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Years after Suguru had left, Satoru was on his way to a bakery when he got a strange phone call. The number wasn’t saved in his phone, but it was a boring Sunday afternoon, so he decided to pick it up anyway.
There was a man on the other end of the line, seemingly around his age, speaking in a cheerful tone and asking how Suguru was doing.
At first, Satoru thought it was a joke. See, when Suguru left, word spread quickly—everyone in the jujutsu society knew what had happened within days.
“What?” It was the only word he managed to let out. He felt paralyzed.
“Is he still working with you? Or is that a dumb question? Of course, h—”
“No, he doesn’t.” Satoru finally managed to say, his mouth suddenly dry. “He doesn’t work with the jujutsu school anymore.”
“Oh. I see. I just wanted to ask if he could come to a reunion. It’s going to be me and a few other classmates—mostly seniors. You wouldn’t know them, but Suguru used to hang out with us sometimes. Of course, you’re invited too. I’m just starting to invite everyone.”
Satoru told him that Geto wasn’t in town and wasn’t coming back anytime soon. And that was because… because Suguru had always wanted a normal life. He had decided to move abroad to study—he wasn’t born into the jujutsu society, and he had never planned to stay in that world for long.
Satoru lied. Of course.
“In that case, will you send my regards to him? This is the first time I’m hearing that. Oh man, that must have been awful for the school. Geto was the star there. I mean, you were too, but no one dared to approach you. Suguru was different. Everyone looked up to him, and I say that as his senior.” Disappointment was evident in his voice.
But the man didn’t even know the truth. Satoru stood for a moment, letting out the most weary giggle while entertaining the idea of just telling this guy the truth.
He was done with this phone call. And yet, at the same time, he wanted to keep going. It was as if he had suddenly stepped into an alternate world where people still asked him about Suguru like it was normal. And he didn’t want to leave that world just yet.
It had been a long time since he’d talked to anyone about Suguru. Normal or not.
Not with Shoko. Not with Yaga, who carried too much guilt about everything.
Nanami, however, simply didn’t like to talk about it. You could ask him—unlike Shoko, he wasn’t avoiding the subject, but he would give a short answer and end the conversation in less than a minute.
And so, Satoru was left with this senior—whose name he couldn’t even remember.
“I’ll tell him you said hi. But, uh… can I ask—were you friends with him?”
“In the early days, he used to be my assistant on a lot of missions. That didn’t last long, though—he started outperforming me pretty quickly.” The man let out a chuckle. “I’ll admit, I was embarrassed at first. But then I realized he was made for great things—it was different. By the end of it, I was proud to have tutored him. Something I used to brag about.”
He hesitated for a moment before adding, “And don’t take this the wrong way, but he was close to you, too. We used to think—damn, this guy’s on another level. I was so sure he’d become the principal someday.”
Satoru didn’t know how he was supposed to take that without feeling some kind of way. Since the guy just pointed out that Suguru could very well do anything seeing he could put up with Gojo Satoru and even did the impossible of… right, being his friend.
But he was too drained to care. The matter was a decade old, anyway.
So he said goodbye and ended the call, confirming that he would let Suguru know that a former senior had asked for him.
That man, however, never called again. He never followed up with the details of the reunion. He never even mentioned his name.
It had happened back when they were students, too. People came to him to ask about Suguru. And back then, he obviously never cared. But years later, he could see the bigger picture.
See, when you focus only on work and exclusively hang out with your one coworker slash classmate slash best friend… it’s basically like a gamble.
Imagine what happens when that one coworker stops working with you. When you’re left with nothing but your work to care about and yourself to hang out with.
All the things Yaga had warned him about started taking place one after another. Nothing after has been as crushing to survive, as terrifying to face.
Now, he stood there in silence. The door to the bakery opened and closed a few times behind him, but Satoru Gojo was frozen, staring into the distance. He could have just given the guy the address to Suguru’s cult headquarters and skipped any explanation.
All these complicated feelings make him angry sometimes. Would it change anything if he told the guy that the star of jujutsu society killed his parents (first act) and an entire village (second act) ten years ago and is now running a cult.
But go ahead, invite him to the reunion, shoot your shot. Maybe he would answer your call. Maybe he’d even be friendly enough to show up. Not that I’d know since he ditched me (third act).
“Sir? How can I help you?”
The waiter's voice made Satoru feel like he was being woken up from a nap. His head was beginning to spin.
“…Uh, a table for two, please.” He said, following the waiter around after hearing a short ‘of course’.
Yaga, being the only responsible adult in his life, had pushed him—several times—to change. He said it was childish of Satoru to shut everyone out. At the time, Satoru knew that to be true, but he didn’t want to hear it. And now, he thought, you’re wrong Yaga. I don’t think you know much about me.
So Satoru sat at the table, waiting for the sudden surge of feelings to subside. Phone still in hand, he contemplated calling the cult leader—to see for himself if the man was friendly enough. Or, more importantly, if Suguru was even still there.