Remember? [Satoru Gojo x Reader]

chapter 37

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December 2003, part 1

After summer ended, fall had come and gone, and it was now winter. You had successfully warmed up to Satoru, going from a greeting every now and then to making frequent plans with him, although he still kept his walls up.

One particular weekend at noon, you had made lunch plans with him to eat at the local noodle shop.

"Satoru?" You unwrapped your chopsticks carefully, and preserved the wrapper.

"Hm?"

"When's your birthday?" You started to fold the wrapper, first in half, then into a fan pattern.

"Why?"

"Just because. I wanna know." You looked up at him, taking in his presence. His hair had grown longer in the past five months, and now his bangs covered his forehead, the silvery strands complimenting the light blue in his eyes. He was, undeniably, good-looking.

"It's on December 7th."

"December 7th? Wait. Today!? Today's December 7th! Why didn't you tell me?" You completed the paper swan chopstick holder made of the long chopstick wrapper, and presented the little origami crane to the boy. He carefully took the crane and rested his chopsticks on its back.

Satoru shrugged. "I don't know, I've never celebrated my birthday."

Sadness filled your chest. The more you learned about this boy, the more you realized that your initial judgment of him was right: he had no childhood to commemorate.

"Well, we're going to celebrate your existence today! Happy fourteenth!" You held up your water cup, waiting for his clink.

Satoru's lip tugged upwards slightly as he picked up his cup and clinked it with yours. Almost a smile, but not quite.

"Let's go get us some cake after this." You beamed at him. At that moment, the noodle place owner, a woman in her late twenties, brought over your orders of ramen. You thanked her.

"Let's eat!" you said cheerfully (A/N: that's supposed to be itadakimasu LOL).

The flavor of the broth was familiar to you, having eaten regularly at this place for your whole life, but nonetheless delicious. Satoru eats delicately, making minimal sounds and mess. In between slurps, he stared intently at you.

"What are you looking at?" You raised your eyebrow. "You think I'm that pretty?"

Satoru looked away, putting his chopsticks down. "No, I-"

"No?? You don't think I'm pretty?

"That's not it, I-"

"So I am pretty?"

Satoru looked farther away, his pale complexion warming up slightly to a light pink.

"Shut up," he muttered quietly.

"Never." You smiled. Over the past few months, you had seen him show a bit more emotion than he did when he first came here. It wasn't much, but seeing him become more comfortable expressing himself was reassuring. "So what was it you wanted to say?"

Satoru turned his face back to you and locked eyes with you. A moment later, he says, "You're a jujutsu sorceress, aren't you?"

You cocked your head. "A what now? What's that?"

"It means- you can control your cursed energy."

"I'm... not sure what you mean." What was he saying? Satoru had always struck you as a no-nonsense type of guy, so why was he now sprouting words like "sorceress" and "cursed energy"? There was no way he was talking about your powers, was he? No one ever talked about that. As far as you knew, you were the only person who possessed this odd power.

"Can you move things around without touching them? With the energy in your body?" Satoru questioned you further, and it dawned on you that your power was exactly what he was talking about.

Having never told anyone about your powers in fear of retaliation, you hesitated to confirm his questions. But for some reason, you trusted him. This strange boy who had arrived out of nowhere, who had slowly become a part of your life.

"I... can." You hesitated, lowering your voice and looking around. "How did you know?"

"I can sense the large amounts of cursed energy inside you. That's what the energy you feel is called. Cursed energy."

"Cursed energy? Do you... have this too?"

Satoru nodded. "You should be able to sense it in me too."

You shook your head, unsure what he was talking about. You were only aware of the energy inside your own body. But the fact that Satoru had this ability too was comforting. You finally had someone to share your secret with.

"What can you do?" You asked, "With your... cursed energy?"

The boy looked intently into your eyes, as if considering how much he should say. "A lot," he said after a few moments.

"What does 'a lot' mean?" You raised an eyebrow at his vague remark, although vague remarks weren't new, coming from him.

"I can show you later, when we're out of sight." Satoru picked up his chopsticks and began to eat his noodles again. You followed suit. So he thought that it was something to keep out of sight from people, too.

"This is crazy." You said. "I thought for my whole life that I was weird and out of place for being able to do things like this. And suddenly, you showed up. That's crazy."

"Where I come from, most people I know are sorcerers."

"Where do you come from, Satoru?"

"Kyoto, I told you."

"I know, but... you talk as if having this power is normal. There's no way everyone in Kyoto can do this."

A moment of silence ensued as you chewed your noodles, picking up more with your chopsticks.

"Back in Kyoto, I was constantly watched over." Satoru finally said. Besides the larger details, you'd never heard him say anything more specific.

Is he finally going to open up? You thought. You kept chewing your noodles to keep up the nonchalant facade, but you were secretly excited to hear more. But after a moment, when Satoru didn't say anything more, you tried to nudge the conversation forward.

"Why?"

It seemed, though, that Satoru decided that he had shared enough, and answered your question with a shrug. You were a bit disappointed, but didn't push for answers, afraid that his walls would go up again when he had finally begun to let you in.

"Sorcery is usually inherited by family." Satoru changed the subject. "Who in your family did you inherit this from?"

You shook your head. "That doesn't make sense though. Neither of my parents are sorcerers. I'm the odd one out."

"Sometimes it can skip generations." He replied simply.

"I've never met my grandparents. My parents moved here from the mainland." You said. "I really want to go to a big city. One day, we should go visit together."

The boy looked at you with those sorrowful eyes.

"Yeah," he breathed, "I hope you can go someday."

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i wonder why gojo's here to visit? i guess we find out ; )

Word count: 1071 words

Published August 15, 2022

I do not own any of the characters from Jujutsu Kaisen.