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“So, uh, what year is it exactly?”
“2018.”
“Twenty—a decade!? ”
Shoko picks at the food sitting in front of her with a pair of chopsticks. She barely acknowledges the teenage boy sitting in front of her—the one she used to be so insanely fond of. Of course, seeing him walk into the campus that day surely did wake her up, no caffeine was needed, but now the feeling passed, and she’s back to being unimpressed.
Satoru’s twice as confused as she is. This really was the future. He’s just sitting in it. He did walk past the twenty-eight-year-old version of himself plenty of times, only avoiding interaction because every time travel TV show says it's bad to mess with events in the future or past. His bigger concern was—where was Suguru in all this madness? And why is Shoko… that way?
The Shoko he knew and loved was pretty aloof, but this version of her took it to the next level. She aged well, like fine wine, but the purple hue under her eyes didn’t sit right with him. Nor did how mundane she became and the fact she barely smiled.
“You can crash at my apartment until we sort this thing out. Keep out of sight, and don’t bring anything you did back in the 2000s to now.” She highlights his immaturity from back then. “And most importantly, stray away from Gojo Satoru in this timeline.”
~~~
“Holy shit, this is a phone? Technology has come far. Gotta show Suguru and mini you this.” Satoru whipped out his old phone, trying to snap a picture and send it.
“You time traveled, Gojo. Not just to the city next over. There’d be no way for you to have signal—”
“It sent.” Motherfucker .
“What happened to not messing with the course of time?” Shoko groaned. “Well, I’m off to work. Stay here. Help yourself to the fridge. Don’t answer the door. I’ll open it myself when I’m back.” At this point, this felt like a babysitter job. “Only use that phone for emergencies. There’s a TV if you get bored.”
After Shoko left, Satoru explored her modest little apartment. Things were…messy. To say the least. The Shoko he knew always kept her space neat and would be the one to reprimand him about his messy dorm and unkempt laundry. Her fridge consisted of just beer and leftovers. Seriously, what happened?
It killed him to see her like this.
Satoru was trying to figure out the smart TV when he heard the door open. Planning to jump at her for fun—he ended up ducking behind the couch instead when he saw her come home with adult Satoru. ‘ Shit. I aged hella well.’ Opening the phone, he barely knew how to function. There was a text telling him to hide from thirty minutes ago. Oops. He continued to observe.
“Come on, it’ll be fun. You never go to these kinda things anymore.” Satoru leaned against the kitchen island.
“For good reason.”
“You need to live a little, you know? We barely get enough downtime as sorcerers as is, so why pass up the opportunity?’
“Because I have no interest in going to a beach ‘work’ trip. We don’t do work trips with our job.”
The hell? Shoko, in 2006, would’ve gladly accepted. As long as Suguru and he were there to drag her by.
“Thanks to this guy,” Adult Satoru darted two thumbs-ups at his face, “now we do.”
“Have fun. Send me a postcard if you feel strongly about it. The answer is no.”
“If you go, I’ll cover all your drinking expenses for you while we're there. It’s a luxury hotel. They’ve got an extensive bar.”
“...You drive a hard bargain.”
“So, I’ll see you in a bikini on Tuesday next week?”
“Yeah.” She admits with a sigh.
“Greaaaat! I’ll send ya the details.”
As Satoru heads out, he hears a little thump followed by a muffled groan coming from behind the couch. He walks over. “Shoko…do you have an animal or something in your apartment?”
“Oh–no. Why?”
“Thought I heard something.”
“Must’ve heard wrong.” She quickly shoots back.
~~~
“We need to fix this before Tuesday. I need my free Margaritas.”
“Okay.” Satoru clicks his tongue, scratching his chin, trying to conjure up an idea. He’s been here for three days so far—hoping to return back to his original timeline every time when he wakes up from sleep. But, he will say that it was really amusing to overhear all adult Satoru and Shoko’s conversations. Mini him knew the man was trying to flirt. Twelve years, still can’t score her. “Should we ask Suguru for help, the adult one in this timeline?”
Shoko pauses, processing the boy’s words. She knew telling him would fuck up everything—but not telling him would just make him more curious. She knew teenage Satoru was pushy. “Suguru…” She clears her throat. “He’s not a sorcerer anymore, per se."
“What? But we’re the strongest.” Oh, teenage Satoru, you poor poor, innocent, naive thing.
“He retired. Got outta of the game pretty early. He’s living in some mansion in Kyoto now. But don’t tell him that when you get back. May or may not mess things up.”
“Shit. Kyoto. My teleportation can’t go that far. Can I ask, though, why are you so…?” What was the word?
“So…?”
“Depressed.” Wow. Blunt. “I mean, Shoko from you know—my time, she’s hella cool and fun to be around.”
“Aging does that to you, kid.”
“But adult me doesn’t seem so pessimistic. What happened to you?”
“...I guess those days became just nostalgia to me. It’s quiet nowadays. I’m in the infirmary treating people. You’re still the strongest and also a teacher. Suguru’s…doing himself.”
“What about Utahime? And Mei-san?”
“Utahime’s stationed in Kyoto. Mei doesn’t teach. She’s a sorcerer and freelances on the side.”
“...So you’re alone? Besides me, of course.”
“I guess it feels that way.” Shoko shrugs. “Enjoy your school days as much as you can. Especially with Suguru.” She emphasizes. “Had I known he was going to retire so early…I would’ve partied a little harder with him.”
“Do we like…not hang out anymore? Me and you?”
“You’re a busy guy. I’m cooped up in the morgue and infirmary. No time for that. I mean, I guess he tries to.”
“--But you seem uninterested.”
“I’m pushing thirty. Cut me some slack. We didn’t do much in high school to begin with anyway.” She puts a cigarette in her mouth. The teenager lights it for her in Suguru’s place.
“That’s not—”
“We both know you hang around Suguru more. Face it, kid. But I’m not pissed. You two were the strongest. The two peas in a pod.”
~~~
The following day, young Satoru woke back in his proper timeline. The first thing on his mind was to run to Shoko’s dorm. “Shokooo!” The girl was laying on her bed, earbuds blasting some kind of crappy teenage girl music. He launches on top of her without warning.
“Gojo–what the hell? What’s going on? Why are you–”
“I just wanted to see ya.” He embraces her a little tighter. He couldn’t do much, but maybe he could prevent her from becoming a little less depleted in the future by putting his foot down now. “Did you see the pic I sent you?”
“I mean, you’re welcome anytime. But what’s with the suffocating hug? And no, I didn’t.”2018 signal sucks.
Satoru squeezes a bit tighter. “I dunno. You smell nice.”
“I’m calling the cops.” She joked.
“Mm, let’s go out to eat. I’ll text Suguru. Grilled squid?”