Chapter Text
When it happens, Shoko and Suguru aren't quite sure how to react. To be completely honest, anything that revolves around Gojo Satoru is worth having an unexplainable reaction; one that triggers murder instincts from the sanest of people.
It’s reaching the level of predictability and Suguru is going to throttle the idiot in his sleep after drugging him with morphine and hurling his best friend over a goddamn cliff. He looks at Shoko who stares impassively ahead, sighing deeply and rubbing her eyelids.
You know, with all the past incidents involving the Gojo Satoru, Yaga-sensei should’ve taken the initiative to implement some magical jujutsu armory that could protect the walking hazard from getting into more trouble.
The day starts off normally.
Yaga-sensei decides to send them off to a mission in Kyoto and informs them of said mission a few minutes prior getting on the school car. It’s a Grade 3 curse, Yaga-sensei said as Geto got on the car. You’ll be back in less than an hour if we take Satoru into account, he said. You won’t miss lunch, Yaga-sensei said.
The curse is apparently located in a dingly old alley peppered with heart balloons and confetti from the Valentine’s Day celebration last week. That should have been Suguru's first sign to retreat.
Satoru grins maniacally, cracking his knuckles and loudly explaining how he could beat the curse with his eyes closed. Not that it made any difference with those six eyes of his anyways. Suguru looks back at Shoko, who nods uncommitted.
It is a Grade 3 curse and jokes aside, even he could deal with this blind folded. If something did happen, they’ll just get Shoko to heal them back. No biggie.
Then,
They see this thing with pink long arms slither, nails scraping the concrete. The sound is…grating to say the least. The curse whines, high-pitched and squealing as a head emerges from the hands, pink pupils bulging out and a black tongue lolling out. Satoru beams, clasping his hands and declaring how easy this curse was to exorcise.
Suguru prepares to attack, running towards the curse before Satoru decides to loudly exclaim “Awww, was this curse born from Valentine's Day?” while pouting. The curse abruptly stops and proceeds to jump on his best friend, pink gas steaming out of the curse.
And the next thing Suguru sees is his best friend snoring, face flat on concrete, and very obviously, asleep .
What.
What the Fuck.
When the dust settles in, Suguru sees Satoru limp on the ground. Chalking it down to Satoru’s antics (there was a time where he pretended to faint for fun because the curse was too boring to deal with), he and Shoko manage to quickly dispose the curse.
And the thing is, even after Shoko narrates tales and tales of Satoru’s embarrassing moments, he just won’t wake up.
“Ah- Suguru.” Yaga-sensei speaks, a little embarrassed over the phone. “I forgot to mention to watch out for the pink gas the curse repels. But seeing how the mission is done, it was a success right? I’ll get Inui-san to drive to your location.”
“Sensei…” Suguru mutters into the phone. Shoko poked Satoru’s cheeks experimentally. “Satoru is not waking up.”
Suguru isn’t sure why Yaga-sensei goes quiet on the other side for the next few seconds before laughing. “Don’t joke about this Suguru.”
Suguru blinks. “I’m not joking. Satoru’s asleep, snoring very loudly and not waking up.”
Yaga-sensei pauses. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Are you absolutely sure Satoru isn’t waking up and not some fluke?”
“Yes.”
In an empty classroom, Yaga Masamichi calmly puts his phone down and screams. Satoru was the last person he'd thought be affected by this curse. What the fuck.
In the stillness of Tokyo Jujutsu High, Nanami says that they should definitely leave Satoru alone and avoid doing anything that may prevent him from waking up. Suguru isn’t quite sure what that means but he nods nonetheless, Haibara frowning at Satoru’s limp body on the infirmary bed.
Shoko pulls a face. “So we can’t draw dicks on Satoru’s face? Can we Suguru?? Pretty please?”
Haibara shakes his head. “Shoko-san, that’s rude and I’m sure Gojo-kun wouldn’t want someone drawing penises on his face. Or- or anywhere else to be exact.”
Shoko puts out her tongue. “Bleh, you’re no fun meanie.” She turns to Suguru who stares impassively at Satoru. “What do you think we should do Suguru?”
“I think we all should let Gojo-san alone until we can figure out the curse that put him in this comatose-like state.” Doctor Hanaki says. “We don’t know much and it’s best to not make your friend when he’s like this, children.”
Nanami nods, seemingly okay with this situation. “On the bright side, Gojo will learn to humble himself once he wakes up.”
Suguru smiles softly. His eyes crinkle. “I don’t think anything or anyone can humble one of the strongest sorcerers in the world, Nanami. Besides, I’ll beat him up for that mishap regardless.”
“Soooo, how long is he going to be in this state anyways?” Haibara asks, head tilting to the side. He seems interested in this mess Satoru brought upon himself.
Hanaki looks over to Gojo before sighing. “We’re not sure about the specifics of the curse but as it was created on Valentine’s Day… it’s probably related to infatuation or lust. We will know it’s capabilities in a few days once Yaga is done sampling the area.”
Suguru jolts in surprise when Yaga-sensei enters the infirmary, looking displeased. “It seems like he’s not going to wake up anytime soon. If my hypothesis is correct, this is going to be more of a hassle than I thought it would.” He clicks his tongue.
Suguru squints at his teacher because what’s that supposed to mean ? He taps his foot, irritated. The maximum it’s taken for recovery after a mission is a single day yet here they are, two whole days after the incident surrounding Satoru who won’t wake the fuck up.
“So what? Is he going to stay like this forever or something?” Suguru scoffs. “No mission has ever taken this long to finish. And we don’t exorcise curses and do not know potential techniques it may have. That’s stupid.”
“Well, Satoru did rush in without asking us Suguru.” Shoko mutters pointedly.
“He always runs off without us. How were we supposed to know this was going to be any different? Huh ?”
“Calm down, Suguru-”
“Two days! He’s been sleeping for two fucking literal days and none of you know what’s going on? It was a Grade 3 curse. How hard could th-” Yaga smacks him behind the head.
“Calm down, kid.” He shakes his head. “Honestly, why do I have to deal with your emotional tantrums.”
“Yeah, because the only functioning adult in the room doesn’t know what’s going on with my best friend. Oh forgive me, sensei.” Suguru spits out.
“Hey n-now Geto-kun. Don’t you think you’re being harsh?”
“He’s going to be not thrilled when he wakes up and misses school.”
“I’m pretty sure Satoru would be most delighted to sleep through school regardless of the situation.” Suguru deadpans.
Shoko throws her bag over her shoulders. “I’m going to my room. I’m very tired but if there’s an update on that fucker, tell me.” She marches out of the door. “Bye.”
“I don’t think Gojo-kun would appreciate us fighting like this…” Haibara tries to placate.
Everyone turns and stares at Satoru with this look on their faces. As if they’re expecting him to sit up and claim this was one of his well-thought pranks.
(and giggle about it, patting everyone’s heads and handing out sweets because that’s Satoru’s thing. No matter how you deny it, he cares about his friends and wouldn’t pull this much of a sick joke-)
But Satoru remains motionless under the flimsy blankets of the infirmary, eyes closed and no visible signs of life.
“I’m sorry,” Suguru mumbles. “I- It’s just strange to see him so quiet and not moving .”
Yaga sends a sympathetic look his way. He walks over, ruffling Suguru’s hair. If what he suspects is correct- “Satoru will wake up, okay? I promise you he will.”
Suguru sends a crooked smile at his teacher.
Dread fills up Suguru as he sees Satoru just sleeps. And sleeps and sleeps and sleeps.
It’s been a week. A whole goddamn week and he shows no sign of waking up. They’ve attached machines flowing with cursed energy to his body to monitor his internal organs. It’s jarring to see Satoru so not-Satoru and it makes Suguru’s stomach churn.
Dread fills Suguru, a horrible sinking feeling when his mind wanders to the conversation he overhead the day before.
“Unconscious? No, Head Gojo. Master Gojo is in a comatose state by a Grade Three curse- yes. Of course.” The messenger from the Gojo clan mutters in to the phone.
Suguru can hear tiny bits of information being passed over.
“Send the Limitless back home as soon as he’s awoken. I will not tolerate such weakness in this household.” The messenger nods. " Set the training room. Contact our clients and bring in Special Grade curses into the training room."
Suguru sits beside Satoru, hands combing through his snowy hair. “Satoru, get the hell up.” A pained sound escapes him. “Is this why you act like a child? Because your clan didn’t give you a childhood?”
This wasn’t funny. It wasn’t funny dammit so get up pleaseget up-
The clock ticks.
Suguru taps his foot against the floor. “C’mon get the hell up. We- We’re supposed to be th-” The door opens, Yaga-sensei enters and gives Suguru a polite greeting. He returns it.
Wordlessly, Yaga-sensei carries a chair over and sits beside Suguru, his face showing…regret?
“I’m sorry, Suguru.” He murmurs. His teeth gritted. Tell me why he isn’t waking up?
“Why…” His face scrunches up, fists tightly clenched in his pants. “What the hell did a Grade 3 curse do to Satoru?”
Yaga-sensei makes a face- Suguru isn’t sure what that means but it means it’s something he didn’t take into account. That never happens. Like, ever.
He clears his throat. “We figured out what’s been causing this.” Suguru’s eyes lit up. He sighs in relief.
“So he’ll be up by today? Who do I need to beat up?”
Yaga-sensei shifts uncomfortably in his seat. If they found the cure then surely…Satoru would wake up right?
“I’ll…I’ll tell you when Shoko, Haibara and Nanami are present as well. Maybe one of you knows who it is. But if my hunch is right…” the teacher mumbles, looking at Suguru softly and patting his head. “He’ll wake up, hopefully.”
Suguru doesn’t want to the implication of a hopefully.
Suguru visits the infirmary an hour earlier and stares at Satoru’s body. It was funny in the beginning. Hell , Shoko took pictures of him and Suguru laughed a nd it was funny.
It’s not funny.
When the machines blare to life, cursed energy circulating and Suguru can hear how raspy Satoru’s breath is. How his body becomes paler by the end of the week and frail.
He wasn’t waking up.
He must have stayed there in the infirmary for a few hours without realizing because the door creaks open and Yaga-sensei walks in with the others. Shoko looks at him with pity and Haibara gives a small wave which Suguru returns.
“I hope you and Shoko know that it wasn’t anyone’s fault this happened okay?” Yaga-sensei starts off. Suguru frowns. The hell was that supposed to mean? “And this was Satoru’s own negligence in failing to analyze the situation however, I should’ve given more detail.
Damn right.
“Yeah…” Suguru grunts, eyes shifting his gaze on the heart monitor. His own heartbeat comes out ragged and painful and tired. “I know, sensei.”
Shoko is the next one to speak. “It’s not permanent is it?” She voices out, hesitant. Next to her, Nanami gives a small nod.
“Probably not permanent since they wouldn’t call the higher-ups for it then. It is Gojo we’re talking about.”
“It’s not anyone’s fault.” Yaga-sensei firmly says once more and now, Suguru is scared.
Wake up Satoru. Wake up and tell me that we’ll always be the strongest-
“In simpler terms, Satoru inhaled a curse which caused him to be in a state of deep slumber.” He began. The next few words shocks the students because seriously? Satoru - “And the only way to wake him up is…if the person he’s in love with-” Yaga-sensei throws his head back, agitated and annoyed. “Kissed him.”
The person Satoru is in love with…should kiss him to wake him up?
No one says anything for a while, too stunned to even think that Satoru likes someone other than himself?
“The fuck - what kind of Sleeping Beauty bullshit is this sensei?” Suguru grits his teeth. “So he ain’t gonna wake up until his crush kisses him while he’s unconscious? Is the damn kiss supposed to be romantic -” His voice escapes, haggard and so painfully tired.
“After examining the area, we found a few undocumented victims who said the same thing. We did some digging and the curse was born on Valentine’s Day. And to answer, yes. “ Yaga-sensei rubs his temples. “The curse wouldn’t have worked if the victim didn’t have romantic feelings for anyone and I had presumed Satoru didn’t-” Yaga shows a defeated expression. “All of you…wouldn’t happen to know who Satoru is in love with right?”
Suguru chokes, giving a look. “Tsh- Wha- No! I…I don’t know.” Satoru didn’t tell him. He didn’t have any idea. “He never said.”
The other students slowly nod their heads conflicted with thought. The rest of the conversation drowns in Suguru’s ears, the faint static of Satoru’s machines beeping at the back of his mind.
What sort of pining bullshit is this shit? And what if the person didn’t like Satoru? What if his best friend never woke up?
Yaga-sensei said that due to these special circumstances, the higher-ups are giving forty days to solve the issue in the school. The standard procedure or they would have to intervene. Which frankly, is the outcome no one wants. Suguru digs his nails into his skin.
This is so stupid He pokes Satoru’s pale face. So wake the hell up.
Besides , Suguru wonders. Who was it? Who did Satoru love so much that even Suguru didn’t know?