"I'm on my way to Suguru right now, it was reported that a civilian found him unconscious in a pool of blood, his blood, that wouldn't be a problem if he was attacked or if it is from a mission. This time, the school didn't make any move to cover anything up" Shoko sighed as she took another puff of her cig. Just when she thought things were getting good, this happens. She should've wished for the normal injuries these assholes somehow gain than receiving these types of news.
"Suguru tried to kill himself, I'm on my way to find out why, Yaga suggested that you come too, as Suguru is closer to you than me" Feeling drained, Shoko ended the call as she heard Satoru's shaking voice of 'bye' - a voice filled with forceful attempt of sounding joyful but failing awfully to do so - it was Satoru's type of voice she never wished to hear again. And this news - this one is one she would die for to never receive again.
Looking at the passing scenery outside, she couldn't help but let out a scornful sneer. This could be perfect if it was a vacation - she thought but her heart kept shouting to never see this scenery again as it would remind her of what is about to become her greatest nightmare. She could bet her entire secret stash of cigarettes that unless Suguru is within reach and sight, Satoru will never be calm. She just knows those two too well. Or maybe not.
Shutting her eyes forcefully, Shoko bent against her knees, trying so hard not to cry. She knew something was wrong, she felt it in her gut when she found out that this year-long mission wasn't assigned by the higher-ups but was chosen by Suguru - how Suguru lied to them, by then, she already knew something was wrong. So wrong.
She knew death in this type of world was unavoidable, especially when the number of curses to be dealt with exceeded the number of sorcerers, she had seen countless deaths. But it was never this unpleasant. It wouldn't be a lie if she told someone how she prepared herself to receive the death of her senseis, senpais, friends, and schoolmates. She prepared herself for the worst outcome - for the worst news she could receive. Especially when she would be the one dealing with their dead bodies. But now, she realized how much her preparation was lacking. She never once considered, how she could one day deal with a body, not killed by a curse or another enemy, but by its owner.
Oh how much she wished to burst out crying, but she can't. Not until she confirms that Suguru is alive, not until she knows Satoru knows that their best friend is alive.
Ring~
The phone call pulled her out of her thoughts, glancing at the other side of the back seat where she tossed her phone carelessly. The screen flashed a familiar name, a name she didn't expect to receive today - or maybe she did.
"Utahime-san"
"I'm with the second years and Mei Mei-san, we're on our way, and unfortunately, we heard what happened. We made sure it wouldn't spread, although I think the higher-ups might use it against Satoru and your Sensei"
"I know, I know at least that much"
"What do you mean he tried to kill himself?! Suguru was fine when we talked yesterday! He sounded fine! At least for me, fuck!" Satoru turned around, adding more force at pulling his hair, in hoping to look for more reasons as to why Satoru had reached this stage.
Satoru, Shoko, Yaga, Kento, Yu, Mei Mei, and Utahime are now standing outside the unconscious Suguru's ward in the hospital.
All of them have faces no one would rather see again.
Now that they have confirmed that Suguru is stable, they have to find out why he even attempted to end his life.
"Was it a psychological effect from a mission? But Suguru's reports never hinted such a thing" Yaga groaned, never once in his life did he see himself receiving the news of his student attempting suicide. Such things weren't uncommon, but it wasn't usual to be taken as a normal thing.
"I have a feeling it's something more than that" Shoko replied as she kept her eyes on the albino, hoping the blue-eyed man won't do anything reckless.
"Was it his curse technique?" Mei Mei, who has been silent since arrival, finally spoke up. Wondering if this could be the side effect of Suguru's curse technique.
"That's possible, no one could ever actually confirm that the curse orbs Suguru has been consuming have been purified a hundred percent. And Suguru has already consumed thousands of curse orbs. If it wasn't purified as it is claimed to be, then this outcome is to be expected" Utahime forcefully looked away from the heart-wrenching expression on Satoru's face.
She and that albino of an asshole might never get along, she would even always enjoy Satoru's pissed face. But she could and would never enjoy the expression on his face right now.
She knew, if not everyone, that Suguru was the most important person in Satoru's life. His lifeline if she must say. Her words might have given him a heartache much worse than earlier.
"Senpai has been somewhat unstable, a few hours before his last day here - that was before his mission would start. It was only a few hours, and I only witnessed it for s few minutes. It was concerning but when I saw him in his usual behavior on the last day, I thought that maybe yesterday was just a bad day. I should have seen it by then." Yu Haibara's words of regret came. Regret is evident in everyone's faces, oh how they wished to have seen the signs sooner.
"This is better, although not the best. At least Suguru's still alive, we could still do better things for him" Kento Nanami's weak consolation soon followed his second-year student.
And it did help, looking at the brighter side, they're thankful it wasn't too late. But this consolation didn't help much to a certain albino who's now blaming himself.
______________________________________
"Satoru"
Gojo Satoru, the self-proclaimed 'strongest man in the world', burst crying right then and there. No one knew how many sleepless nights he spent hallucinating over this exact moment.
And seeing the expression of the albino, Suguru felt nothing but guilt.
He thought he could do better, what he did was subconscious. He didn't notice what he was doing until it happened. He thought it would be like the usual moments where his brain would blank out and the next second, he'd find himself in a random place, not even remembering how he got there.
Satoru took a big leap forward and engulfed the larger male. Suguru's warm body, he's still alive. Thank goodness, oh thank you so much
No one knew how long Satoru had been crying whilst in Suguru's arms, not like anyone counted. No one even dared to comment, as everyone who had once been in that room knew that what they were feeling was multiplied by the 10th power to be equivalent to what Satoru was feeling.
Suguru was sorry, he whispered that to Satoru's ears every minute. He whispered promises after promises, that he knew would make the albino calm down. He knew that Satoru would trust his promises, as he is not one to make a promise an everyday habit and not withhold it.
Satoru fell asleep the moment he stopped crying, and everyone left after telling Suguru they'd visit again.
Suguru smiled as he glanced at the side table, arms tightening around the albino. He remembered how the nurse who took care of him whispered how his table was never left empty, there would be flowers, fruits, snacks, meals, and drinks occupying it every single day. And when rotten, spoiled, or withered, his visitors would replace another one.
He no longer knew why he did what he did, and he failed to even reason out his actions as time passed by. The more he watched the clouds pass by through his window, the more he realized how much he failed to cherish the moments he could've spent with the most important people in his life.
He came back, and he thought he could finally protect them and stay by their side, when he thought of his actions now, he realized how he had forgotten the latter half of his dream.
He only grew strong, but never spent enough time with his loved ones. And that made him think that maybe this should be enough, for now at least. He'll wait, at least until the time when he can be so sure that he won't be unconsciously taking his life out of nowhere and for no reason at that.
As Suguru expected, from the remaining days he spent in the hospital, to the days he spent to recuperate after being discharged - not a minute had Satoru let Suguru out of his sight. The albino stuck to him like glue, not looking away for a single minute.
Shoko and the rest already expressed their opinions on the excessiveness of Satoru's actions, though deep inside, only they knew how they would do the same if Satoru didn't do it.
"Ugh!!!...hmm!!...argh!!...haa!!......ah! Suguru!" (A/N: heh, ik wut ur thinking fufu)
Suguru woke up to Satoru shouting, having a nightmare. He reached out to the albino, and engulfed the man tightly in his arms, whispering sweet nothings to calm the man down. This happens every night. Though it's getting worse as time goes by, it's still enough to hit Suguru's guilt pedal like it's being hammered.
Suguru knew from this moment onwards, he'd be stuck with the blue-eyed male. He doesn't hate it, and nothing could make him do so. However, he wished for Satoru to forget this nightmare and act like he usually does.
When Suguru rescued Mimiko and Nanako, he wasn't alone. Satoru was beside him, holding his arm, not wishing to let go. To reciprocate, he was with Satoru when the said Albino scowled and reluctantly took the orphaned Fushiguro siblings under his care. And so, from that day, the two officially became a father.
Satoru smiled, one that was genuine and filled with joy, as he stared at his family. The kids just hoped they could go on the beach, and obviously, it was Satoru the 'ever always agreeing' parent who made it happen with the help of Suguru the 'if nothing is wrong then why not' parent. They spoil the children with the care and love they deserve. And it was nothing but fun and peace. At least now, Satoru could console himself that Suguru would never dare to end his life again with their children depending on the two of them.
Ever since Suguru showed so much proof that he loved their children greater than he did his life - it was only then that Satoru agreed to let the dark-haired man away from his sight. Now the two of them are on a schedule where they spend to working and still spend family quality time at the end of the day.
They would work on the weekdays while the children are at school, then spend the rest of the day as a family after work and the children's school. Satoru and Suguru agreed that if the two of them couldn't pick up the children together, one of them should be able to do the job and just wait for the other at home.
And Suguru just so happens to be always picking the children up as out of the two of them, only Suguru has a great sense of time. Although this didn't make the children love him more than Satoru, as the children claimed to love them equally, it was still enough to make Suguru glad and thankful that he could spend time with their children.
One thing the two made sure of is to never come home injured or with a drop of blood in their clothes. The children reacted so greatly and sensitively when Satoru recklessly came home with a bandaged head and a splash of blood on his sleeve.
The girls burst crying and the only boy, Megumi teary-eyed. For some reason, Megumi tried his best to never cry or look weak in front of his sisters, as the young man claimed: "I am the man out of the four of us, I should be strong and brave enough to protect them and be a role model. It's not my fault Dada is so dumb to come home injured". And so Satoru dramatically cried over the kid's words for s few minutes. Whining here and there making the girls laugh in amusement. Suguru merely shook his head.
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Suguru stood on top of a mountain, staring at an abandoned shrine with distaste.
This will be hard
He couldn't help but sigh as he texted Satoru that he might not be able to pick up the kids and might come home late.
As he stuffed his phone into his pockets, he sighed once more before creating a veil. The huge amount of leaking cursed energy is enough for him to know how strong the prey could be. But it's fine, that's what makes it fun.
Suguru entered the shrine, and what he didn't expect was that the one he had to deal with took the form of a human.
An intellectual cursed spirit?
Suguru wasted no time to attack the said cursed spirit - and as he expected, the cursed spirit dodged. Intellectual cursed spirits would either dodge or deflect the attack once faced head-on. But to think this one would dodge.
You could say Suguru was expecting the cursed spirit to deflect his attack. Or maybe that was just him hoping he could finish this one easily.
"You should be strong enough to handle about one eight of my little pets, right?" Suguru questioned as cursed spirits ranging from grade 2 to special grade cursed spirits swarmed toward his enemy.
And just as he expected, most of the grade 2 cursed spirits were destroyed easily and a few of the grade 1 cursed spirits were heavily injured, and obviously, the special grade cursed spirits weren't even scratched a bit.
It wasn't like Suguru was expecting something great - well maybe a bit. He just thought this special-grade cursed spirit would take much more time from the cursed energy it was leaking.
However, Suguru soon found out why - despite the large quantity of leaking cursed energy from the cursed spirit, it wasn't strong enough to handle one eight of his Cursed Spirits - it was because of the unsealed finger of Ryoumen Sukuna. It must've been the source of the leakage of cursed energy.
Suguru sighed as he was once again reminded of the future to come. Summoning the inventory curse, he fished out a talisman from its mouth before wrapping the finger with it and tossing the sealed finger back to its mouth.
Looking around and the damage caused by the fight, Suguru smiled wryly as he raised his hand towards the weakened special grade and exorcised it. And consume.
The process of never-ending disgusting consummation of curses.
Suguru left the place soon after - thankfully he's still on time for dinner.