𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑾⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐕 - 𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄

GOJO SATORU AWOKE WITH A START, heart beating so fast he could feel it hammering against his ribs. The sorcerer laid there for a second, blue eyes trailed on the ceiling as he regained his breath. Satoru stared at the roof, trailing the crack along the plaster while his heartbeat slowed. It took him a while to recover, mind muddled with sleep even as he pushed himself out of bed, untangling his limbs from the cheap hotel sheets.

The sorcerer paused, gaze flickering to the small clock set by the nightstand. It was past midnight, and although the curtains were drawn, Satoru could still spy the barren landscape on the other side, moonlight shining through the cracks in the blinds. The pair had made it to the hotel late last night, not a single word spoken between them after his latest outburst.

It had taken a while for Mikazuki to catch up to him, but once they were standing side by side at the clerk desk and checking into their rooms, he'd been faced with the coldness of her stare. The sorceress had been curt and polite, but the stillness behind her golden eyes was eerily familiar, a sense of uneasiness settling at the pit of Satoru's stomach as he watched her shut the door of her room.

The pair had been given separate rooms, a long and empty hallway between them. Somehow, this separation didn't seem like enough. And yet, it was like they were a lifetime away from each other, an unsurmountable chasm between them, one he'd created himself with a simple string of words. Satoru clicked his tongue, regretting the hastiness of it all.

He didn't regret a single thing that he said – how could he, when so much of it had been nothing but the truth – but even then, he knew he'd gone too far the moment he spied that look on her face. He'd seen that look before, so many times he should have gotten used to it by now. She was done – with him, and everything else, as well.

That look on Mikazuki's face would haunt him forever. It was hard to put it into words, to express the way she'd turned towards him before closing the door of her room shut, the silence that reigned in the hallway afterwards so loud it made Satoru's ears ring. Mikazuki wasn't mad or angry. She wasn't furious or annoyed.

She was disappointed, which was somehow worse. The Gojo heir didn't know how to deal with it, which is probably while he appropriated a small liquor bottle and then passed out on his bed. Turns out, Kei was right; drinking his problems away worked. Funny all it took for him to find that out was some cruel words and the blank stare from the woman who had once been his fiancé.

Gojo sighed, brushing the hair out of his face in one swift movement before finally leaving the bed. His skin was clammy with sweat, the terrible nightmare still lingering in his thoughts, preying on him. His shirt was soaked, as was his bed, water dripping from the sheets. Satoru peeled his shirt off, choosing a jacket which he zipped all the way up before slowly making his bed around the room. It wasn't anything grand – the town was small and the rooms they had available were just that, rooms. Still, Satoru made his way through the carpeted floor, exiting onto the hallways as his door clicked shut. As expected, there wasn't a single soul awake on this level. Instead, everything was cloaked in darkness, the soft hue of the emergency exit sign illuminating the path forward. Gojo stood in front of Mikazuki's door, hesitating for a brief second before he finally talked himself into knocking. His knuckles rasped against the door, the soft sound echoing in the otherwise silent stillness of the night. Satoru paused, the echo of the sound filling his ears until he knocked again, this time with far more energy. Once again, nothing but silence greeted him.

The sorcerer sighed, pacing the length of the hallway as he debated with himself, bare feet dragging against the dirty carpet floor It was late, much later than usual, and although he expected Mikazuki to be asleep, he hadn't expected her to completely check out. Satoru paused in front of the door once again, briefly pulling the cloth of his blindfold up so he could scan the inside of the room. His cursed energy flared, running straight through his eyes as he summoned the Six Eyes.