CHAPTER 9
You listened as Getou spoke. Inwardly trying and failing to prove him wrong.
A stray hair of his fell against the curve of his brow. He seemed so nonchalant like we were discussing the weather. If you were anyone else in this conversation, you would have found it comical, the contrast of your own stressed and confused expression reflected at you by your glass and the languid ease of the man opposite you. But, you were you, and nothing about this situation was even remotely funny.
Any slip, any error anything from him and you would clutch at it like a drowning man at straws. You felt like a drowning man, drowning in the great depths of what you didn't know.
But there were no straws. Silently, and gradually as he spoke, his words seemed to make more and more sense, in a way that frightened you. He didn't seem to be lying, he knew so much that it seemed impossible for him to lie about unless he knew for real.
"Your husband." Getou covers his mouth at his error, you couldn't tell whether or not it was intentional. It still stung either way. "Sorry, you ex-husband. Did he ever tell you what he does for a living? You begged him to didn't you? Maybe you even blamed yourself and hoped he'd says sike even after all the turmoil he put you through. How'd that make you feel, knowing he'd rather leave you than tell you the truth? Or rather, the not knowing why-"
You held your breath covertly, How did he know?
"--or did you trust him so much that it didn't matter? You're gullible Y/N. Naive."
"Sure, he didn't tell me but that does mean he ever lied to me.". You knew what you said didn't make any sense but what could you do? The implications of Geto's words made you spiral internally. His words stripped your thoughts naked and left you bare with nowhere to hide.
He looks at you as if you were a child who had just said something dumb in ignorance. "You also believed he wouldn't randomly dump you, didn't you? So what's the harm in believing he'd lie to you? Something tells me you don't know this husband of yours very well."
That one stung. Hard.
You didn't even need to look at the plant to know it had swayed.
"He gave you a bogus reason, didn't he? Something obviously made up, and you, you just took it. Sat on it like a little depression egg and waited for it to hatch. Probably wallowed in self-pity for a while. Did you ever think of moving? Doing something about it?"
"His friends never told you anything. The white-headed one? Did he say anything? No. Probably sat on the fence and chirped in his usual happy-go-lucky manner. He never really chooses, after all, he likes to ignore the issue. Did the doctor friend of yours tell you anything? No, they didn't. They watched you suffer and no one thought to tell you anything. And you still trusted them. Should I call you stupid or brave?"
"You know my husband and his friends?"
"Knew them?" Getou smiles once more, but this time the smile was deeper, and more authentic. More genuine. "Knew them? I used to be one of them."
Gojo
Gojo walked, his blue eyes trained on a foggy trail in the middle of the road. The trail twisted and wound like cigarette smoke, but it carried no scent, no taste no feel except the dreadful chill that came from it as it brushed past his skin. The average person wouldn't really sense it unless they were on high alert. Even then they'd just describe the chill as an 'uneasy' feeling. Their ignorance was probably bliss, they never needed to know about the horrors of the word of curses.
The trail followed behind the path Y/N had taken, weaving past people that had long walked far away. It was the time right after rush hour, and the remnants of the lunch crowds were gradually dwindling away.
With some difficulty, he managed to follow the trail, which was quickly disappearing, to a restaurant at the end of the street. It wasn't exactly a prime area but it was in close proximity to both a university and a hospital, which caused Gojo to inevitably raise his guard.
He stepped into the building and the trail immediately became faint. A thick air or resentment blanketed the room making it near impossible to find the trail. If anyone else were tracking it'd be near impossible to find the trail. Gojo frowned but resolutely followed the vague and muddy familiar chill.
He followed it upstairs where the private booths were. Before finally stopping before a door. Wordlessly pushing it open.
Inside he was greeted by a scene he never wanted to see.
You looked over at Gojo. Feeling hollow deep inside.
Stiffly, you turned your attention back towards the man in front of you, who hadn't stopped smiling. It seemed as if nothing could phase him.
No one spoke, and for a moment the air was laced with a tension you couldn't quite describe. You're eyes met with the plant's hollow ones. While you knew plants, in theory, were not able to see, you were sure this one was staring right back at you.
"It seems it's time for me to go." Getou got up from his seat and smiled. Walking towards the door. Wordlessly, Gojo intercepted him.
"What did you do, Suguru?"
He really does know him.
"Me?" Getou laughs, "I've done nothing wrong. In fact, im just lending her a hand, ask her."
Gojo looks at him with a stare you couldn't quite place. He searched his face for answers the smiling man would not give him.
"Y/N, let's go." While gojo was saying this to you, his eyes never left Getou, who as you realized was clad in traditional dress. Maybe it was a quirk, a personal preference, but in this Tokyo heat?
"Yes, you should go with him Y/N."