Chapter Text
September 3
"He get into fight?"
Nanami's voice sharpened slightly as he listened to the school secretary's words. He let out a slow sigh and glanced up at the ceiling. What did I do to deserve this...? he thought before opening his mouth to continue the conversation.
"Okay... I'll be there in five minutes"
Nanami hung up, slipped his phone into the back pocket of jeans, grabbed car keys from the dresser, and headed toward the garage.
Kento spent the entire drive wondering what could have driven Yuji to get into a fight—especially with Satoru Gojo's son. It wasn't the kind of start to the school year he had expected. Yuji had never been the type to fight, nor did he like burdening Kento with this kind of trouble. Had even someone like him, serious like Nanami... Can wrong judge his own kid? The thought of what the rest of the school year might bring left him uneasy.
When Nanami arrived at the school, the eyes of nearly every female student turned toward the car he stepped out of. He had long since grown accustomed to that kind of attention.
Kento simply ignored the stares and walked through the main entrance. That was normal here. Various posters advertising school clubs swayed gently on the bulletin boards, alongside several announcements about the upcoming sports festival. Nanami would have bet anything that Yuji was already agonizing over which event to sign up for this year.
With a quiet sigh, the blond man finally stopped in front of the door to the principal's office. Reluctantly, he turned the handle and stepped inside.
"Good afternoon..."
Nanami greeted them in his usual calm tone, his gaze settling on his son. Yuji was holding a tissue against his nose. It was noticeably red, but aside from that he didn't seem to be seriously injured. Good...
A moment later, Nanami's attention shifted to Megumi. The dark-haired boy was pressing a tissue to his split lip. Dried blood stained the corner of his mouth, and a fresh bruise was already beginning to bloom across his wrist.
Wonderful...
After a brief silence, Nanami placed a hand against his forehead and let out a quiet sigh. Then he turned toward the principal.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice."
The principal wiped the sweat from his temple. Both Nanami and Gojo were wealthy and influential men, and even in a situation like this, choosing his words carefully was enough to make him nervous. Accidentally offending either of them—or worse, one of their children—would be worse than walking straight into hell.
He shifted his gaze toward Yuji.
"So... Yuji got into a fight with Megumi. I'm afraid I don't know what happened between them. Neither of them is willing to tell us."
"Neither of them?"
Nanami's gaze grew colder as it shifted toward Yuji. The poor boy instinctively shrank back in his chair. Kento was not someone to be taken lightly, and Yuji had learned that lesson more than once.
A nervous sound escaped his lips, only to hear his father's voice once again.
"Are you going to tell me what happened?"
It wasn't really a question. It sounded more like an order directed at the boy. The air suddenly felt heavy—almost as heavy as the knot forming in Yuji's stomach.
"Hm..."
Nanami let out a quiet, expectant sigh.
"Fushiguro was trying to hit Yuki! I was just protecting him!"
Nanami couldn't jump to conclusions just yet, but Yuji had always been protective—especially when it came to his friends. Something similar had happened back in elementary school.
He remained silent until a familiar, lower voice spoke up from his right.
"I beg to differ...!"
Megumi finally spoke. He was usually composed—sometimes even more so than Nanami himself—but there was a clear edge of indignation in his voice.
"Yuki treated Tsumiki like some kind of prize to be won. I wasn't going to let that slide."
Tsumiki...? Megumi's sister.
Nanami didn't know much about the boy, but he had heard that he often got into fights. From conversations with his colleague, Shoko, who knew Gojo well, he had learned one thing more than once: young Fushiguro was fiercely protective of his sister.
Nanami didn't know what to say, and the room fell completely silent. An awkward, heavy silence settled over everyone. If they were both telling the truth, there was little point in trying to decide who was at fault.
"Ugh... Listen—"
Nanami finally decided to break the silence, but something—or rather, someone—beat him to it.
"Exactly! Listen up, everyone!"
Nanami turned toward him in irritation.
That idiot, Satoru.
Not only was he late, but he had the audacity to kick the door open, cutting Nanami off in the middle of his speech.
Megumi's gaze snapped toward the doorway before anyone else's. He wasn't looking at Gojo with anticipation, expecting to be defended. That caught Nanami off guard. Instead, a flicker of embarrassment crossed Megumi's face at Satoru's behavior. He tightened his grip on the sleeve of his uniform just as the principal finally raised his voice.
"Um... Mr. Gojo, Megumi got into a fight with Itadori. It appears it had something to do with your daughter and one of Yuji's friends."
The principal spoke cautiously. Apparently, he wanted this whole situation over with just as much as everyone else and hoped to get them out of his office as soon as possible.
Satoru ignored every word.
In fact, he probably hadn't even heard him.
His eyes remained fixed on Megumi as he walked toward the boy.
Yuji watched Gojo with quiet curiosity. He had only seen his face a handful of times before—maybe three, and never for very long.
Before he could keep staring, Nanami shot him a sharp look that silently told him to stop.
"Megumi-chan got into a fight?"
Gojo walked over to his son and gave him a light bump with his shoulder. The gesture was playful, and it was easy to tell from his tone that he considered the whole situation nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
"And here I was thinking your no-fights streak had lasted the entire summer... You always find a way to surprise your old man!"
The white-haired man casually pinched Megumi's cheek before turning toward Yuji.
For some reason, Nanami had the distinct impression that Satoru was looking down on his son.
Megumi felt it too.
The moment his father turned his attention to Itadori, the dark-haired boy quietly looked away with a faint sigh. He was more used to situations like this than anyone else.
"Mr. Gojo," the principal said, unable to hide the frustration in his voice. "The boys got into a fight. Are you seriously just going to laugh it off?"
Finally, an irritated Nanami opened his mouth. He couldn't stand Gojo so much that, if it weren't for his self-control, he would have started a fight with him himself. The blond man stepped closer to his son, causing Satoru to glance at him indifferently.
"Hm... No one got seriously hurt. I would've defended my sister too."
Gojo's voice grew a little colder as he turned his gaze toward the door. Nanami had only one question in his mind...
"Is he fucking serious?"
"I don't have time for this. I have to get back to work."
No one said another word. Satoru simply waved shamelessly as he walked out. Nanami stood there with an irritated expression while Megumi followed his father out. On his way, the boy threw his bloodstained tissue into the trash and wiped his mouth in an annoyed gesture.
"How can someone be so irresponsible..." Nanami thought to himself. Couldn't Satoru handle raising children? After all, he had spent two years trying to gain custody of Megumi and his sister. Nanami simply sighed. He didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.
His gaze shifted to Yuji.
"Does it hurt? Can you make it through the rest of your classes?"
Yuji seemed to be pulled out of his thoughts as well.
"W-What?"
Itadori quickly looked up after processing his father's words. He let out a nervous laugh before coming back to his senses and opening his mouth.
"Actually... Can I just go home?"
Nanami simply sighed. Yuji wasn't in pain, but he always tried to find a way to get home earlier.
"Please write him an excuse."
That was the end of the conversation. Kento waited for Yuji to get up so they could leave. Unconsciously, he kept looking at the boy's injury. Even so, he would have felt guilty if something more serious had happened to Yuji because of carelessness.
When Yuji looked at Kento, he quickly averted his gaze. He wasn't the type to show affection openly. Not because he was some cold-hearted bastard, but because affection came naturally to him only rarely—and usually at times when Yuji wouldn't even realize he was showing it.
Despite everything, the pink-haired boy only dared to speak after they had left the school.
"I didn't know anything about that bet. I just wanted to defend my friend, you would’ve done the same—"
He didn't manage to finish as Nanami shot him a cold look.
"I definitely wouldn't have handled it that way. You could have told someone or—"
Nanami gave up mid-sentence. That kind of explanation wouldn't work on this boy.
Damn it... Did Nanami even know enough about his child?
He had adopted him when Yuji was about nine, and three-quarters of his upbringing had been handled by caretakers and Nanami's former partners. He had mostly played the role of a distant, strict figure who only showed up at home from time to time.
"...Dad?"
He had been thinking for too long. Itadori started to get uneasy about the silence. The word "Dad" always managed to snap him out of it faster.
Nanami shook himself out of his thoughts and remembered what he had been saying.
"Damn it, you had hundreds of other options and you chose a fight?"
"You would’ve done the same..."
"Itadori."
The boy only received a quiet warning—and, on top of that, being called by his surname. That was enough of a signal for him not to push the topic any further.
The rest of the way they spent in complete silence, broken only by Yuji’s occasional glances.
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Satoru was driving home from school. He kept his eyes on the road while absentmindedly biting his lower lip. He wasn’t even sure anymore if he was doing the right thing. There had been too many thoughts lately.
He and Geto had probably broken up... "Probably" because even he didn’t really know.
Geto had always lived in a different place, but they saw each other often. With Tsumiki and Megumi, or without them. A few recent arguments had slowly poisoned their relationship, and Gojo was sure it was his fault. More than once, he had found himself flirting with secretaries or random women at parties. Geto had always felt uneasy about it—about Gojo flirting with women while they were still together. Satoru would bet anything that Suguru believed he was just some kind of experiment to him.
Because of all that, Gojo had clearly been neglecting his relationship with Megumi far too much. Not that there had ever been much of one, but outside of work, Gojo used to give both Megumi and Tsumiki his full attention—far more than the attention he gave Geto.
Satoru didn’t feel the distance as strongly with Tsumiki. The girl spent most of her time studying for exams. She was in her fourth year... Gojo kept telling her to focus more on relationships instead. She was busy either studying or going out with friends, which somehow worked out so that they still found an hour or two together in the evenings.
But Megumi... The teenager would shut himself in his room after school. He had never been a fan of Gojo’s enthusiasm. Of course, he was deeply grateful for the home Gojo had given him and Tsumiki, but the apathy he had learned while living with Toji... simply didn’t allow him to be affectionate. He felt weak when being hugged, and even worse when he had to open up to someone.
It always ended the same way—watching a movie with his sister and Gojo, Megumi would say he was tired and go back to his room. They had gotten used to it.
This year, Megumi had started repeating that pattern more and more. Sometimes he would sleep through entire days. Gojo didn’t tell Tsumiki, who, with her own mess of responsibilities, didn’t notice it. Gojo tried to talk to him, but after the first attempts, Megumi always reassured him he was fine and didn’t want to talk. Eventually, Gojo decided the conversations were pointless... and they just stopped talking altogether.
Gojo sighed as he finally arrived. He parked in the nearest free spot and got out of the car. He looked around and rolled his eyes when it hit him that he still had to go to work.
God, he hated this.
End of Chapter 1