are you saying that you’re fine with it if we watch it inside your room, Suguru~?”

“You-” Suguru fumes, rubbing his temples. “I don’t even have a TV in my room, asshole.”

He ends up watching the film until the end with Satoru, who smugly points out Suguru’s own curiosity that overcomes his morals, and Suguru can only weakly jab him in retaliation; he has no arguments for it. 

Satoru never brings any of those CDs anymore, after that.

One night when Suguru is feeling all pent up and desperately needs a release, he runs his own hand through his dick, stroking it back and forth as he lies on his bed with his mind running to one of the scenes from the porn video he watched with Satoru, where his partner sits on his lap and rides him in a quick pace-

Suguru closes his eyes as he reaches his climax, and an image of a disheveled white hair and doe blue eyes with red cheeks and soft pink lips gaping open flashes through - Suguru has never risen up so fast in his life, his heart running miles per second, breathing so hard until he feels his lungs burn, eyes opening wide in the glaring realisation.

He did not...

Suguru buries his face in his hand - there’s absolutely no way in hell he came from the sight of his best friend.

Suguru pretends that the incident never happened, up until they enter Tokyo Jujutsu High.

He wants to, he really wants to forget about it, but with the way puberty refines Satoru, he only succeeds in falling deeper into the wormhole. Satoru has just his growth spurt and grows like a beanstalk, making him look lanky with those limbs, but underneath those clothing, he has perfectly toned muscles that Suguru knows all-too-well. The baby fat that resided on his cheek wanes off, refining those delicate cheekbones and jaws that reforms Satoru into anything but ugly.

And those lips, god, Suguru wants a taste of it-

"Suguru? You want some?"

Suguru breaks his vision from Satoru's lips sucking on the red lollipop. "Huh?"

"You've been looking at my lollipop for a while now."

"Oh, yeah," Suguru awkwardly says, suddenly finding the books on Satoru's table much more interesting as he struggles to keep out the heat that's rising up to his cheeks. "Yeah, give me one."

Satoru passes him one, and Suguru unwraps it, popping it into his mouth. He wants to slap himself for his reckless staring - he doesn't even like Satoru's cotton-candy flavoured lollipop that much - and he hears a muffled snickering from Shoko. Sparing himself from another bout of embarrassment, Suguru rests his chin on the table, sucking the candy absent-mindedly as they wait for Yaga-sensei to begin class.

The said teacher shows up at the door a few minutes later. 

"Satoru, the principal has something to discuss with you. Shoko, Suguru, we'll start class in five more minutes. I'm sorry for the delay."

With the Goodwill Event starting next week, their already busy schedule is packed with missions and training. The school is considering letting them join the event despite being first-years because they're in a deficit of participants compared to Kyoto's students. After suffering defeat for three consecutive years, the principal is adamant about winning this time.

"Yeah, I was totally craving for the lollipop. Definitely not looking at your lips."

Suguru turns to Shoko, looking at her in bewilderment as she laughs. How did she-

"You think you're being subtle?" she cackles, lighting up a cigar, "Anyone who has eyes can tell how obvious you are. Well, minus Gojo, of course. I can't believe the all-seeing Six Eyes don't pick anything up."

"I really thought you were a clairvoyant there," Suguru groans, embarrassed to be found out. But again, this is Shoko - she always knows more than what she lets people believe. "Don't you dare-"

Shoko exhales a puff of smoke and smirks. "Chill. It's not my business."

Suguru lets out a sigh of relief.

"It's fun to see you being constipated over that oblivious idiot anyways-"

"Hey, hey, what are you guys talking about?"

Both students halt over Satoru's presence returning to the class along with Yaga. Suguru can almost see the curiosity glistening in his blue eyes through his blackout shades, and he looks away, pretending to pay attention to Shoko, who's getting lectured for smoking in class.

"Nothing important."

"What? You're having secret affairs with Shoko and leaving me behind now?"

Suguru makes a mistake by glancing over Satoru's expression - his line of vision travels down to the cute, upset pout. 

He wants to suck those lips until it's all swollen and red. 

Suguru shakes his head to clear his mind from those thoughts and decides to humour him, distracting himself in the process. "Yeah, because Shoko is a better friend than you."

Satoru's indignant squawk is all he gets before Yaga starts the class.

Suguru and Satoru finished their mission on a remote village earlier than expected. They finish by dusk, but after being worked to the bone since dawn, they agree to stay the night in the village before returning to Tokyo the next morning. 

That one rough battle against a special-grade curse increases the total amount of Suguru's special-grade collection to four. Suguru is proud of his achievements, especially with the struggle to consume it and the vomiting that comes after due to the horrible taste.

“That bad?” Satoru asks, patting his back when he vomits, a bottle of water and tissue in hand. Suguru wipes away the remnants from his mouth using the tissue and gargles his mouth clean. 

“The more powerful a curse, the worse it tastes.”

“Here.” Satoru shoves in a strawberry-flavoured lollipop - Suguru’s favourite - into his mouth. “Clean your tongue with that before we treat ourselves for a feast tonight.”

“Oh yeah?” Suguru smiles, making sure to coat every nook of his oral cavity with the sugar, “What are we having?”

“Instant ramen.”

Satoru cackles. Suguru is not amused; he's expecting meat-

“Seriously ?”

“Well duh, what do you expect? All the shops are closed now. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Consider us lucky that our host left us some boiled eggs for dinner.”

Suguru sighs. They are indeed far into the countryside, where the roads are small and bumpy, and houses are at least half a kilometre away from each other. He crashes to the ground, lying his back on the thick, tender grass, and watches the stars.

“It’s almost like the village where I was born.”

In this vast, empty valley late at night, Suguru is reminded back of his homeland, where shining stars and the full moon illuminates the night, and an orchestra of crickets and fireflies serves as a melody.

Satoru lowers his figure to the ground and sits on Suguru’s right side. “What, Shizuoka?”

“Yeah. You can see the North Star there-”

“You can read constellations?”

“Not much,” Suguru chuckles, “I only learned the basics to navigate.”

“That’s cool.” Satoru relaxes, leaning back with his palms on the ground as he unfurls his long legs. "Care to teach me about it?"

"Nah. I'm outsmarting you on this one."

Satoru clicks his tongue, but nothing follows. "You prick."

They fall in comfortable silence, basking in each other's company, charging their energy up after a long day of grueling work. The cool wind blows, drying their sweat-drenched uniform, and in the midst of the tranquility, exhaustion catches up to Suguru's muscles and bones. He is tempted to close his eyes and takes a nap for a short while, and glimpses over Satoru to tell him, but the regal features that glow under the moonlight stop his tongue from moving. Suguru allows himself to appreciate the view unobscured by his sunglasses - the curve of his nose, his slightly parted delicate lips-

“Can I kiss you?”

The words left his lips before his brain could catch up, heart skipping in panic when he realises what he said. Satoru looks at him, mouth hanging open with eyebrows furrowing, and asks, "Where did that come from?"

Suguru gulps. This is an uncharted territory, something that he has never done with Satoru, and it's impossible to predict the outcome. But just like Suguru has made himself drown the moment he drops that question, why not just swim in the drowning waters?

“Maybe I just want to,” Suguru whispers, raising a hand to Satoru’s cheek, and brushes his thumb across Satoru’s lips, plump and a bit chapped against his skin, waiting for his answer.

"Well, if you want to, why not do it?"

Suguru opens his mouth, intending to explain because this is different ; different from Suguru sharing his souvenirs with Satoru or how they sleep in the same bed with limbs entangled around each other when they wake up in the morning. He wants to kiss him because there's motivation driven by romance, not because he's merely curious and wants to try it with Satoru - but his thoughts are lost in the moment as Suguru rises up to face Satoru, cupping his cheek in his hands, and closing his eyes, he closes the distance between them. Infinity falls out between them, and the kiss lasts as quick as it goes, but it's enough for Suguru’s heart to flutter like bees in spring and for Satoru's soft, chapped lips imprinted to his memory. 

Suguru pulls away slowly, the sensation of Satoru's warm breathing mingling with his own and how Satoru's lips feel stays, and he's not sure it's going away anytime soon. Suguru hasn't regained his fleeting thoughts back when Satoru suddenly pulls him by the neck and connects their lips once again, and when Suguru gapes in reflex, Satoru slips his lips into Suguru's and moves, and Suguru returns it back with the same fervour, taking as much as Satoru is willing to offer, and give him as much as Suguru can.

Their kiss is clumsy and inexperienced, and when the need of air burns in their lungs, their kiss falls apart, tangled in each other's embrace with shallow breaths touching their lips.

“Whoa,” Suguru breathes out, removing Satoru’s blackout shades, stuck in a reverie as lost in Satoru’s eyes.

“Yeah, woah,” Satoru chuckles. “I didn’t expect kisses to be this nice.”

Yes, the kiss itself is incredible, despite both being a complete amateur and all, but how deep are Satoru’s feelings for this kiss? Was he merely curious or liked the way Suguru’s lips were against his, or maybe, there’s something more that underlies his action?

“Is there anything else that you feel, Satoru?”

Satoru hums, resting his head on Suguru’s shoulder. “I don’t know. My chest is light and jittery, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

An inescapable grin forces its way to Suguru’s face, and interlacing his fingers into Satoru’s, he whispers, “I don’t think it’s a bad thing either.”

“I’m telling you, Shoko. He’s becoming a cheapskate these days!”

Suguru is being assigned on a solo mission while Satoru and Shoko stay at the school, fresh out of the school’s dojo after some physical training. They have their outer black uniform removed from the summer heat, slouching in the fields underneath a tree shade with a bag of cold drinks and ice creams Satoru bought at the convenience store nearby.

Shoko licks off her ice cream that melts down to the cone, unamused by Satoru’s antics. “Well, maybe that’s because he has better financial management than you, Gojo.”

“That’s true- but hey, that’s not the point!” Satoru protests, “He refuses to go snack hunting with me anymore, and he keeps refusing to eat out in favour of cooking by himself.”

“Maybe it’s just you, then. Getou and I went out to drink just yesterday.”

Satoru gasps in disbelief. He wasn’t at the school yesterday for a mission - how could Suguru betray him like this? Shoko only indulges him only if there’s a discount on her favourite cafe; Nanami always runs off the moment Satoru says the word swee t, and even Haibara politely declines most of his invitations because he’s looking out for his healthy diet regime. Satoru dearly loves Shoko and his cute underclassmen, but he’s critically deprived of choco-chip cookies and lava cakes. Suguru is the only person who can deal with Satoru’s sweet tooth, and without him accompanying Satoru on his dessert hunt, he’s left all alone, and it’s no fun eating alone.

“How could he do this to me?”

“Maybe you should take our advice once in a while. Cut off that sugar. Not everyone reeks of money to eat whatever they want.”

Satoru stares at her flatly. “We earn more than enough to be a bit hedonistic, y’know?”

Shoko shrugs, leaning her back to the tree trunk, and lights up a smoke. “Ask him, then?”

“I did,” Satoru grumbles in frustration, “He says he’s saving up for something.”

“He made his intentions clear, so stop bothering him.”

“She’s right, Satoru,” joins Suguru’s voice behind them. Satoru looks through his shoulder to see Suguru in his white shirt with their signature black blazer on his hand. “Be patient.”

He snatches a cold tea from the bag, takes a seat beside Shoko, and joins her smoking. Unlike them, Satoru can never find the appeal of smoke and cigarettes - one of the delinquent kids he befriended during junior high once offered him a cigar, and with only one disastrous coughing fit that leaves a bitter aftertaste, Satoru swore off smoking. It’s Suguru who picked up the habit instead - despite his reluctance of those guys - although Suguru only does it occasionally.

Suguru is persistent even after two weeks passed, refusing each and every one of Satoru’s offers until he knocks on Satoru’s door one Friday night with a bottle of cold milk tea from the vending machines. 

“Oh, so you’re finally breaking out from your penny-pinching phase?” Satoru asks, grabbing the bottle and drinks it all in one go out of spite, glaring holes at Suguru.

“Something like that,” Suguru hums, unceremoniously crashing on Satoru’s bed. “You’re free tomorrow, right?”

“Saturday? Nah, don’t have anything planned.”

“Let’s go out.” Suguru grins, raising a hand to his chest. “My treat.”

“So you’re telling me you’re saving up for me? Aw, Suguru, I’m touched,” Satoru coos, snuggling close to Suguru. “Where are you taking me?”

“Not telling you.”

“Ooooh, I love surprises.”

“Make sure to wear something decent.”

That’s the only hint that Suguru is willing to give him, and Satoru can only guess the places Suguru is taking him tomorrow.

Their first stop was a high-class restaurant that serves Japanese fine dining in the heart of Ginza, one of Tokyo’s luxurious districts. The food is plated elegantly, beautiful and appealing to the eye, inviting anyone’s appetite just by sight. Satoru is not foreign to such a dish - fresh and high-quality ingredients, treated with the utmost respect by chefs graduated top of their class, seasoned and cooked into perfection without missing any minor details, and arranged on the plate with gentle fingertips - which costs quite a fortune, though Satoru’s family never really have a problem with that.

It’s just… Suguru would usually take him out to eat at ramen stalls, or on special occasions, they would have a barbeque, teppanyaki, or sushi, but definitely not this. It’s just not Suguru’s style. 

Satoru appreciates the appetizer in front of him and mutters, “...This is not what I expected.”

Suguru snorts, picking up his chopsticks and points them at Satoru with a glare. “Don’t underestimate me, Satoru.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Satoru protests, picking up a piece of tofu. “I thought you’re not the type to choose a place like this? What happened to all-you-can-eat teppanyaki?”

“There’s always a place for special occasions, right?” Suguru mentions, raising his eyebrows as he inserts the crab meat into his mouth. “Ugh, this is some good stuff- you gotta try the crab, Satoru.”

Satoru intends to probe further because there’s nothing special to celebrate - it’s just their usual weekend without missions - but pushes it back into his mind when the taste of sea and herbs dancing on his taste buds distracts him for more. The main course and the desserts that come after are equally delicious, and Satoru walks out of the restaurant with a satiated tongue and stomach.

“Right, Getou-san, where are we going to go next?” Satoru playfully asks, encircling an arm around Suguru’s, feeling all light and carefree after one of the most gratifying meals he ever had. It’s a pleasant surprise, and it looks like there’s more to come, so Satoru is getting more excited by the minute.

Suguru fetches two blue tickets out from his wallet. “What would you say about aquariums?”

Satoru grins. He’s never been to aquariums before, and Suguru knows that he’d like to visit them someday. “What are we waiting for then? Let's go!”

There is a lot to see inside the tanks - small, colourful fishes, anemones, and even sharks that Satoru only ever sees from marine documentaries. He waits for the feeding shows and touches some sea cucumbers and starfishes on the touch pool along with children half his age, yet Satoru couldn’t bring himself to care. He’s not the only one out of place - Suguru has been poking on various starfish for the last five minutes - it’s just Suguru is more discreet than Satoru is. 

They finish their tour around three hours later, exiting the place with octopus plushies in hand.

“It’s still too early for dinner, so we’re going for some snacks first,” Suguru mentions, leading Satoru towards a fancy dessert shop that’s resting on Satoru’s to-go-list, known for their cakes and parfaits. He’s been eyeing the special tropical green tea parfait ever since he first saw the candle imitation displayed in front of the store. The cup they’re using must be at least the size of a regular water bottle, and Satoru unashamedly orders it along with a piece of montblanc, in comparison to Suguru’s small-sized parfait. 

“With that much sugar, I won’t be surprised if you’re diagnosed with diabetes by twenty.”

“Do you know the brain uses 60% of our total glucose in resting state? It should be higher for me to compensate Six Eyes, so no, it won’t be a problem.”

“I sure Six Eyes doesn’t even need that much,” Suguru mumbles, looking at Satoru’s portion in disdain. Satoru ignores him, taking a massive bite out of the cup, and moans in euphoria. The price doesn't lie - the sweet, creamy ice cream is just in balance with the bitterness of green tea, and the fresh strawberries add that tiny sour tang on top. And this sheer delicacy has only started - he hasn’t even managed to scoop up the middle part where the crackers, mixed fruits, creams, and jellies reside.

“I haven’t tasted heaven before, but I’m sure this is it.”

“Is it that good?”

Satoru scoops out a big chunk, raising his spoon towards Suguru. “Try it.”

Suguru cleans off the spoon, gobbling the dessert briefly before looking at Satoru with glittery eyes. “Oh, yeah, this is good. ”

“Right? Try the montblanc too.”

Satoru continues to feed Suguru with his desserts in bites between after Suguru's dessert is long gone, and he makes sure to leave nothing behind, not even the crumbs.

“I still can’t believe you finished most of that alone,” Suguru says as they walk out of the shop, “Remember the first time you went out to buy sweets? Your gluttonous ass vomited it.”

Satoru had been so full and sick from mochis, ice-creams, dorayakis, and much more, and when Suguru ran away with his precious dango, Satoru ran after him and ended up vomiting the contents of his stomach in Suguru's backyard. “That’s because you made me chase after you!”

“If it weren’t for you overeating, you wouldn’t have vomited.”

“I still blame you for that, Suguru.”

The roads and pavements are crowded with salarymen passing by, indicating Tokyo’s afternoon rush hour. Satoru waits for Suguru’s direction, who makes a beeline for a cab near the station. 

“Let’s not ruin this day by getting squished in trains.”

He gives the school’s address to the driver, and Satoru supposes that this is the end of today’s playdate. With their school being so far from the heart of Tokyo, they need around 45 minutes to arrive at the nearest convenience store from the school where Suguru asks for their stop. He pays for the cab and enters the store with Satoru in tow, grabbing two cup noodles in hand.

“This is for dinner.”

Satoru gapes for a second before laughing out loud. “Whaaaat? So we’re back into broke high school kids now?”

“Of course not,” Suguru says, throwing a cup towards him as they walk back to the dorms. “We started the year with instant noodles for dinner, and now, we’re celebrating our anniversary with this too.”

Satoru is still laughing, but comes to a halt when something leaves him confused. “Wait. What do you mean by ‘our anniversary’?”

Suguru pauses on his steps, eyes wide and lips gaping in shock. “Satoru. You’re telling me you forgot about it?”

“I can’t forget something that I don’t know, Suguru,” Satoru replies, looking as lost as Suguru. “What is this anniversary you’re talking about?”

“Are you joking right now?” 

Suguru’s lips are pressed into a hard line. “It’s our anniversary as a couple!”

“What? ” Satoru exclaims. He has never heard about this. “Since when do we become couples?”

“You-” Suguru heaves, his face getting redder by the minute, and Satoru isn’t sure if it’s from anger or embarrassment. He walks away towards the school without waiting for Satoru. “Oh my god, I can’t believe this.”

“Wait!” Satoru exclaims, catching up to Suguru’s pace and grabs his hand, but he still refuses to look at him. “Talk to me, Suguru. Do you mean that we’ve been dating for the past year? You never even asked me out!”

“Yes, you goddamn idiot!” Suguru abruptly shouts, frustration pouring on his face as he stops in his tracks. “What do you take our relationship for, huh, Satoru? Don’t tell me we’re just friends when we exchange blowjobs and kiss each other goodnight.”

Scenes of the past year are finally catching up to him when images of them holding hands as they sleep, the quiet good morning and night kisses, and the touches and embraces they share above the mattress. Satoru’s heart skips a beat, and suddenly, his face is very, very warm, and he's stuck in a moment of trance upon the realisation.

“Taking your sweet time as always, Satoru?”

Suguru’s question brings him back to reality, forcing him to be face-to-face with Suguru, whose pinkish hue still remains on his cheek. “I- I uh-”

“You know, forget about it.” Suguru sighs, pushing his hands into his pockets, and turns to continue his journey. “Let’s go back, for now.”

In a panic, Satoru hastily pulls Suguru’s hand out and holds it in his hand, forcing Suguru to stop. 

“I- I know I’m stupid enough to miss out on it, but now that it’s clear for me too...” Satoru says, moving close to Suguru to leave a soft peck on his lips, and whispers, “Please take care of me, starting now.”

Suguru kicks his shin, and Satoru yelps in pain - Infinity always dissipates when he’s around Suguru - and before Satoru can protest, Suguru pulls him back into a kiss. Satoru closes his eyes, getting lost in the heat of the moment, and he knows that this is all the answer he needs.

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last twelve years?” Suguru asks, breaking their kiss that’s still connected through a string, “I really hope you can take better care of me.”

Satoru giggles, rubbing his nose against Suguru’s, and replies, “I’ll do my best.”