Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Satoru sticks his tongue out in concentration as he keeps an eye on the fire while also making sure the stirring is consistent. He's nearly done when his phone starts ringing and throws off his rhythm, giving him a less than perfect score for the cooking portion of the level.

He groans as he sets the game down next to him on the bed to look at his phone, grabbing it from where it's charging on the bedside table and his features immediately light up with a grin when he sees that it's from Suguru, quickly unplugging it just as he accepts the call.

"Moshi-moshi!!" He says cheerily in greeting as he lies back on the bed and ignores the jaunty tune playing from his console, shifting around to get comfortable again.

"Satoru."

"Yo, Suguru. What's up? You on your way back?" He asks as he puts his free hand behind his head for extra cushioning, closing his eyes and trying to remember where Suguru's mission ended up being so he can ask him to bring back some local souvenirs or treats.

"No. I..." he pauses for a moment before continuing more quietly, "I'm not coming back."

Satoru's eyes snap open, sitting up abruptly as he tries to parse through what he’d just said. "...What do you mean?"

There's silence on the other end, long enough that Satoru starts to conjure up possible scenarios, each one more ludicrous than the last. 

After a few minutes that feel like an eternity, Suguru draws in a shaky breath to tell him, "I nearly killed them. Those people. I wanted to kill them."

"Who?"

"They locked two little girls in a cage and called them monsters," Suguru hisses, his voice unlike anything Satoru's ever heard from him, completely at odds with the person he's come to know intimately over the years, the person whom he calls his best friend.

"Where are you?" He asks, getting up from his bed to start pulling out a change of clothes so he can meet up with Suguru. It's late enough that most trains won’t be running anymore but he might be able to ask one of the auxiliary managers for a ride if he asks nicely enough.

"Doesn't matter. I'm not staying here and neither are the girls."

"Where are you planning to go?" He kicks off his sleep pants and wedges his phone between his ear and shoulder as he tries to pull on his trousers, jumping in place a little bit for balance until he's finally able to zip and button up.

"Don't know yet. Haven't thought that far," he says a little dully, too tired to care. 

There's a quiet murmur in the background, the sound of a little girl saying she's hungry and her feet are sore, and then Suguru's voice gently telling her, "I know. Just one more minute, okay?"

"Okay."

"Suguru," he breathes out, standing stock still in the middle of his room, suddenly overcome with the thought that whatever Suguru plans to do, wherever he plans to go, it's not going to include him or Shoko or anybody else at the school.

"I'm gonna make a world where kids like these, kids like us, never have to suffer again."

He shakes his head mutely, "Suguru, wait--"

"I just called to say goodbye."

Satoru feels his heart tighten in fear, a sharp exhale leaving his lips as if he'd taken a blow to the chest. "Suguru, please--"

"I'm sorry. I can't stand at the top with you."

He jumps at the opening, taking a step forward as if he can physically close the distance between him and Suguru even though they're not even in the same room together. "You can. You totally can! You're already there!"

"No, I'm not,” he rejects staunchly. “Today proved to me that I'm nowhere near your level and I don't want you to come down to mine."

He feels like he can hardly breathe, shaking his head meaninglessly like it'd be enough to shake the cobwebs loose from his head to find the right words to say to Suguru to make him come back, make him stay. He curls his free hand into a tight fist, shaking in place.

"Suguru, please. You're my best friend. My one and only."

"And you're mine. Forever and always," he says breathily, his own exhale coming out a little shaky. "But I'm not coming back."

"That's fine. Don't come back, but please don't cut me out."

There's another long pause, long enough that Satoru nearly begs again until Suguru’s quiet voice comes through. "...I'll try.”

He lets out a soft breath of relief, feeling the tiniest seed of hope come through. “Okay. I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever you give me.”

There’s another soft murmur in the background, too low for Satoru to pick out the words but a small bit of static comes through Suguru’s end and then, “I need to go, Satoru.”

“Okay,” he repeats uselessly. “Do you need anything? Anything at all,” he offers, hoping to lend any assistance, hoping to catch a glimpse of him before he goes off to who knows where with a couple of girls in tow.

“No. I--we’ll manage.”

“If you need anything, please call me. I’ll drop everything. I promise.”

“Okay. I gotta go. Say 'bye, Satoru',” he says, his voice fading a little bit into the background.

“...Bye, Satoru,” two girls repeat dutifully in tandem and it would be cute if not for the anxiety he feels bubbling away in his gut.

“Bye--” the call gets cut before he can get another word out and he stares down at his phone until it fades to black, his body trembling in shock and stunned by what’s just happened.

He replays the conversation in his head, unable to believe that Suguru is leaving them, wondering if there was anything he could’ve said to convince him otherwise, if he even had the chance to try.

He tries to breathe around the tightness in his chest, standing uselessly in the middle of his bedroom, half-dressed and with his phone clenched tightly in his hand, the sound of Cooking Mama playing in the background.

---

Despite everything, Suguru doesn’t call him once.

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---

---

Before he knows it, two years have already passed and he’s still waiting for a call that will never come. Satoru sets the phone down, heavy and despondent, wishing he could turn back time and redo everything, wishing he could have another chance.

---

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---

The kid stares at him balefully, a near enough common sight that it makes Satoru even more amused which makes the boy even more upset, looking like he's one breath away from stomping his foot and throwing a tantrum. He wouldn't have minded if the boy actually threw a tantrum but in the whole two years that he's known Megumi, not once has the kid actually thrown a proper fit, opting to lean more towards cold shoulders and silent treatments than anything else.

"You said you'll teach me how to summon Max Elephant once I figure out Serpent and Toad," Megumi says accusingly, as if daring Satoru to deny and go back on his word.

He nearly laughs as he stares him down over the top of his sunglasses around the screen of his laptop. "Kid, you don't even know how to combine Nue and Toad yet, what makes you think you're ready for a damn elephant?"

"That's not fair," he grumbles and Satoru is really tempted to laugh now because Megumi is cute when he's upset and he really wants to see him kick up more of a fuss over it.

"Tough luck, kid. Forgive me if I don't wanna see you get squashed like a pancake," he grins as he gets up from the dining table and ruffles the boy's hair as he walks past to get a drink from the fridge, earning himself a hearty slap on the back of the hand as retribution.

"You're so annoying."

Satoru cackles as he looks around their selection and pulls out a can of CC Lemon, ignoring the small pile of dishes from his afternoon snack he's yet to wash and take care of, "So are you, but I guess misery loves company and all that."

Megumi rolls his eyes, looking like he's completely done with everything and it's honestly the cutest thing, making Satoru chuckle as he pokes the kid's cheek on the way back to the table, feeling the squish of baby fat still clinging on, better than the thin look the boy sported two years ago when he'd just found them on the brink of starvation.

"Come on," he cajoles as he changes the subject, leaning on the table's edge and cracking the can open, listening to the hiss of the carbonated drink, "Miki's been looking forward to your birthday the whole week. You picked out where you wanna go for dinner yet?"

The boy purses his lips, looking like he's about to pout, his green eyes flitting to the side even as he says, "That Korean restaurant on Takeshita Street."

He pauses after a single sip and knows the one Megumi's talking about but also, "The one Miki wants to go to?"

"...The one I wanna go to."

He grins and calls him out on it. "The one you wanna go to only because Miki wants to."

Megumi purses his lips even more as he rolls his eyes. "Whatever. You asked me where I wanna go for dinner so that's where I wanna go."

"Sure, sure." He laughs as he sets the drink down and pushes off the table to deal with the dishes before Tsumiki comes home and does it for him, making sure to muss up Megumi's hair one more time and dodging the second slap. "Miki should be home from her club soon. We can head out afterwards. You done your homework yet?"

He sighs, bored, but helps out with drying the dishes anyway. "Yeah."

When Tsumiki comes back to the apartment a little over half an hour later, she's already got a big smile on her face as she skips through the door, shouting out a quick, "I'm home!" before running to her bedroom to change into something nice for a night out. Satoru smiles as he takes care of one more email before turning the laptop off and picks up his empty can to add into the recycling, giving it a quick rinse inside before tossing it out.

He waits by the genkan, shoes already on and killing time on the phone by texting Shoko to see if she'll change her mind about joining them tonight. When he doesn't get a reply by the time Megumi's got his shoes on and Tsumiki is pulling on a jacket on the way out of her bedroom, he figures Shoko's probably deep in the middle of her study binge. He shrugs it off, pocketing his phone and opening the door so they're not all crowded around the genkan, standing just outside their apartment.

"Where are we going for dinner?" Tsumiki asks as she slips on a pair of shoes and tucks away her school shoes properly even though Satoru doesn't mind one way or another how neat or messy the genkan is.

"Wanna guess?" He grins as he locks the door behind them, the keys and keychains jangling noisily as he twists the lock and waits by the elevator that Megumi's already called for.

She hums as she jumps excitedly in place, eager for tonight's dinner plans as if Satoru doesn't take them out to a restaurant at least twice a week but he knows how much she loves birthdays. If the last two years with them has shown him anything it's Tsumiki's absolute joy when it comes to celebrating someone's day of birth.

"Are we taking a train or a bus there?" She asks.

"Both."

She hums again as she lifts her eyes to the ceiling in thought and he has to usher her into the lift when it arrives while she ponders over the possibilities of where they're going that requires two modes of transportation.

"Is it a place we've been to before?"

"Depends," he says as he leads the way to their bus stop, checking the road before letting everybody cross the street.

"So it's not a restaurant we've been to before but definitely a location we've visited, right?"

"Good!" He grins and ignores the eyeroll Megumi gives them even though the slight quirk of his lips is giving away his enjoyment. "You want a hint?"

"Yes, please!" She says excitedly as she follows after him with a skip in her step.

He laughs, feeling buoyant from her contagious happiness as he slows to a stop right where the bus will pick them up. "It's a place we haven't visited since last week."

"Last week?!" She exclaims and finally notices where they are before falling into another bout of giddiness. "Harajuku! The last time we went there was Monday night last week when that new crepe shop opened up and this was the bus we took to get there!"

"Correct!"

Tsumiki giggles and then gets even more excited when she spots their bus coming down the road towards them.

It doesn't take them long to arrive in Harajuku, barely even 20 minutes from the moment they leave the apartment to the minute they get out of the train station. It's still bright out, just on the verge of sunset, painting the skies a pretty gradient of orange, yellow and softening blues. During this hour, the clouds look like they're made of gold.

Tsumiki drags them to go window shopping, happy to stroll around the place until their dinner reservation comes around in a little over an hour. They spend at least half of that time inside a gachapon place to see if there's been any new additions since their last visit and, when Satoru notices Tsumiki revisiting the same Sanrio gachapon for the third time in a row, he goes ahead and exchanges a couple thousand yen notes for some handfuls of hundred yen coins, knowing immediately that she'd been eyeing the Little Twin Stars keychains that split in the middle for herself and Megumi.

She gets a Kuromi, which she doesn't mind, and then a Cinnamoroll which makes her squeal in excitement before doubling up on another Kuromi that subdues her a little only to perk right back up again as soon as she opens the fourth capsule with the Little Twin Stars she wanted. He almost laughs at the quick turn of emotions from her only to feel touched when she presses the Cinnamoroll keychain into his hand.

"Thanks, Satoru!" She grins toothily before skipping off to find Megumi to give him his keychain, too.

He looks down at the white puppy with the floppy ears and blue eyes. It only costs 400 yen but for him, it feels a lot more than that. He adds it to his growing collection on his keys, more charms than actual keys at this point.

When they finally step through the restaurant doors, they've worked up a decent appetite from all the walking. The restaurant doesn't offer desserts as part of their menu but they get gifted an extra portion of deep fried purple sweet potato balls as a birthday gift to Megumi which makes him groan in embarrassment.

"Happy birthday, Gumi!!" She shouts, adding to the mood, as she gives her brother a hug that he begrudgingly accepts with minimal grumbling.

"Thanks, Miki."

"8's a good number, you know? Very auspicious," Satoru grins as he plucks up one of the sweet potato balls and tests the heat on his lips before taking a bite of the deep fried snack. The outer layer crunches under his teeth and there's mozzarella cheese oozing out of it, coming out in one long strand that Satoru has to break off with a finger before he makes a mess of himself.

Megumi makes a face at him, looking unimpressed. "You said 7 was a good number last year."

"8's even better because you can get Infinity out of it," he says cheekily as he finishes off the sweet potato snack before moving back to the tteokbokki, happy they got the milder version as well since his spice tolerance still isn't particularly great.

"Ugh, you're so lame," he mutters under his breath even as he waits for Tsumiki to take one before helping himself to the last piece.

"Hah!" Satoru lets out a laugh that's a little bit too loud, getting a hush from Tsumiki but she's giggling too much to make the admonishment stick. He grins and decides to take pity on Megumi who looks like he wants the chair to eat him whole so he turns his attention to his sister instead. "How was school, Miki?"

"Good! I think I aced my algebra test today!" She says around a mouthful of fried chicken, too caught up with feeling happy to remember her manners, not that he minds one way or the other, either. Out of all of them, Tsumiki's generally the most well-behaved.

"Nice. Let's go out for dessert afterwards as a treat," he grins and ignores how Megumi mutters under his breath about how they literally never skip desserts, not a single time.

"But we don't know if I've actually passed or not, though."

He shrugs, completely unbothered as he helps himself to some of the popcorn chicken, always happy to celebrate any occasion be it big or small. "Well, if you say you've aced it then you've aced it."

She laughs, "Only because you helped me a lot!"

"Then let's treat me, too! Since I'm such a great teacher and all," he boasts and ignores the eyeroll from Megumi even while Tsumiki giggles.

They leave the restaurant after polishing off everything they've ordered for dinner with more than enough space leftover in their stomachs for desserts although Megumi seems awfully reluctant to fill his tummy with more sugary foods, saying the sweet potato was more than sweet enough.

"It totally doesn't count," Satoru tells him airily. "Not even close to being sweet enough."

"That's because you're crazy," Megumi bites back that just makes him cackle even more, earning himself a couple of odd looks while they're all walking down Takeshita Street in search of their next venue.

"Gumi! It's been two years; you should know better by now."

"Look!" Tsumiki says loudly to get their attention before Megumi can retort. "This place has a birthday set! We should go in!"

By 'this place' she means the ostentatiously pink shop that immediately tickles his fancy while Megumi makes a displeased noise right next to them.

"No way."

"They've got shaved ice!" Tsumiki adds excitedly.

"Lots of places have shaved ice," Megumi tells her, trying his best to convince her and failing miserably when she gasps upon getting to the bottom of the menu.

"They've got one called Mount Fuji. We gotta try it!"

"I'm sold!" Satoru beams, enjoying Megumi's groaning dismay far too much as he ushers them inside and immediately flags down a wait staff for a table.

He orders them the birthday set along with a high tea set and the shaved ice that, disappointingly, is not as big as he was expecting it to be considering its namesake but doesn't mind it when they've got other treats to eat up. As soon as all of the desserts arrive on their table, Megumi's face starts to look a bit put off by the amount of sugar placed in front of him.

"You're insane," Megumi tells him with a disgusted look that gets a laugh from his sister even as he's picking up the fork to push a bit of the whipped cream aside to reach for the waffle hiding underneath it.

Tsumiki takes pity on him and offers the little burger that comes with the tea set, something savoury for him to nibble on instead of the myriad of desserts they're surrounded by. 

Satoru grins as he helps himself to a bite of the shaved ice before moving onto the creme brulee, wishing the caramelized top had a bit more crunch to it. He knows it's not made with real vanilla but it's sweet enough for his standards.

There's a strawberry shortcake and a bear cake that's more cream than cake but looks cute enough to take photos with. On the platter is a decent number of bite-sized macarons that's a tiny bit on the stale side but he supposes that since this place closes in an hour it wouldn't make sense to make new batches of food to replace the old stock.

He likes the overall experience and he's glad to see Tsumiki enjoying it too, even Megumi begrudgingly as he offers her the whipped cream and mixed berries in exchange for the other mini burger from the tea set.

A small gust of wind comes through the opened door, the wait staff happily greeting the new customers who've just entered. He thinks he can polish off the strawberry shortcake in one bite just to make Megumi appalled at his antics when a shadow comes up right next to him.

"Satoru, long time no see."

He drops his spoon and accidentally tips his nearly empty glass of water in shock at the sound of that familiar voice, one he hasn't heard for two years, and gets a surprised yelp from Tsumiki as the water rushes towards her and she jumps out of her chair to avoid it. "Shit! Sorry!" He winces at his tone and language, too loud and crass for an establishment like this and flushes in embarrassment at the spectacle he must be making of himself.

"Satoru!" Megumi chastises as he dabs the water with some serviettes and makes a little moat to stop the rest from spilling onto the floor.

He hears an amused chuckle, one his memories do little justice for. "All these years and you're still a bit of a mess," he tells him and Satoru's heart is beating wildly in his chest, unable to make himself look at Suguru even though his Six Eyes have immediately honed in on them.

"When is he not," Megumi mutters and takes some of the serviettes his sister comes back with to help clean up the droplets and splashes on her chair so she can sit back down.

Satoru groans and realizes he doesn't like the taste of his own medicine. "Come on, Gumi," he says, sending the kid a near-pleading look because he can't bear to look at Suguru right now.

He scowls, "I told you not to call me that in front of other people."

"Are you one of Satoru's friends?" Tsumiki asks as she retakes her now dry seat, doing her best to keep up a friendly atmosphere between them.

"Yeah, actually."

And it hurts to hear Suguru admit that so easily, especially when he's been gone for two years, especially when they haven't even talked to each other in two years. He doesn't understand how Suguru can still think they're friends when he'd gone and cut him out of his life even though Satoru begged him not to.

Megumi rolls his eyes, seemingly fed up. "What do you want? You're interrupting a private gathering," he says boredly.

"Gumi," Tsumiki scolds.

"Just the three of you?" Suguru asks.

"It's my birthday," he says haughtily, "I can spend it with whomever I want."

On the offside, Satoru is proud that Megumi used the word "whomever" in the right context.

"Ah, happy birthday, then. Girls, what do we say?"

"Happy birthday!" Two little girls chime obediently and Satoru wants to flee from this place. 

The girls carry that same cadence he heard over the phone two years ago, but stronger, happier, less filled with fear and uncertainty. He doesn't want to look at them, doesn't look to look at the faces of two children who took Suguru away from him even though it wasn't their fault, even though it wasn't their choice.

"Thanks," Megumi drawls, "You leaving or what?"

"Gumi!" He says loudly, feeling a new wave of embarrassment warm up his cheek and earning himself another amused chuckle.

"Just wanted to stop by and say hi."

"Hi!" Tsumiki cuts in expertly, trying to diffuse the tension between them and he's so thankful for it. "What's your name? We've met all of Satoru's friends by now but we've never seen you before."

He hides a wince and notices their shaved ice is now mostly slush now. Any longer and they might as well drink it from the bowl.

"Ah," Suguru says lightly, "We haven't seen each other in about two years, give or take."

"Wow! That's a long time! Were you--"

"You're Suguru, aren't you?" Megumi interrupts and Satoru fears the direction of where this conversation is about to go down towards but he's still too stunned to think of anything to stop it.

"So he does talk about me!" Suguru crows, sounding pleased.

"No, he doesn't. He just stares at his pho--"

"Megumi," Satoru butts in before the rug can get pulled out from under him again, hoping Suguru doesn't figure out how much he still pines and misses him to this day.

The boy scowls, working his jaw as he huffs down at this half-eaten plate of desserts. "...Go away."

"...Sure," Suguru says, sounding unsure for the first time since they've started talking. "We should catch up, Satoru. Maybe anoth--"

"No! You don't get to talk to Satoru!" Megumi actually shouts, his outburst catching Satoru by surprise by how rare of an occurrence it is.

"Megumi!" He says sternly, well aware they're still in a public space and getting a lot of nervous looks from the other patrons and wait staff now. "Megumi, calm down. We're--"

"No!" He shouts again, jumping out of his seat to glare at him. "He hurt you! I don't know what he did but I know he hurt you. I don't like people who hurt the people I care about. Leave!" He directs the last bit at Suguru, his hands curled into fists and nearly shaking with anger from it.

"Okay, sorry. We'll go," Suguru says placatingly as he quietly takes his girls, murmurs a soft apology to the room and leaves through the door.

Satoru is a mess of emotions. On the one hand, he's glad he's got confirmation that Megumi does actually like him enough to care about him, on the other, he desperately wants to call out to Suguru and ask him to come back but he bites his tongue and says nothing.

Their shaved ice melts and he embarrassedly pays for their table and leaves a tip for the commotion they made, ushering both Megumi and Tsumiki out the door even though they were barely halfway through their desserts but he can't stand to stay in that place anymore, feeling stifled and too warm and knowing he'll never be able to set foot in there for the rest of his life.

He's quiet while Megumi fumes, Tsumiki worriedly looking back and forth between them as they make their way to the train station bound for home. It's still early but he's feeling wound up and he knows emotions are still running a little bit high at the moment so he figures it's best not to push and just have everybody head on back to their apartment to resettle into themselves again.

The night had been going so well too, and a part of him wishes Suguru had found him another night instead.

"Who does he think he is that he can just come up to you like that?" Megumi demands to know as soon as they're about to come up to their apartment building. He'd expected the question from Tsumiki so he's a little surprised it's Megumi asking instead.

He lets out a soft breath, not quite a sigh, "...He was my best friend. My one and only," he tells him with no small amount of fondness in his voice as he mentions who and what Suguru meant to him.

"But he left," he accuses.

Satoru shrugs as they make their way through the front door to the elevators, calling for one with a push of his knuckle. "He's got his reasons."

Two, actually, he thinks with some bitterness as he gestures for the both of them to enter the elevators once it arrives.

"Best friends don't just leave each other behind," he says indignantly, his tone skirting dangerously close to something Satoru is not in the mood to deal with, nor humour.

"You don't know what he went through."

"He doesn't know what you went through, either."

He sighs and decides not to make a big deal out of it. Chances are good he's ruined any possibility of ever meeting Suguru again after this mess of an evening. "It's okay, Megumi," he says softly as he pulls out his keys once they reach the floor and unlock their door for them.

Satoru takes off his shoes and pushes them to the side, turning on a couple of lights for them as he drops his keys on the kitchen island along with his wallet, checking his phone and reads the reply from Shoko that came through just an hour ago about declining the dinner invitation but asking him to pass on some birthday wishes to Megumi from her.

"Shoko says happy birthday by the way, Megumi."

"Thanks," he replies a little sullenly. 

He hears the apartment door close and lock behind him, deciding not to poke at the kid tonight as he tells them, "Make sure you brush your teeth properly tonight!"

"We're not you, Satoru," Tsumiki giggles as she walks past him to go to her bedroom.

He grins and follows after her to reach his own when he feels a slight tug on his shirt and he looks under his arm as he turns a little bit to see Megumi pursing his lips and avoiding eye contact.

Satoru sighs, "Sorry tonight didn't end on a good note. I'll make it up to you, okay?"

He shrugs, looking like he doesn't really care about it one way or another. "...You can keep calling me Gumi, if you want."

It's an olive branch, the best Megumi can do in terms of apologizing without outright apologizing. He chuckles and pushes his luck ruffling up his hair and only gets a half-hearted slap this time. 

"Thanks, Gumi."

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters before he heads off to his own bedroom, shrugging out of his jacket to drape it over his deskchair before picking up a book that he's been reading through for school.

He smiles as he sits back down at the dining table, switching his laptop back on to continue where he left off earlier.

---

When he gets to the classroom in the morning, Shoko's already inside looking bored and looking like she didn't catch a wink of sleep last night, slouching over her table like it's the only thing holding her up. He wonders if she lost track of time going through her textbooks again and by the time she came out of it for a breather it was too late to try and sleep so she just kept studying instead. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the case; she's been doing it way too often lately.

He takes his usual seat next to her, the classroom now holding two desks instead of the three it used to be. "Hey, you won't believe who I bumped into last night."

"That model you liked. Waka something," she guesses just for the heck of it and it gets a sharp bark of laughter out of him.

"Hah! That would be just as unbelievable on a totally different scale."

She snickers at him and turns her gaze to the ceiling for less than a handful of seconds before giving up. "Who then?"

"Suguru."

Shoko sits up straight and widens her eyes at him. "No way," she breathes out.

"Yeah," he sighs, flattening his lips a little bit at the memory.

"...Seriously?" She scoffs, "He goes AWOL for two years, no word whatsoever and suddenly you bumped into him, where?"

"Takeshita Street. I took the kids out to celebrate Gumi's birthday. He says thanks for the birthday wish, by the way."

"I'll treat him to something next time we meet up. Also, wow, that's not awkward at all."

He huffs, "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Did you guys talk?" She asks as she settles back over her desk, peering up at him like she can dissect his emotions the way she might dissect a corpse.

"Not really. Gumi chased him out."

"Hah!" She laughs brightly. "No way!"

He grins, "Yeah, it was kinda cute. Did you know Suguru's got two kids?" He asks just to hurt a little bit more.

"Yeah, I remember. You said he picked up some girls, right? In that backwater village he was sent off to for his last mission."

"Yeah..." He still remembers that phone call vividly, feels like he's had it on repeat on a near-daily basis whenever he gets a moment to himself to think of other things that doesn't involve Tsumiki, Megumi, the school, his studies, the missions or the obligations forced upon him.

He went to that village shortly after Suguru disappeared to follow up on why his best friend suddenly decided to bail on them. As soon as he laid eyes on the state of the cage, he realized he couldn't blame Suguru for taking the girls and hightailing it out of there. 

It still pisses him off to this day but he knows there wasn't much he could've done at the time to ask Suguru to come back and rethink his choices. He kept waiting for Suguru to call but he never did. A part of Satoru is still waiting even now and he hates that he can't let it go.

"Are you okay, Satoru?" Shoko asks him, pulling him out of his memories.

"Yeah, I will be. Don't worry about it," he says with a quiet, thankful smile.

She rolls her eyes at him. "Of course I'm gonna worry about it. You still miss him."

He swallows thickly and tells her softly, "You miss him, too."

She scoffs as she sits back on her chair and makes herself balance on the back legs, putting her shoes up on her table. "Yeah, of course, but he's not my soulmate. What did you call him? Your one and only?" She mocks lightly, "Talk about cheesy."

"Shut up," he sticks his tongue out at her and thinks about tipping her chair back enough to give her a scare but decides not to.

He tries not to think about the fact that there's one less desk in the room than before, how they had to shift theirs around and how they're now both occupying the space where Suguru's desk used to reside, the both of them taking up half of that spot like they could get a tiny bit closer to that place where Suguru's gone and disappeared off to, try and understand where he's coming from, why he left with barely a goodbye to either of them.

He supposes he's luckier than Shoko; at least he got a call though a part of him still doesn't know if that's better or worse than nothing.

"You think he'll ever come back?" She says into the quietness around them.

He wants him to. Desperately wants him to, but in the end Satoru just shakes his head. "Nah. If he wanted to, he would've by now."

"Maybe he needs more time."

It's the old song and dance of the last two years except now their roles are reversed where she's the one asking the questions and he's the one telling her the answers neither of them wants to hear.

He shrugs, "I told him not to cut me out but he did anyway. Contrary to what most people think about me, I can take a hint."

And boy was it a big one, stretching out across two damn years.

She sighs and slams her chair back down onto the floor, slouching further down and resting her calves across her desk now. "Well, whatever, I guess. His loss and all that."

He laughs through the pain.

"Utahime's coming up to spend the weekend here. You down for some dinner? Bring the kids with you," she tells him, changing the subject onto lighter and better things.

"Sure. You know how much Miki loves you and Utahime."

Shoko grins at him as she pulls out her phone from her pocket and starts texting. "I'm gonna see if Kento and Kiyotaka's free. Kento better not be a stick in the mud about it."

He snorts, "He's always a stick in the mud. Come on, Shoko, it's like you don't even know him."

"He could be less of a stick in the mud, though," she huffs as she sends out a group text and his own phone pings with the notification that he doesn't bother checking. "Utahime's gonna wanna hit the k-bar later if you're down."

"The kids' curfew is 9 o'clock."

She guffaws at him. "Damn! You're such an old man now!"

Satoru makes a face at her. "Sleep is super important for them, okay?" He tells her, aware of how ironic he's being considering how little sleep he gives himself, "You've never had to deal with a sleep-deprived Gumi before. He's a total menace. And don't even get me started on Miki! She's always so sweet so she gets super scary when she's pissed off."

"Hah! You're so whipped for those kids."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," He rolls his eyes at her but can't get rid of the fond smile on his face anyway. "Yes to dinner, yes to desserts, no to anything else."

"Fine, loser," she smirks at him as she sends out another text and his phone pings with another notification.

The door chooses that time to open up and admit Yaga who walks inside holding a paperbag that he drops off on Satoru's desk. 

"For Gumi?" He asks even though he already knows it's for the kid.

"Yeah, I only finished it last night. Sorry I couldn't pass it to you yesterday," he reasons as he steps around to his desk and settles behind it.

"Awh, thanks! I'll give it to him later. I'm sure he'll love it, especially since it's an owl! Hell yeah!" He grins excitedly as he pulls out the soft toy and shows it to Shoko who makes an impressed face at it even as she's snarking back at him. 

"You'd think Satoru's the one that got the doll, not his kid."

"Whatever, Shoko, you're just jealous," he smirks as he puts the brown owl back into the bag, the doll looking almost identical to Nue except a lot cuter.

"Pfffft!"

"Alright, that's enough of that," Yaga says loudly to get their attention. "Let's continue our discussions from yesterday."

"Ugh, boring!" Satoru calls out as he drapes himself over his desk and Shoko keeps her legs over hers.

Yaga frowns at them reproachfully. "It's important for you to seek higher education after being in Jujutsu Tech School. You said you wanted to be a teacher. You can't teach without a teacher's qualification," he points out to Satoru who jumps at the opening.

"Sure, I can! I can teach anything and everything to do with Jujutsu! Oh! And Miki says I'm great at teaching her maths."

"Excellent," he deadpans. "Your credentials hinge on the word of an 11 year old girl. Congratulations, let me get you your university qualifications now," he finishes in a drawl but the twitch in the corner of his lips gives away his amusement and it makes Satoru laugh.

---

"Megumi!" Utahime calls out a little bit too boisterously, already sipping her second mocktail before all of their dishes have even arrived at the table. "If you come to karaoke with us, we can get the birthday benefit for you!"

The boy gives her such a deadpan stare that it makes Shoko nearly spit out her drink in laughter.

"Come on, Megumi!" She tries to cajole, "I don't come up to Tokyo that often, you know!"

"You come up here like twice a month for the whole weekend. I see you more often than I see Kento and Kiyotaka."

"Damn, good point," she moues as she slouches back in her seat and takes little sips of her mocktail, pouting like she wishes it was something stronger, much to the quiet amusement of the other people sitting at the table with them.

Satoru snickers and nudges Megumi's plate closer to him in a quiet reminder that he needs to finish off the beetroot pieces that he'd shoved to the side, no matter how much he dislikes them. If Satoru has to finish his plate then so does his kid.

As if sensing his thoughts, Megumi rolls his eyes and sighs like he's only doing it to humour Satoru as he picks up his chopsticks again to finish off his food, helping Tsumiki who's struggling with the spicy peanut chicken stirfry that's on her plate that's got a bit more kick that she would've liked.

Their last two orders arrive in quick succession, a stirfry beef, ginger and spring onion dish on a sizzling hot plate that Megumi immediately helps himself to, and a braised tofu and vegetable medley that perks Utahime right back up, spearing two pieces of tofu for herself and spooning the sauce liberally over her bowl of rice.

He's trying to convince everybody to let him order a plate of the deep fried mantou that comes dripping in condensed milk that makes him salivate at the mere whisper of when his phone starts ringing in his pocket. He pauses a little bit as he pulls out his phone, quietly hoping that it's not Yaga calling him to pick up a last minute mission but knows it can't be anyone else since everybody who might call him is sitting at the table with him.

His smile drops right off his face at the name on his screen, the sight of it catching him off guard when he sees the number he hasn't received a call from in two years.

"Who is it?" Shoko asks, suddenly serious. "Better not be the school."

"I'll be right back," he says in a rush as he pushes out of his chair and hurries out the door, holding his phone tightly in his hand as he makes his way out.

He picks it up just before it goes to voicemail and brings it to his ear, wondering if this is a mistake, an accidental butt dial, anything to explain why Suguru is calling now when he hasn't bothered for so long. He’s curving around the corner of the restaurant into a small byway, stepping as far away from the main road as possible for as much quiet as he can get in the middle of Tokyo.

Satoru doesn't hear anything on the other end and feels his heart sinking at the thought that maybe this was an accident after all.

"Hello..? Satoru?"

He lets out a breath of relief. "Yeah. Hi," he bites his bottom lip to stop himself from sounding stupider than he already feels as he looks down at his shoes, the brickwork a little worn with tiny hints of grass and moss coming through the cracks.

He hears Suguru chuckle and it makes something in him light up at the sound. "Wasn't sure if you still kept this number."

"Why wouldn't I?" He asks curiously as he steps out of the way of a passerby, leaning closer to the wall so he has eyes on both ends of the little alley.

"You never called."

"I--" he freezes where he stands. "I never called? You're the one who left. I thought you wanted space! I waited for you to call me!" He says loudly and catches Shoko coming towards him from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, I mean," Suguru pauses and Satoru can almost see their shrug, "You're not really the type of person to give me space. I expected you to call me within a week but you never did."

"You're kidding me. You're the one who--"

"I know what I said," he snaps out, making Satoru click his teeth shut in surprise at his tone. "Maybe this was a mistake."

He doesn't know what kind of face he's making for Shoko to grab the phone from right out of his hand but he doesn't fight for it as he turns and walks away, his ears catching her casually saying, "Hey, Suguru, long time no hear."

Satoru walks further down the small alley, enough to give Shoko some privacy, enough to give himself some room to breathe, leaning hard against the wall before sliding down until he's sitting on the ground, Suguru's words still ringing in his ears how he'd expected Satoru to call him when he was the one that walked away from them, when the ball was in his court.

He covers his palm over his mouth to stop himself from laughing hysterically. All this time he'd been patiently waiting for Suguru to make a move and call him back while Suguru had been fully expecting for Satoru to bulldoze right through like it hadn't been obvious he'd been having a breakdown over the phone. He shouldn't have picked up the call, should've left it to go to voicemail if he'd known the conversation would devolve like this.

Shoko walks up to him, crouching down like he's some sort of spooked animal, still speaking into the phone. "Yeah, Satoru's still here."

He works his jaw, holding back a sigh as he takes back his phone from her, letting himself take in another couple of deep steadying breaths before speaking again. 

"Hey."

"So, obviously I could've handled that better."

He rubs his temple with his free hand, knocking the back of his head along the wall to stare up at the night sky, tinted bright from the city lights. "It's fine," he tells him even though it's not. "I should've tried to text at least, but I thought..."

"I know. Shoko told me. Sorry to make you wait," he says softly and it takes everything in Satoru not to blurt out how much he misses him, his voice, his presence, knows there's too much missing between the both of them to make it work the way it used to.

He closes his eyes as he folds his free arm over his knees and drops his forehead onto it, lifting and dropping it a couple of times to give himself some semblance of composure. "It's fine," he repeats, "Sorry I wasn't--" Wasn't enough? Wasn't there? Wasn't able to help? "--sorry..." he finishes lamely, feeling like he's making a mess of things, feeling uncertain around Suguru in a way he's never felt before, shaken up and unmoored from the person he normally is.

"It's not your fault, Satoru," he sighs, "I wasn't in a good place and I don't think you would've been able to help me much."

"You don't know that," he says quietly, not quite a confrontation but he doesn't want Suguru thinking he wouldn't have done his damn best to give it a good try.

"You're right. I don't, not really anyway. It's in the past now, though."

"Is it?" Sometimes he feels like he's still 16 and waiting for Suguru to come back.

"Yeah, it is," he tells him firmly, leaving no room for argument over the matter. "Look, I only called to see if we could start over again."

He looks up at Shoko and wonders if she can see the conflict and the naked hope on his face as he asks, heart in his throat, "Like a complete do-over? Or a rewind?"

"Up to you."

"Rewind then," he says, trying to keep a hold of anything left of their friendship, any scrap he can salvage, whatever pieces are left over.

"Okay. Well, honestly, I'm surprised you went and picked up that killer's--"

"Gumi's got nothing to do with that dead fucker," he spits out, glaring at the wall opposite him, Shoko next to him shaking her head in disappointment while tutting under her breath and does his best to calm himself down. "They share the same blood but Gumi's his own person. Don't confuse the two."

"Alright. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up."

The silence stretches on awkwardly between them, putting to light the missing two years between the both of him. Despite what he said, despite what he pleaded with himself, he doesn't think he can do this after all. It's too hard and he should stop here before things go from bad to worse.

He sighs and drops his head back down onto his arm. "I don't know if I can do this, Suguru," he confesses quietly, overcome by an uncharacteristic bout of uncertainty.

"Yes, you can," Shoko snaps from where she's still crouched beside him. "Both of you can. Stop being a fucking coward about it."

Satoru blinks at her, completely dumbfounded, even as Suguru lets out a quiet huff of laughter on the other end. "Fuck. Shoko's still the same as ever."

He snorts. "Yeah. She's been a rock for me. Somedays I can't tell if she's the one making me sink into the water or the one keeping me anchored from floating off into space," he grins and accepts the backhanded slap on his shoulder from her even while she's rolling her eyes at him.

"Sounds like Shoko," he chuckles.

He's caught off guard when a warm weight barrels right into the side of him, making him shout a little in surprise when he catches sight of Megumi sprawled across his legs, his hands holding tight onto the front of his clothes. "Gumi!"

"He hurt you again," he accuses, his face hardening as he glares at the phone like he hopes the person on the other end would feel his ire.

"What? No, we're just talking."

"Then why are you sitting on the stupid floor!"

"I--" he's stunned speechless momentarily before he shakes himself to refocus and speak into the phone. "Sorry, I gotta go. I'll talk to you next time, Suguru."

"...Sure," he says with a small amount of hesitance. "I'll text you."

"Bye," he hangs up without waiting for a reply and exhales loudly through his nose as he looks down at the boy glaring up at him. "Gumi," he starts to say sternly.

Megumi cuts him off, "Why do you keep talking to him when he's being a dick to you!"

"Hey! You better not talk like that at school!" 

"I don't. Answer my question!"

He groans tiredly, "Look, it's complicated, alright?"

"You said there's no point being friends with people who mistreat us so why are you letting that asshole do that to you."

"You little--" he ignores how Shoko's cackling now and tries to be patient in his explanation rather than just full-on reprimanding Megumi. "It's complicated. I told you. He was my friend for two years--"

"And he was gone for two years. We're down to zero now."

Satoru's mouth drops open in dismay before he snaps it shut before he gathers flies. "That is so not how this works."

"Two years minus two years is zero."

"No," he says sternly, "It's two years with him, two years without which makes four years but I only know him for half of it."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!" He retorts childishly, "It's not like I forgot about him during the two years he was gone, okay? It's not like those two years disappeared from me. I lived it, I experienced it, I--"

"I wish you forgot him," Megumi mutters under his breath and it makes something hurt inside of him, a tight grip clenching around his heart that his kid abhors Suguru while barely even knowing him.

Satoru doesn't think he's brought up the subject of Suguru often enough to get this kind of reaction from Megumi. Maybe in passing, maybe just a handful of times, but it shouldn't get this kind of reaction from him, this level of contempt, the amount of scorn he immediately harbours for him.

Then suddenly, Megumi pulls the rug out from right under him. "You're always looking at your old phone with your old pictures and old text messages. You always keep charging it even though it's an outdated model that you don't even use anymore. You switched out your sim card to your new phone but you don't throw the old one away."

Little moments, snippets of memories, of him sitting on the couch or by the dining table or standing next to the kitchen island staring with a mix of fond and forlorn as he tortures himself with images and words of his past he can't bear to let go of. He didn't think he was that obvious but clearly he's not as subtle as he thought.

"...I miss him," he confesses quietly, almost guilty.

"What are you gonna do if he comes back?" Megumi asks, sounding angry, sounding desperate, lashing out. "Are you gonna leave us? I know you only came to find us after he left you."

He doesn't wince but it's a near thing. "No, of course not. Of course I won't leave you. Even if Suguru decides to come back, I'm not just gonna drop you," he insists, hoping the firmness of his words and his voice is enough to convince him of this.

"You'd drop us the way he dropped you. You'd pick him over Miki and I."

Satoru startles where he sits with Megumi still sprawled over him before he finds his voice again. "No way! There's no way I would do that to you and Miki. No way at all."

"Prove it," he dares him, "Throw away your old phone."

He sucks in a quiet breath, feeling like he's been gut punched, a horrible pang of fear and anxiety overtaking him.

"Gumi, that's not being fair to Satoru," Shoko tells him quietly.

"Whatever," he sulks as he pushes himself away and off Satoru's lap, dusting his clothes like he wants to get rid of the feeling of having been near him. "I'm going back inside."

"I'll do it. Later, when we get home," Satoru tells him, heart in his throat and scared he's going to lose Megumi the same way he lost Suguru, an irrational fear.

Megumi doesn't say anything, just stares at him like he doesn't believe him, won't take his word at face value. He simply turns away and goes back inside the restaurant without them.

"Could you make sure Gumi--"

"Yeah," Shoko says as she gets up from her crouch and gives him a quick look before softening her features. "I'm giving you a minute, okay?" 

"Yeah," he lets out a sigh of relief, "I just need a minute."

Satoru sits there for a minute, maybe two, and just tries to breathe around the ache in his chest and find back some manner of equilibrium within himself before he gets up, dusts himself off and goes back inside to rejoin the table as if he didn't have a minor breakdown in a tiny alleyway outside the restaurant. He pretends he's fine as he happily polishes off what's left, eating the last bits of food that people are too full to eat and tries not to think of what he has to do later when they get home, not doing much to mentally prepare himself to let go of that one piece that still connects him to his old Suguru in some way.

He sticks to the plan - dinner, then dessert then home. He doesn't intend to deviate from what he said and what he promised but it doesn't stop him from wanting to prolong it just a little bit longer as he pays for their dinner and then they all leave to go in search for some place to get a sweet treat since he couldn't get any of them to agree to trying the deep fried mantou drizzled in condensed milk even though he desperately wanted it.

In the end, they stroll by a place that sells smooth soft serve in a waffle cone in flavours like matcha, hojicha, vanilla, blue lemonade and more. It's too much for Satoru to feasibly try on his own in one sitting so he makes everybody get a cone on his dime so he can sample a spoonful from each of them, most of them giving him an eyeroll with Kento fighting him off by holding it way above his head even though Satoru is taller than him. Kento scowls and mutters under his breath how Satoru is just too freakishly tall while Kiyotaka gives in without complaint which makes Satoru grin as he helps himself to a bite of ube flavour and offers his blue lemonade to them.

All the flavours start to meld together after a while but he thinks the ube is his favourite, a unique sweetness, depth and flavour that he finds hard to describe. It's a smooth purple colour that he also likes the look of, served with little flakes of roasted coconut on top that gives it a nice bit of texture to it, too.

They all split off after a while, the others heading off to their next location while he and the kids start heading back home while there's still time to relax and unwind before their curfew hits.

Thankfully, they only need to take one train home without any connecting stops or switching to a bus and he makes sure both Tsumiki and Megumi are seated properly before he grabs the hanging handhold for balance even though he doesn't really need it. He keeps his eyes looking out of the train windows but his mind focused inward as he goes through the phone call he had with Suguru and how he has to give up on something he's clung onto for the last two years.

He's nervous but ultimately resigned to the idea of letting it go, knowing it's an unhealthy thing to hold onto, to obsess over. Neither he nor Suguru are the same people anymore and he wouldn't be doing either of them any favors trying to make him fit back into the template he left behind. Satoru knows he wouldn't be able to fit in his old one either.

When they get home he notices how Megumi staunchly roots himself in the middle of the living room, eyeing Satoru as he bids Tsumiki goodnight after reminding her not to forget to do her weekend reading for school. He dithers for a while with the air-conditioning before stepping into his bedroom to the bedside table where his old phone sits connected to the charger.

He unplugs it and powers it down, feeling his heart sink a little bit as the screen turns to black and finds an old watch box that just happens to fit it, rolling the charger cable up to tuck it in next to it before closing the lid. The whole thing gets tied shut using a couple of Tsumiki's hair ties she has lying around in the bathroom then hands it over to Megumi who takes it from him warily, staring at him like he doesn't believe Satoru would actually go through with it.

It hurts him a little to know that he's somehow gone and broken Megumi's trust, that his kid doesn't believe that Satoru would choose him, doesn't have faith that he'd choose them, that if it comes down to it, there is no contest.

Megumi turns to go into the kitchen and open up the cupboard where the bins are located and tosses it in carelessly, and Satoru has to fight back the wince, working his jaw hard as he clenches his hands into fists to stop the urge from wanting to take it back, pick it up from where it got thoughtlessly thrown and cradle it close. Except he never wants Megumi to feel like he'd never choose him, never wants him to feel like there's even a possibility of being left behind, the thought of being abandoned not once, not twice but three times.

Satoru forces himself to remember their routine, tries to smile like he usually would. "Time to get ready for bed. Go brush your teeth."

"I'll know if you took it back," Megumi tells him as he passes by and heads to the bathroom and Satoru closes his eyes against the ache in his chest, knowing he won't be able to get much sleep tonight.

---

Two days later when Satoru goes to empty the bins to take out, he notices all of them have already been emptied and taken care of. He figures Tsumiki must've done it herself earlier before she left to go to school early to help out with the school play that's coming up while he was distracted on his laptop.

He tries not to let it hurt him. He wouldn't have taken it back even if he saw it but a part of him still wanted to catch a glimpse of the box one last time before it got thrown out with the rest of the trash. 

He closes the lids and washes his hands before going back to fill in more applications for other universities around Tokyo.

---

"Which unis did you apply for?" Shoko asks as she swings the Kuromi keychain that Tsumiki gifted her the last time they met up, smiling as she whirls her phone around to get it spinning in a fast circle.

"All the Tokyo ones."

She stops twirling her phone abruptly and her eye twitches when the side of Kuromi smacks into her knuckles. "All of them??" She repeats, her tone aghast.

"Yeah. There were like, 25 or something." He thinks there could've been more but those were all the ones he could find over the weekend that he could be bothered applying to.

She bursts out laughing at him. "Holy shit!"

"How many did you apply for?" 

"Like, one?" She says snippily.

Now it's his turn to laugh derisively at her. "No way!"

"I'm not gonna fucking waste my time applying to 25 universities when I already know which one I wanna go for."

He shrugs, "I mean, I know which one I want--"

"Then why the other 24?" She retorts.

"Wanted to see how many will accept me," he finishes with a smirk.

"You piece of shi--" Shoko gets cut off by a loud, very conspicuous clearing of the throat as Yaga enters the room.

"I'm guessing by the snippet that I caught earlier both of you have already sent in some applications," he surmises as he closes the door behind him before taking up his usual spot behind his desk.

"Yup! I sent in 25, Shoko only sent in one."

"Twenty--" Yaga balks but ultimately doesn't look all that surprised by it as he shakes his head. "Shoko, you need to send in more than one. At least consider a second university as a backup."

She sighs loudly and rolls her eyes even as she gives in. "Fine, whatever. I'll do it later then."

He nods, appeased even if he doesn't seem all that happy about her lack of enthusiasm. "Good." 

"Gumi says thanks for the birthday gift, by the way," Satoru grins as he pulls out his phone and shows him a photo of Megumi smiling down at the owl plush in his hand, a candid shot that Megumi didn't catch at first only to scowl in the next picture that Yaga chuckles at.

"Good, I'm glad he likes it."

"Miki's super jealous."

"She'll get one when it's her birthday."

"What about my birthday?" Shoko asks cheekily.

"And mine! We've known each other for like four years now and we haven't gotten a single soft toy from you! You're playing favourites! That's totally not fair, Yaga-sensei," he whines dramatically only to fall into a smirk at the exasperated look on the older man's face.

"I forgot how you two can be such children," he mutters under his breath as he rubs a hand across his forehead like he's trying to ward off a headache.

Shoko snickers with Satoru, having fun at Yaga's expense.

---

"Satoru! We need to go grocery shopping!" He hears Tsumiki call for him from the kitchen. "We're nearly out of soy sauce!"

"Oh no, not the soy sauce!" He yells back dramatically as he saves his work and switches off his laptop, listening to her giggle as he sets the device on top of the covers next to him. He grabs the first pair of pants that's closest to him before swinging the door til it's mostly shut and changing into them. "Just to the shop down the road, right?"

"Yeah! I saw their flyer and they got a lot of nice specials this week! We can totally make braised eggplant with mapo tofu or like, chicken katsu. And! They got those chocolate wafer sticks you like!" She lists off and it makes something bloom inside of him, a smile working its way across his lips until his cheeks lift up at the sound of her joy over something so simple.

"Damn, I can't believe you're so excited for groceries," he teases as he grabs any random jacket from the closet and slips it on before leaving the bedroom.

She beams as soon as she sees him, holding up the flyer in one hand and in the other, their folded tote bags stuffed into another tote bag that's already prepped for their trip. "I'm excited because you always let me buy us nice food and I get to experiment with all sorts of stuff."

He chuckles even if it sometimes still bothers him when he thinks about how they used to live before he came around - the both of them holed up in that cramped little apartment that was basically falling apart on the inside as much as it was on the outside with so very few personal belongings to call their own. It took him nearly a year after he killed that guy to even go through with finding them, a whole damn year he could've helped soften the burdens of.

Satoru brushes the melancholic thought aside and goes to check on Megumi, leaning against his door to grin at the kid who's frowning down at his book. "Yo, we're heading to the shop down the road. You wanna come with us or nah?"

Megumi makes a face at them even as he bookmarks his spot and sets it down. "I hate grocery shopping."

"You and me both, but as long as I get to buy lots of snacks then I don't really mind it."

"Gumi!" Tsumiki calls out from where she's by the genkan, "They've got ginger and lemon on special, too! We should get lots and make that honey, lemon and ginger syrup you like so much."

Megumi perks up immediately at the sound of that and Satoru can't help grinning at how easy his kid is when it comes to his favourite things. 

"Fine," he sighs, put upon but makes himself get up anyway to slip on the jacket he'd left hanging off the back of his desk chair. 

Satoru goes ahead and takes the bags from Tsumiki's hands after he slips on his shoes and ushers them both out of the apartment, happy for the convenience of having a decently sized supermarket just five minutes down the road as well as a konbini just around the corner of their building.

Tsumiki chats excitedly as she points out all the produce that's listed on special on the flyer that came with their mail, the different types of fresh mushrooms, the spring onions and the garlic chives, the different cuts of meats on offer and a whole heap of other stuff spanning across two double-sided pages in full colour.

Satoru gets especially excited by the desserts and sees some pudding cups he wants to get a whole pack of to bring home.

They split off once they enter the supermarket, the kids walking off with a basket each in hand so they can pick and choose whatever they want without his supervision, allowing them all to just peruse the aisles at their own pace with both Tsumiki and Megumi heading towards the produce section while Satoru breezes past it to go into the pantry aisle to grab a jar of honey to bring home.

He grabs a pack of pudding cups, throws in a couple bags of hard candy, one in peach flavour and the other in green apple, then starts looking up and down for the chocolate wafer sticks Tsumiki mentioned earlier. He picks up a couple boxes of pocky as he walks by them and nabs a tin of butter cookies before he finds what he's looking for. His basket's already half-full but it's still relatively tame compared to his previous shopping experiences at the store so he helps himself to a couple more things until he's satisfied with his haul, making sure to grab the things he knows Tsumiki and Megumi will like as well so he can at least pretend it's not all for him.

"Satoru?"

He startles and nearly drops the packet of caramelized sweet potatoes as he whips around to find Suguru just down the aisle staring straight at him, his eyes just as wide as his own.

His mind buzzes in surprise and the smallest hint of uncertainty. "Suguru, what're you doing here?"

"I--we just came from the park nearby. Are you...grocery shopping?" He asks as he eyes his basket, raising his eyebrows and looking like he's holding back a grin at how Satoru's mostly got snacks and junk food than anything resembling actual nutrition.

"Uh, yeah, Miki said we're out of soy sauce so here we are."

"The soy sauce hiding under all that, then?" He teases, looking amused.

He laughs and hopes it doesn't sound as awkward as he feels. "Do you live around here or something? Long way to go just for a park if not."

"We live out in Ebisu so not that far."

Satoru's mouth drops open in shock to realize how close they've been living to each other for the last two years although he wouldn't be able to guess if they've lived out in Ebisu this entire time or if it's just their current location until they find another place. "No way."

"You? I'm guessing you have to live nearby if you've got that much in your basket," he says with a light chortle.

He rolls his eyes at the teasing. "In Aobadai. Miki's got another basket with her, and Gumi. We're a tactical strike team when it comes to groceries."

Suguru laughs, his posture loosening, and Satoru realizes he's forgotten the cadence of it after so much time and distance apart. He sounds almost exactly the same still in a way, but just a touch more, a touch different, a touch deeper. "Ah, I see. So your specialty is obviously snacks and candy, then."

"You know it," he grins, trying to hide the qwelling of his heart at being able to talk to Suguru face-to-face properly for the first time in so long, almost as if they're 16 again and nothing has changed between them but he shakes the thought aside as he makes himself ask, "Where are your girls?"

He blinks, like he was somewhere else for a brief second before he answers him, "Looking in the dessert aisle. I said I'd get them ice cream."

"Oh, the pudding cups are on special, and that shirokuma mixed fruit dessert. Pretty sure I saw grape yogurt on sale in that flyer, too."

Suguru chuckles, an expression crossing his face that Satoru can't quite make heads or tails of. "Damn. Never thought I'd see the day when you grow up to be a dad."

He curls up his lip in mild disgust. "I'm definitely not old enough to be a dad, thanks."

He shrugs, "Neither am I but that's what the girls call me."

Satoru's lips quirk up in a smirk as he says, "They call you otou--" He hears rapid footsteps running towards him and he turns around in time to lift up the basket before Megumi collides right into it, his arms wrapping itself around his waist as he glares at Suguru. "Gumi! Don't run around in the shop like that. I nearly smacked you on the head with the basket," he reprimands and knows it doesn't stick when Megumi's arms tighten around him almost possessively.

"What's he doing here," he demands quietly as if he doesn't want Suguru to be part of the conversation.

"Getting ice cream for his kids," he says as he sets the basket down and crouches in front of Megumi, pulling at the arms around his waist in order to do so. "I swear to you we didn't plan to meet up like this."

Megumi's frown deepens as he keeps glaring at Suguru over Satoru's head. "We never meet this guy for two years and now we see him twice in less than two weeks? That's not a coincidence, and I'm not even counting that phone call you had in the weekend."

"Gumi, listen to me," he says as he tries to adjust his stance in an attempt to block his view of Suguru and has to repeat himself until Megumi stops glaring at Suguru to glare at him instead. "I promise that it really is just a coincidence. We literally haven't talked to each other since last weekend. We haven't even texted," he tells him and hopes the bitterness doesn't come through as obviously as it feels.

Megumi scowls for a moment before he says sullenly, "Okay."

He tries not to breathe out an obvious sigh of relief as he changes the subject. "Where'd you drop your basket anyway? Just gimme a couple of minutes, alright? Go find Miki in the meantime," he makes sure to not let it sound like a suggestion as he straightens up and gives Megumi a tiny push back where he originally ran in from.

"Fine," he sulks, sending one last glare Suguru's way again before slowly walking off, turning around the corner and disappearing from view.

Satoru lets out a quiet sigh as he picks up his own basket and half-turns to Suguru. "I should probably go."

"What's his deal?" He asks as he jerks his chin towards where Megumi went, his tone not unkindly but not as friendly as before.

He skirts his eyes to the side for a moment as he shrugs, "He's got some abandonment issues. We all do."

"We?" He repeats, a little frown forming between his brows.

"Yeah," he eyes Suguru meaningfully. "See you around. Maybe."

"I'll text you."

Satoru bites the inside of his lip so he doesn't bring up the fact that was how Suguru finished their last conversation too, and it's been days since the weekend with still no word from him. 

"Sure," he shrugs nonchalantly and follows after Megumi, finds the both of them in the fridge section with Miki looking over the packs of noodles and tofu blocks.

"We should make yakisoba," Tsumiki tells him as soon as she spots him, holding up the fresh egg noodles to him. "There's really nice beef slices in the butcher section on special, too!"

He chuckles, "Sounds good."

He notices how Megumi is avoiding eye contact with him, turning his head away like he doesn't want to look anywhere near him, and a part of him pangs at the idea of his kid being upset with him but he can't find it within himself to bring it up and make it worse. He hopes Megumi will either work through it himself or they'll eventually get into an argument over it and talk about it properly once he's worked off some frustration.

Until then, all Satoru can do is wait and try to be patient.

---

Despite what Suguru said about texting him, Satoru doesn't really take it at face value. Too much has changed between them and the trust they used to have for each other isn't the same as it used to be, isn't the way they used to be. He can't find it within himself to hold Suguru to his word so he doesn't bother waiting with bated breath for it.

Shoko is hanging out with them at the apartment at Tsumiki's behest, asking that she come join them for dinner because she'd miscalculated the recipe and ended up making more than what she originally thought she was going to end up with. The braised eggplant is still bubbling away in the mapo mixture but while they're waiting, Tsumiki's braiding Shoko's hair while Satoru braids hers, the both of them trying out a french braid technique for some fun. Shoko's hair isn't quite as long as Tsumiki's, just a little bit past her shoulders, but it's a decent enough length for her to play with still, enough for her to turn them into double french braids at least.

Meanwhile, Megumi doesn't want any part of it so he's holed himself away in his bedroom doing his assigned reading for class.

He nudges Shoko's thigh with his toes to get her attention, suddenly remembering his emails he'd looked through earlier in the day.

"I've got 8 acceptance letters so far."

She snorts at him, "Is that including the one you wanted to get into?"

He pouts and is glad she can't see it from where she's sitting. "Not yet."

"Pffft," she laughs which prompts an eyeroll from him.

"What about you? Have you got in yet?" He asks just to be snarky.

"Why, yes. I actually did get into my first choice."

Despite the fact that he wanted to poke fun at her and have the both of them just sigh with dejection, he can't help the way he suddenly bubbles over with happiness at the news. "Congrats! Why didn't you say anything earlier?" He demands as he pokes her harder in punishment for withholding information.

"Congrats, Shoko!" Tsumiki cheers with him.

"Congrats!" They hear Megumi call out from his room who doesn't even bother coming out to say it properly to her face.

"Thanks!" She says and he can hear the smile in her voice, the way she sounds happy and light and satisfied. "I didn't say anything earlier because I literally just saw my emails. Here," she holds out her phone over her shoulder so she doesn't have to move too much while Tsumiki's hands are still in her hair.

Satoru pauses in the braiding momentarily, holding all the pieces and layers between his fingers to skim through the email one-handed and can't help the wide grin on his face before he hits the end of the acceptance letter. "Seriously, we could've gone out for dinner to celebrate."

"We can go out tomorrow night," she tells him as she takes her phone back. "Make an event out of it. Grab Kento and Kiyotaka while we're at it."

"Sounds good. What do you feel like?" He asks as he continues braiding Tsumiki's hair, running the strands between his fingers, smelling like the vanilla conditioner she likes so much.

"Ask Gumi, he's the fussy eater."

"Am not!" Megumi refutes and it's hilarious because he really isn't.

"You gonna try and get Utahime to come up?"

"Nah. We'll celebrate again when you get your acceptance letter into the university you actually wanna be admitted into."

"Sure," he shrugs, not minding it one way or another as he finishes up braiding Tsumiki's hair and then ties it off before getting up to check on dinner. 

There's just under ten minutes left on the timer but it's simmering away nicely, a slight kick of spice coming up to his nose with a heavy fragrance of ginger.

"Gumi! Come help set the table for me!" He calls out as he sets down four bowls by the rice cooker, another four bowls by the pot of miso soup and grabs a small stack of side dishes to divvy up some of the quick-pickle spring onions Tsumiki made earlier. He skirts around Megumi who comes along to go through the cutlery drawer for what he needs, grabbing some chopsticks, spoons and the cute ceramic dumpling-shaped chopsticks holders with silly faces painted on them.

When Tsumiki is done, she's got Shoko's braids twisted into little buns as well, held together by bobby pins and mismatched ribbons tied up in little bows. She's obviously proud of her efforts and the both of them pose cutely for a picture that Satoru takes with exaggerated passion while Megumi rolls his eyes at them even if he can't quite hide the fondness in the corners of his lips as he does so.

Once the girls have finished giggling with one another, Tsumiki grabs her little kitchen step stool so she can peek into the pot, giving it a long sniff and turning up the heat a little bit before sliding in the soft tofu cut up into little bitesized cubes, giving the mixture a careful stir so it doesn't break up too much.

"Five more minutes!" She calls out as she hops off the stool and moves it along with her foot so she can start ladling the miso soup into bowls for all of them.

"Damn, look at you guys being domestic," Shoko smirks as she passes Satoru to get to the fridge to help herself to the drinks inside it, getting everybody bottles of ramune to have with dinner.

"You wish you could be part of this family," Satoru teases as he picks up two bowls of miso soup onto a tray to bring over to the table.

"What do you mean? She already is," Tsumiki says as she hands him the last bowl of miso soup before getting off the stool to start scooping out rice for everybody.

"Awhh," Shoko coos, "And that's why you're my favourite," she grins while Satoru fake-gags behind her and Megumi rolls his eyes to the ceiling.

It's not long before they're all sitting down for dinner, digging into their bowls of rice with mapo tofu and braised eggplant sitting on top, pickled spring onions on the side and hot miso soup.

Satoru hears his phone go off while it's sitting on the kitchen counter with a message received but he pushes it to the back of his head while he helps Megumi open up his bottle of ramune for him while Shoko helps Tsumiki so they don't end up with a bubbling, fizzy mess on the table like they did last time.

Dinner is good. Tsumiki made it heavy on the ginger for Megumi and only just a touch spicy, giving them just the right amount of tingle on their tongue without it being overwhelmingly hot. Tsumiki makes a face at her quick-pickled spring onions and declares she's not trying that recipe again which makes Shoko laugh even as she applauds her for branching out and trying new recipes.

"It's a good trait to have, wanting to experiment," she encourages, which gets a bright look on Tsumiki's face despite the failure of her side dish.

"Yeah, I like it! Satoru always lets me buy whatever I want so it's been really fun getting to try new things together."

"He likes to spoil you," she says fondly.

He rolls his eyes at her. "I'm not really spoiling them. It's not like they ask for much." Neither of them even ask for half the things he did when he was their age, not even a damn quarter.

"I don't need much more than this. I'm happy," Tsumiki tells him and it makes his heart flutter in his chest from the truth in her words and the smile on her face.

"Good, I'm glad," Shoko grins as she polishes off her bowl of rice and mapo tofu before getting up to serve herself seconds, much to Tsumiki's delight.

Shoko helps Megumi get a second serving too, with less rice and more mapo tofu pieces as requested.

They keep eating until they're stuffed full, and then eat some more when Satoru brings out the castella cake that comes with a small box of honeycomb that they can cut up and slather over the cake if they wanted, making it extremely rich and far too decadent, something which Satoru loves but nobody else seems to share his appreciation for.

The dinner leftovers get split off into two containers for Shoko and Satoru to have the next day and Tsumiki cuts up more slices of castella cake so Shoko can take it back to the dorms to share it with Kento and Kiyotaka, leaving the honeycomb for Satoru to eat by himself. It's not the right kind of honey to turn into a drink, the edible wax would melt and not only become something not particularly nice to drink but would also make the cup horrible to clean up.

Afterwards, with the dirty dishes piling up in the sink waiting to be washed, Satoru gives his phone a quick look and blinks in surprise when he realizes it's actually a message from Suguru. He tries not to seem as stunned as he feels as he opens up the text to read it fully.

Suguru:
-hey, was wondering if you're free to catch up someday. no pressure

He reads the message over and over again until Shoko tries and fails to look over his shoulder to see what's got him preoccupied.

"Did you get another acceptance letter or something? You've basically got a third of your applications approved, you crazy bastard," she snarks, a smirk playing across her lips.

"Nah," he says as he angles his phone towards her to read it, her eyebrows going up in surprise when she realizes the gravity of the situation of Suguru actually sending him a message. 

"Oh." Shoko looks at him carefully, as if she's trying to gauge his reaction, as if she's trying to figure out if she should encourage it or hold him back. He doesn't know which one he wants from her just yet - hasn't quite put much thought into it for the moment, still a little stunned by it all. "Do you want to?"

He bites the inside of his lip before he shakes his head and sets his phone back down. "Don't know yet, but we should probably talk about it later."

"Fine by me," she shrugs nonchalantly as she picks up the kitchen sponge and dumps a couple pumps of soap into it, starts to wash the dirty dishes and rinse them in batches while Satoru dries and puts them away.

Tsumiki tries to help but the both of them shoo her out of the kitchen so she can wash up and relax before bed since she took care of most of the cooking.

"You've got your own assigned reading to do," Satoru reminds her even though he's fully aware she's more than past that point and has already written out a short analysis of the chapters that were part of the required reading.

"I was gonna read it in bed," she tells him, sounding petulant as if he's trying to get her to do chores instead of having a chill evening. Next to him, Shoko chortles in amusement.

"I know. By the time you're done in the shower it'll be Gumi's turn then it's basically time to turn in for the night, anyway."

"Okay," she rolls her eyes at him like she can't believe she's being forced to wind down and have herself an easy night but she beams at them as she flounces off to her bedroom for a change of clothes. "Thanks for cleaning up!"

He laughs at the quick turn as he calls out to her in return, "Thanks for dinner, Miki!"

"Damn, she's so independent," Shoko says with no small amount of awe. "I don't think I was that independent when I was her age."

"Ah, well," he sighs and knows he doesn't have to rehash their history of their time and how they lived before Satoru came around to take them under his wing, so to speak. Shoko knows all the sordid details intimately anyway and knows he doesn't have to repeat himself to her. Not about this.

"You're doing really great though," she says softly, unbearably gentle, as she nudges her hip against his thigh.

"Only because I've got you guys to help me," he grins as he accepts another set of dishes to dry off and put away.

She snorts inelegantly. "Yeah, I remember how panicked you were when you came into the school with Miki in your arms, crying that she was gonna overheat and die."

"I did not cry," he refutes even though he came very, very close to it.

"You fucking carried her in like a damsel in distress."

"She was the damsel and I was in distress," he recalls with clarity. Tsumiki had snapped at him that it wasn't as bad as he was making it out to be but at least he hadn't outright taken her to the hospital for what was just a normal cold and fever. It'd been the first time she'd lost her temper with him but after the stress and sickness faded away she became unbearably apologetic and sweet.

Shoko lets out a sharp bark of laughter as she starts stacking up more dishes in the drying rack for Satoru to deal with. "Remember when Gumi got chicken pox and you gave Kento chicken pox?"

He grumbles, "How the hell was I supposed to know he never had it before. I thought everybody did as a kid."

"He was so fucking pissed at you," she cackles at the memory, almost doubling over the sink as she sniggers over it.

"He looked like he was gonna shank me."

"And I would've laughed."

Satoru rolls his eyes at her and quickly changes the subject. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You should think about where you wanna go for dinner tomorrow night."

She groans, "Ugh, honestly, I don't even care where we go. Ask Miki - she's always interested in trying new places."

"Sure. I'll send a group text once we have a place in mind."

"Cool."

Satoru has to switch out to another dishcloth to dry the rest, handing them off to Shoko once she's done with the washing up to put away. All in all, it barely takes them over five minutes to take care of all of it before Shoko is picking up her packed lunch and extra container of cakes to share around.

"Thanks for dinner again, Miki! I'm heading off!" She calls out as she slips on her shoes by the genkan. "Goodnight, you two!"

"Goodnight!" Both of the kids say in return from their bedrooms.

"I'm gonna walk Shoko out. Be back in a bit," Satoru tells them as he grabs his keys and puts on a pair of outdoor slippers to follow her out.

"Okay! Get home safely, Shoko!" 

"Thanks, Miki!" She calls back as she pushes through the door and waits for Satoru to come out before locking it behind them.

It's not a long wait for the elevator, the door opening up for them almost as soon as they press the button.

"I bumped into Suguru the other day," Satoru tells her as the doors glide back shut.

"Where?"

"The supermarket down the road."

Her eyebrows raise up high again for the second time this evening. "Really? Does he live around here."

"Ebisu," he says as he holds the door open for her when they reach the ground floor, following after her as she hits the security button to be let out of the building.

"No way," she mutters under her breath after the shock passes her. "That's really close by. You could probably walk there in like, half an hour. Less with your freakishly long legs."

He huffs and ignores the jibe, "Yeah, crazy, huh?"

"So are you gonna meet up with him?" She asks as she eyes his hands but he'd left his phone upstairs by the kitchen counter.

He shrugs as he slows to a stop by the side of the road before she has to walk off towards the train station to take her back to the dorms. "Yeah, probably while the kids are in school," he winces at the thought of Megumi's reaction to Suguru as he confesses quietly to her, "I think Gumi hates him."

She gives a half-shoulder shrug in return. "Not surprised, considering what he said that night. Did you end up giving him your old phone to throw out?" She asks softly, gently, almost like she doesn't want to bring it up in the first place but still wants to be mindful about it.

"Yeah, I did," he says quietly, missing it dearly, the shape of it in his hand, the images and videos he used to watch every once in a while just to remember the good times they used to have and the pain that comes with holding onto those memories. "I really don't even know when Gumi noticed."

"He's a really observant kid. He had to be to survive without his parents and to grow up being able to see curses that literally nobody else could explain to him," she sighs, her fingers looking like they're itching for a smoke and he appreciates that she's not reaching for one while they're outside his apartment. "He caught on that it wasn't normal and it wasn't something people talked about freely so he grew up to be wary and cautious."

"Don't have to tell me twice," he says as he rubs the back of his neck, thinking back on their first meeting and how well that went, the way Megumi looked up at him with clear and obvious distrust which was fair for a kid his age, and then later learning how Tsumiki's mum walked out on them, too.

She exhales noisily at him, "Look, I'm not telling you that you shouldn't meet up with Suguru but I think you should be upfront about it with the both of them, especially to Gumi."

He grimaces at the thought even though he knows it has to be done. "I know. It's not like I wanna hide it, I just--"

"It's the clashing of two worlds. The fact is," she says as she turns to face him fully, "Suguru's the one who's trying to come back into your world, not the other way around so he's the one that's gonna have to make some concessions for you and he's the one who's gonna have to suck up to Gumi and Miki when it comes down to it, especially if he’s being genuine about wanting to stick around and be part of our lives again."

"What if--" he starts to ask, only to cut himself off when she shakes her head at him.

"No point thinking about what if's. At the end of the day, you're just gonna have to ask yourself if it's something you'll regret doing or not. So..." she finishes with another shrug, "Anyway, I've kept you long enough. Keep me updated, yeah?"

"Yeah, get back to the school safely. Text me when you're back."

"I will," she waves as she walks off, her mismatches ribbons trailing behind her in the air. He keeps an eye on her until she rounds the corner, until the ribbons disappear from view, before he heads back inside.

He drops his keys back onto the counter and grabs his phone as soon as he sees it, opening up the message thread and rereading the text a couple of times, fingers hovering over the keys briefly before typing out a reply.

Satoru:
-hey, just finished dinner with shoko and the kids. sure to catching up, pending missions but its been free most days since we've finished exams and stuff

Satoru doesn't expect a reply straight away so he heads towards his bedroom and sets his phone to charge on his bedside table to grab his pajamas to bring into the shower with him. He's barely a step out the door when his phone chimes again, making him throw his clothes back onto the bed to grab at it.

Suguru:
-cool. im free most mornings if you wanna get breakfast or brunch somewhere. you said you live in aobadai? we should find somewhere in the middle to meet up

Satoru:
-sounds good

He sits on the edge of the bed while he spends a few minutes googling restaurants and cafes between his place and Ebisu, going mostly off reviews and pictures before finding one that does cute latte art that he immediately wants to go for. He takes note of the name of the place and sends it through to Suguru.

Satoru:
-we should try this one! they do really cute latte art. i need it

Suguru's reply takes a minute or so to come through so Satoru occupies himself with browsing through more of the menu and pictures previous customers have taken of their experiences there and feels his mouth salivating at some of the sweet treats on offer even though he literally just ate cake with honeycomb barely half an hour ago.

Suguru:
-sure. looks like they've got a good spread of stuff to order too

Satoru:
-they have chocolate and mixed berry chiffon sandwich. DESSERT SANDWICH

Suguru:
-damn. i forget how intense your sweet tooth gets. we good for tomorrow? pending missions on your side.

Satoru:
-i'll let you know in the morning when i get in. usually yaga-sensei lets me know if i have something to take care of that day or not

Suguru:
-cool. i'll let you go then. text me in the morning

Satoru:
-sure

He sets his phone back down on the bedside table with a long breath, not quite a sigh as he sits there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out the best way of telling the kids that he's going to be meeting up with Suguru tomorrow. He doesn't think Tsumiki will mind much but he knows he'll have a harder time of it with Megumi considering the initial meeting and the ones following after that.

In the end, there's no good way to prepare for it so he just makes himself get back up and go into the living room and call out for them. "Hey, come on out here for a minute, I wanna talk to you guys about something."

Tsumiki comes out of her room with her hair wrapped up in a towel while Megumi's hair drips onto the towel draped across his shoulders. Satoru sits them down on the couch while he clears up a spot on the coffee table to settle in front of them.

"You guys remember Suguru, right?" He asks a little redundantly.

Megumi immediately scowls at the mention of his name. "What about him?"

Satoru stares meaningfully at Megumi's attitude and gets a petulant eyeroll in return. "I know you don't like him but at the end of the day you don't know him like I do and at the end of the day, it's my choice to wanna reconnect with an old friend I haven't seen in a really long time."

"Tch," Megumi clicks his tongue in distaste as he crosses his arms over his chest, looking deeply unhappy. It's not often that Satoru has to be firm with his kid over anything but he supposes there's a first time for everything.

He sighs as he looks down at his feet and rubs a hand over the back of his neck, "Look, I don't know how to explain this because it's not like we fought and we decided to cut ties with each other. We just--we were going through a really rough patch in our lives and things got really difficult and really heavy," he feels guilty that for as long as he's known Tsumiki and Megumi, they don't really know about the circumstances that led Satoru to picking them up, that he's never tried to talk about what happened with their dad, never tried to help look for their mum, either. It's been two years though, and he wonders if it's just not worth bringing it up anymore, bound to hurt more than help.

He shakes his head at the memory of it, "I barely held on by the skin of my teeth but Suguru couldn't and it's not his fault that he needed to step back to heal from it all. I still think of him as a friend and I still have a lot of really good memories with him, okay?"

"You said he was your best friend," Megumi says with narrowed eyes, almost like an accusation.

Satoru doesn't deny it. "Yeah, he was. It's gonna take us a while to get back there and I don't even know if we can but I still wanna try. In saying that, I don't wanna go behind your backs just to see him and hang out with him."

"Thanks for telling us, Satoru," Tsumiki smiles softly at him.

"Why does it have to be him?" Megumi grumbles, tightening his arms across his chest until he's curling into himself.

"Come on, Gumi," she chides, "Satoru's allowed to have other friends, too."

"He's already got lots of friends. Why does he need this one? Why him?" He argues.

"I already told you why," Satoru answers firmly, "You don't have to like it but I'd appreciate it if you could respect my choices the way I respect yours."

"Fine," he huffs as he gets up from the couch. "I'm going to bed," he says unhappily as he stomps off but thankfully knows better than to slam the door shut.

He lets out a sigh, thinking it could've gone better but also knows it could've gone worse. 

"I hope it goes well between you and your friend. I hope you guys can make up," Tsumiki tells him as she lays a comforting hand over his shoulder and he can't help but smile at her as he lays his hand over hers, soaking in as much of her warmth as he can before he has to let go.

"Me, too. Thanks, Miki."

"Goodnight, Satoru. Thanks for telling us."

"Of course."

He stays seated on the coffee table for another minute or two, just listening out for the noises in Tsumiki and Megumi's bedrooms before getting up to take a shower, grabbing his clothes from on top of the bed to go into the bathroom.

His mind whirrs and jitters as he thinks about what tomorrow may bring. He's not sure how their next meeting is going to turn out but he wants it to go well; he's desperate for Suguru to fit back into his life the way he used to but he's more than well aware that they're both different people now. Two years might not be a lot but he knows he's changed and he knows Suguru has, too. Now it's just a matter of finding out if they can live with those changes or not.

He shakes his head under the shower, letting the water clear away his thoughts for a while, letting himself get distracted by the smell of his shampoo, the sweet pomegranate flavour that's his current favourite until he finds another scent that tickles his fancy even more. He sighs, slipping his eyes shut and tries not to worry about what's going to happen tomorrow tonight.