Chapter Text
The phone is cold against Suguru’s ear. He can’t tell whether the vibrations are normal or whether his hands are shaking. Maybe both.
It rings once. Then twice.
A white cloud of his breath puffs in front of his nose from a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Sweat beads down his temple and down his neck; his hair is stuck. His heart tugs and hurts, and his grip on the phone tightens.
Four times. Five times.
“Hello? Suguru? Why’d you call?”
Suguru lets out another shaky breath and lets his head fall.
“Sa-... Satoru. There’s-...”
The words won’t form. His breathing quickens and he can’t think. God, he can’t think.
“Suguru? Is everything okay?”
“Satoru… Can-. Can you come?”
“Ehhhhh, really? I just got back, you know.”
Suguru bites his tongue. Of course, this whole thing was stupid. He shouldn’t be asking for Satoru to come out all this way. He shouldn’t have-
“Suguru? Give me a second, okay?” Suguru’s other hand shakes as he tries to push his bangs out of his face. “I’m coming, okay. Suguru? Just stay put.”
Suguru takes a deep breath, but his heart doesn’t stop racing. “Okay.”
The call cuts off, and Suguru digs his palms into his eyes. He was stupid. So stupid.
No. No, that wasn’t right. He takes another deep breath. His heart keeps racing. This isn’t right. None of this was right. God, what did he-, no what did anyone do for this to happen? What kind of God could take such sweet pleasure in this cruel joke of a world?
He lets his hands fall and turns around to the sight of those two girls, huddling in the shadows and clinging onto one another like a lifeline. Their eyes are wide as they follow his steps as his legs take him to them. He crouches down and smiles. “Help is coming. No need to be afraid.”
The girls don’t respond; they only shudder. “Let’s go. He’ll be coming soon.”
The trio slowly walk to the main street. Other villagers buzz by them, trying to steal quick glances at the monster twins and the odd man who’s taking them. They keep their gazes low, probably unnerved by Suguru’s actions and expression. Which is comical, considering how he’s internally a nervous wreck.
What the fuck am I going to do with these children? I’m no parent. For fuck’s sake, I’m eighteen years old!
He glances behind him. The twins are holding hands and trudging behind him, struggling to keep up. Suguru pauses, noticing that they didn’t have shoes. Anger boils in his gut, and he clenches his hands.
“You, there,” he commands. “Give these two your shoes.”
The villager meets Suguru’s eyes from under the brim of his straw hat as his presumed wife is already removing her sandals. Without a word, he follows, too, leaving their shitty shoes for the girls.
“You can take those. They’re the wrong size, but it’s better than nothing.” Suguru’s voice is gentle, unlike before. The girls gingerly slide their feet into the sandals and look up to the sorcerer. He smiles before turning around and keeps walking, slower this time. His smile is sweet. Sweeter and kinder than any of those stupid villagers who locked them up. Nanako tugs on the hem of Mimiko’s dress.
“Is this a trick?” She whispers.
“I don’t think so. There’s no reason for him to be so nice, right?” Nanako bites her lip. “I guess not.”
Suguru doesn’t react. He can’t feel anything. Now, I’m really stuck in this mess. He rakes a hand through his hair, having already fallen out of its neat bun ages ago. That’ll be a problem for later.
Suguru and the twins make it to the side of the road. Suguru sits on the curb, feeling nothing. The girls awkwardly hover a couple metres away from him, undoubtedly thinking about whether or not they should join him.
“I won’t bite, you know,” Suguru muses. “No need to be so apprehensive.”
Nanako furrows her eyebrows, and Suguru realises that they probably didn’t know what the word meant. “I meant there’s no need to be worried.”
“I know,” replies Mimiko. Her voice is soft but not unsure.
“I see. You’re welcome to come and sit with me, if you want.”
Suguru checks his phone. “Help will be coming soon.”
The twins shuffle towards him and sit near him, still holding hands. Suguru rests his arms on his knees and glances at his rescues.
“Wanna play a game?” They look but don’t answer. Suguru unlocks his phone and puts on some game which he didn’t remember downloading. He passes the phone to Nanako, who takes it eagerly. They murmur between themselves, and Suguru stares into space.
I’m so fucked.
What do I do with them?
Satoru is going to laugh his ass off.
Suguru doesn’t know how long he sat there, vaguely registering the conversation between the twins. He feels the wind blowing through his hair, through his shirt. Goosebumps snake along his skin, but he doesn’t feel cold.
This is denial, huh. How convenient.
“Sir? Uh, Mister?”
Suguru flops back into reality at Nanako’s voice. “Sorry, sir. Your phone just went black.” Her lip is quivering. “We don’t know what happened.”
Suguru takes his phone, confused. “Ah, no need to worry. It just died.”
“Died? Like it was killed?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that,” Suguru laughs. “The battery just ran out.”
He mentally kicks himself. “It was pretty low to begin with. I should have saved it.”
“What’s a battery?”
Suguru furrows his eyebrows before looking over at the girls. “You don’t know what a battery is? Have you never seen any technology?”
They wordlessly shake their heads.
Christ.
Suguru explains the concept of a battery to them, trying to ignore the growing feeling of rage in his gut. If there is a God, he is looking the other way.
“No need to fear because Gojo Satoru is here!”
Suguru hadn’t even noticed the black car pull up before Satoru climbed out and struck a stupid-looking pose.
“You know, a reaction might be nice.”
Suguru stands up, and the girls follow. “This is the help. You can get in.”
He opens the door for them, and they climb into the back seat. Gojo watches him, his expression unreadable.
“Just what happened here, Suguru?”
Suguru looks at him. “It’s a long story. Let’s just go.”
He starts to open the passenger door, but Satoru grabs his arm. “Suguru. Are you okay?”
Suguru opens his mouth but doesn’t respond. He’s minutely aware of the villagers peering through their windows at them, watching his every move as the guy who whisked all their problems away. The same ones who would condemn two children to a life of imprisonment out of pure superstition. Anger fills his stomach, and his jaw hardens.
“I-. They were going to be locked up and-”
The words are once again caught in the back of his throat. He presses his lips into a thin line as tears spring to his eyes. “I couldn’t leave them here.”
Satoru doesn’t move for a second, and Suguru can feel the judgement leaking from his expression. He turns away, not wanting to see exactly what his best friend thought of him. But Satoru pulls him into a hug, guiding his head into his shoulder. He holds Suguru close, running his fingers through his long, black hair. Tears spill onto his cheeks as he latches on to Satoru.
“They would have grown up like I did,” he says, voice impossibly quiet. “I can’t let them grow up like freaks.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
Suguru and Satoru stand there for a while, locked in each other’s embrace until Suguru is too tired to stand. Satoru opens the car door for him and helps him in. He drives off, acutely aware of one hundred and twelve pairs of eyes watching them.
Satoru barely concentrates on the road. He knows that the girls have been sleeping in the back since nearly the moment they climbed in. He knows that Suguru’s mind is long gone by now. And he also knows that he doesn’t have enough emotional maturity to help.
You don’t.
Yeah, he doesn’t know what it was like for Suguru to grow up. Six Eyes and Limitless had come with an instruction manual, and he was surrounded by people who knew exactly what he had to do. For better or worse.
But Suguru never had that. He probably grew up without any knowledge about his powers except the innate feeling that he was different.
You idiot, Suguru. You think I don’t know what it’s like to grow up being different? What it’s like to be shunned?
Satoru scrunches his nose. Now’s not the time. Just make it home and think later.
At this point, it’s way past midnight, and the moon is bright in the night sky. All things considered, it was a nice night. The street lights are yellow, not white, and his favourite playlist is playing. His best friend is sitting in the front seat, for once not commenting on his driving.
“Satoru?”
Satoru looks over at Suguru. “Hm?”
“Thanks for coming.”
“No problem.” He pauses. “Do you want to talk?”
Suguru sighs and rubs his eyes. “Not right now.”
“Okay.”
It isn’t until ten minutes later that Suguru speaks up. “I nearly killed them, Satoru. I almost let out a curse to kill them all.”
Gojo doesn’t answer, words stuck in the back of his throat.
“They locked those girls up. They thought that they were causing all the problems, just because they could sense the curse. They were going to kill them for something that wasn’t even connected to them. Just because they were too blind to see that the problem was their own creation. All of their superstition and fucking fear that created that curse. Fucking hypocrites.”
Suguru is crying again, and Satoru doesn’t know how to help. A pat on the head isn’t appropriate, right? He can’t exactly hug him.
“Suguru.” He sniffles and quiets down.
“You did the right thing, calling me. We’ll bring the girls back to Jujutsu High and they’ll stay there. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
Suguru doesn’t look up, but he seems relieved. Satoru mentally applauds himself for saying the right thing.
“Hasaba… Nanako and Mimiko.”
“Hm?”
“Their names. Hasaba Nanako and Mimiko.”
Satoru rolls their names on his tongue. “Nice names. Which one’s which?”
“Light hair is Nanako, dark hair is Mimiko.”
“I see.”
The twins sleep in the back, and Suguru and Satoru sit in a comfortable silence. Suguru’s eyes slowly close, and sleep finds him as Satoru continues driving.
I got my licence for late-night snack runs. Not to pick up my best friend and his rescues.
He glances in the rear-view mirror, making sure that they’re still sleeping. Once satisfied, he turns his eyes back towards the road and pushes his sunglasses onto his head. The world comes into clear focus, but he doesn’t feel the pressure behind his eyes. Although curses typically come out at night, that village was so remote, they’ve been driving on an empty street for some time now. No human contact means less curses. It’s… peaceful.
Maybe I should retire to the countryside after graduation.
Satoru finally makes a turn onto the highway and the lights of Tokyo become visible. He pushes his glasses back down and stifles a yawn. It was truly inconvenient that the one time Suguru asked him to pick him up, it just happened to be in a remote village an hour away. He absent-mindedly reads the signs at exits, debating whether he should stop and get gas or make it someone else’s problem later.
I could really go for ice cream right now.
And so he takes the exit and pulls up at a convenience store. His parking skills were atrocious, but he decides that leaving the car even semi perpendicular to the curb was already asking a bit too much of him given the circumstances. He quietly leaves the car, making sure not to wake Suguru and the girls.
He doesn’t really know what to buy. Obviously, he gets an ice cream and Red Bull for himself and a bag of chips with tea for Suguru. But it occurs to him that he doesn’t know what the girls like. He racks his brain for common sense on what little girls might enjoy.
Sweets? Kids like sweets, right?
He picks up a packet of Pocky and eyes the assortment of bread in the display case.
Oh, well. If the girls don’t eat it, I will.
Suguru’s face comes to mind. The one with that slightly condescending expression. Do you ever eat anything other than junk?
He clucks his tongue and picks up hot food for the kids. Suguru will never catch him dead eating ‘healthy’ shit.
He dumps his items in front of the cashier, who had deep purple eye bags and looked ten minutes away from falling asleep upright.
“1400 yen,” he drawls. Satoru drops the money onto the counter and shoves the change into his pocket.
He gets back into the car and tosses the bag onto Suguru’s lap, who had already woken up.
“What’s this?”
“Dinner.”
Suguru peers inside the bag, eyes widening slightly. “This is probably the first time I’ve ever seen you buy anything other than chips and sweets.”
“Suguruuuuu,” whines Satoru. “I pick you up in the middle of nowhere, and this is how you repay me?”
Suguru scoffs.
“The good stuff is for the kids. The salty shit and tea is yours. The rest is mine.”
“I would never even dream of taking your garbage, Satoru.”
Satoru pulls onto the dirt road leading to Jujutsu High, grimacing every time he hits a pothole. Branches whack the sides of the car, which accompanied by the overall bumpiness of the street, the time, and the circumstances, made for a horrifying trip. The girls wake up, and their eyes are wide and worried. Suguru notices.
“It’s okay, guys,” he says, turning back. “We’re not kidnapping you.”
The girls exchange fearful glances. “Why is the road so scary?”
“Because our shitty principal thinks it builds character and refuses to upgrade it.”
Suguru shoots Satoru a murderous look. “They’re kids,” he hissed. “‘Mind not swearing?”
“Please. Tell me your parents didn’t swear at you.”
Suguru rolls his eyes before turning back around. “You can ignore him.”
The girls, bless their hearts, exchange confused looks.
Suguru can’t recall what happened between the village and arriving at Jujutsu High. He talked with Satoru, but he can’t remember why. Satoru made a pit-stop at a convenience store and dumped his purchases in his lap. His hair feels gross, his body is sweaty, and for once he wants nothing more than to sit in the dark until real sleep takes him. Fatigue after a mission is normal. It feels better after a hot shower and lounging around, listening to Satoru’s day. Hearing Nanami and Haibara converse outside. Shoko’s garbage T.V. shows. Satoru’s endless hoard of sweets stuffed into his kitchen cabinet.
But this… this is exhaustion. From seeing those girls - himself - being isolated by fear. The clear looks of disdain on all who draw near to those unfortunate enough to not be born ignorant. Suguru had been spoiled in Tokyo. People took him seriously, he made some real friends, and he forgot what it was like to feel such deep anger like it was etched into your bones. The helplessness associated with being the kid who nobody understood with almost no one there to hold his hand and lie. It’ll be alright. He screws his eyes shut, attempting to drown out that horrible reminder of what he had left and what would have awaited those children. The sleepless nights, only soothed by hot milk and the feeling of her cold cold hands wiping away his tears. Travelling an hour away just to pretend to be normal for some fraction of the day. Suguru rubs his eyes, trying to force the thoughts out of his head. I’m tired. I don’t want to think about this now.
He opens the door for the girls to get out, and they awkwardly follow behind him, although he doesn’t entirely know where he’s leading them. Satoru walks behind them, undoubtedly watching Suguru’s every move. They turn a corner, running into Yaga.
“Hm? Geto, what is this?”
Suguru doesn’t look up from the ground. “I… recruited them. From my mission.”
Yaga is unimpressed. “And you didn’t think to let us know beforehand? Do you think we take in strays?”
“Uh-” Satoru clears his throat. “His phone was dead.”
Yaga scowls. “And you didn’t think to contact anyone?”
“My bad.”
The girls cower in the teacher’s shadow, taking refuge behind Suguru. Yaga glances at them and sighs. “Find them a room. We’ll figure this out later.”
Suguru breathes a sigh of relief and smiles down at the twins as they look up with eager eyes. “Come with me.”
Suguru finds an empty dorm room (the first one he looked in) and ushers them in. He still held Satoru’s contributions, which he lays on the counter.
“Sato- I mean the white haired guy - bought you some food. There’s pocky, uh, melon bread,-” The girls look confused.
Of fucking course. There’s no way they know what any of these are.
Suguru pushes his hair out of his face. “You can eat what you like. Don’t worry, it's not poisoned or anything.”
He gestures vaguely to the room, devoid of any personal touches and consisting of only a bed, a desk, and the counter in front of him. “Make yourselves at home.”
He turns around, ready to take a sleeping pill and knock himself out, but he feels pressure around his waist. Nanako had wrapped her little arms around him, her face scrunched tight. “Thank you for saving us, mister.”
Mimiko follows, and Suguru feels tears in his eyes again. “No need to thank me. I’m just glad you’re safe now.”
He doesn’t know how long he stood there, running his fingers through the girls’ hair as they sobbed quietly. He eventually coaxes them to try some food and go to bed. They protest when he leaves but eventually quiet down when he promises to return in the morning.
Suguru trudges towards his own room, eyes not leaving the ground until he bumps into something. Someone actually.
“Suguru. What were you thinking?”
“Leave me alone, Satoru.” He tries to get past, but Gojo blocks his way. “I’m serious. Since when have you been inclined to save little kids? Have you finally gone insane?”
“Just leave me alone.”
“That’s not a fucking answer.”
“It’s none of your business-”
“You made it my business-”
“Can you please just shut up and leave me alone!”
Suguru didn’t mean to yell. And Satoru didn’t expect it. “For the love of God, is it so wrong to take in kids - with cursed energy, mind you - and spare them from a life of loneliness?”
Anger pours into his voice. “Actually, never mind. You’re fucking Gojo Satoru. You have no fucking idea what it’s like for the average commoner. So for once just look past yourself and realise that life sucks outside! And they don’t deserve to live in that shitstorm!”
Satoru fumes. Suguru’s eyebags are deep, deeper than that poor cashier at the convenience store. His hair, which is normally so neat in a bun, is a straggly mess hanging down his back. He bit his tongue.
“Fine.”
Suguru storms past him, heading straight to his room and slamming the door. Satoru watches him leave, bitter at his words. Average commoner? Give me a fucking break.
He enters his own room, ironically right next to Suguru’s, puts on his eye mask, and lies in the dark.
Suguru opens his eyes. 4:37 AM. Lovely. He pushes himself up, irritated to find his shoulders tight and feeling grosser than ever. He picks some random clothes out of the dresser and heads to the showers, ready to spend an hour disassociating under the hot water. He quietly leaves his room and glances at Satoru’s door and the stupid sticker he stuck on it. He probably isn’t awake.
Satoru hears Suguru leave. As the sound of his footsteps recedes, he breathes a sigh of relief. For what? Their argument had been replaying in his head, over and over again for hours. Satoru… didn’t know how to feel. This wasn’t the first time that Suguru had called him out for being out of touch with the rest of the world, but the pure venom dripping from each word had caught him off guard. What was he missing?
He rolls over again. He didn’t know how to deal with people. Suguru was easier, but nothing’s that easy, he supposes. He brings the palms of his hands to his eyes, trying to crush all his doubts. Why did he care so much? This was far from the first time that others jabbed at his upbringing and the legacy brought with it. God, this shit is so confusing. He stops thinking about it, hoping that Suguru just needed some rest and that they would resume their normal routine tomorrow. And so, sleep finds him. And he dreams of blessings and Suguru.
My kid will be sold off to the Zen’in clan. Do with that what you will.