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****
Being friends with Satoru was fucking hard.
His mere presence had the power to crumble the walls that protected your composure. Every encounter became a silent war—an inner struggle to choose distance over the alluring closeness his aura naturally demanded.
But keeping distance?
Oh, it was a fierce, bitter, and relentless battle.
"Just a few more!" Satoru's voice, melodiously carefree, pierced through the chilly air. You forced your muscles into another agonizing push-up as your body teetered on the brink of collapse.
"Oh, how I adore him," Nobara whispered, her voice lingering beside you.
Autumn has subtly introduced itself. It bathed the world in warm amber and russet hues, gently wrapping the fading memories of summer's vibrancy under its soft blanket. The days began to cool. You could feel a gentle breeze on your skin.
"How much more?" You asked, your voice barely hiding the treacherous trembling of your arms.
"I'm going to throw up," Yuji declared. His face twisted in a strange mixture of effort and rebellion against his stomach's agenda.
Nobara quietly muttered a series of creative curses.
"Hmmm," Satoru peered over his sunglasses. "—just another easy 50."
"Ha. Ha. Haaa?" Yuji's voice scaled up with each syllable.
"You're joking, right?" Nobara asked, her voice a sweet poison.
You glanced over to Megumi for a split second. He seemed to suffer in silence.
The insidious muscle burn has found its way to your core. Ah, the betrayal of one's own body. You hate push-ups. And Satoru. But mostly push-ups, you thought.
And maybe, just maybe, you hated the way your heart still skipped a beat whenever he was near.
"Come on, only a few more. Push through it," Satoru cheered.
Meanwhile, Yuji, now completely horizontal on the ground, announced with dramatic flair, "Go on without me. Save yourselves. Remember me as I was—," his voice fading into an exaggerated death rattle.
Your visible exhale, clouds of warmth dissolving into the crisp air, as you exchanges a quick glance with Satoru. Your heart, that traitorous organ, fluttered at the unexpected sight.
Damn it all.
—49—49—50—Your arms gave way, surrendering to the undeniable pull of the earth below. Your face hit the slightly damp grass, allowing yourself a moment to enjoy the earthy scent and the cool sensation on your overheated skin.
Perhaps this was where you would remain for the rest of eternity—a monument to the fallen, struck down in the prime of life by Satoru's cruel push-up regime.
A shadow fell upon you. You knew who it was without looking. "If you've come to gloat," you began, your voice muffled by the grass beneath, "know that I've already drawn up my revenge plan."
Instead of a witty retort, Satoru's voice was softer, flirtatious, closer, as he said, "You did well."
Friends, Satoru. Remember?
"I highly doubt that," you rolled your eyes, catching sight of Megumi, already rebounding to his feet, seemingly unfazed. "Are you even human?" you asked him, half-joking, half-awe.
A nonchalant shrug and a lean stretch were his only responses, further fueling your suspicions about his humanity.
"What was today's hellish training even for?" Yuji lamented.
"Do I need a reason to torment my students?" Satoru teased.
Nobara's expression crafted a visual soliloquy of disdain.
"Actually," Satoru corrected, "—you have a new mission tomorrow." His tone grew more serious. "There have been disturbing incidents reported from an abandoned hospital near Shizuoka."
Megumi interjected, "Don't they have their own sorcerers?"
"Not strong enough, it seems." Satoru's gaze hardened for a moment. "But I assure you, it will be an exciting adventure!"
You lifted your face from the grass, strands of green clinging to your cheeks. You cast a skeptical glance at Satoru. "Exciting adventure, he says," you murmured. "—last time it was a 'minor inconvenience' and we fought a special curse that almost made a snack out of Yuji."
Yuji, still stretched out beside you, nodded solemnly. "I still have nightmares about those teeth."
"Your definition of fun, Gojo, seriously needs a revision," Nobara added.
Satoru lowered himself to your level. His eyes met yours as a grin played around the corners of his lips. "You'll love this one, I promise."
Yuji mustered the strength to sit up. "What's so 'exciting' about this mission anyway?"
Satoru tilted his head slightly, silver strands of hair capturing the last rays of the day, shimmering in the receding sunlight. "That abandoned hospital in Shizuoka—it's notorious. Local sorcerers have been trying to deal with the anomalies there for months, but last week two of them went in and never came out."
Nobara perked up. "So you're sending us to a place where sorcerers have gone missing?"
Satoru nodded. "Exactly. The hospital was a place of pain, suffering and numerous unexplained deaths even before it was abandoned. Now, it seems to have become a breeding ground for curses. The incidents are escalating and they can't contain it anymore. We must find out what's going on there, save the sorcerers, and cleanse the place."
Your heart raced. You pulled yourself up into a sitting position, grass and soil clinging to your sweat-soaked shirt. "Sounds more dangerous than exciting."
"Sure, there's a risk, but we've got this. As long as we stick together," Megumi said.
"The power of friendship saves the day, huh?" you reply, your voice dripping with sarcasm.
Satoru stood up and held out a hand to help you to your feet. As you accepted the gesture, a familiar electric charge ran through you. He pulled you up with ease, his voice a soft whisper meant only for you, "Be careful. I'd hate to lose my favorite student."
FRIENDS, SATORU. REMEMBER?
****
"Wasn't this supposed to be fun?" Nobara hollered.
Her voice sliced through the eerie silence of the abandoned hospital's hauntingly empty hallways, as all four of you sprinted, hearts thundering in your chests.
The distant, hollow groans of curses echoed through the deserted corridors. Each groan sent shivers down your spine and fueled your legs to push you forward with even greater urgency.
Megumi summoned his divine dog. It charged forward, fighting the cascade of curses that flowed like a nightmarish tide through the crumbling, cavernous passageways to buy you more time to escape.
"That's Gojo's version of fun, remember?" Yuji retorted, his words punctuated by ragged breaths.
Shadows seemed to reach for you, elongating as the dimming twilight outside filtered through the cracked windows, creating unsettling, contorting forms upon the walls.
Skidding around a corner, Nobara sent a cascade of cursed nails spiraling into an oncoming threat. The curses dissipated upon impact. But the brief respite was soon shattered by the oppressive feeling of more malevolent presences converging upon your location.
The hospital itself seemed to warp and twist with cursed energy. Halls elongated, and rooms reshaped into grotesque shapes. The walls themselves seemed to breathe, inhaling and exhaling a suffocating, eerie energy that enveloped everything within.
"How the fuck did we end up in this creepy horror show all of a sudden?" You yelled as you sprinted ahead.
"We must find the core of this energy—destroy it or we'll be overrun," Megumi shouted.
The scene was a total mess, no way around it.
The chaotic atmosphere, swirling with malevolent energy and the agonized screams of curses, pressed in from all sides. Shadows reached out and twisted around the group, the outlines of lurking creatures barely discernible in the pitch-black darkness, as an immense curse appeared, radiating an aura of fear so deep it seemed to suck the life from its surroundings.
Shadows reached out and twisted around the group, stopping you in your tracks. Then curses appeared, their outlines barely visible in the pitch-black darkness. Agonized screams echoed from all sides.
Suddenly, a massive curse appeared, radiating an aura of fear so deep it seemed to suck the life from its surroundings.
Satoru's voice crackled over your communicators, his voice tense. "I sense a tremendous amount of cursed energy. Get out of there now!"
But his warning came too late. With a bone-rattling roar, the curse lunged forward.
Everything fell into chaos.
Megumi's shikigami dimmed and flickered as the curse descended upon you all. Nobara and Yuji tried their best to fight back, but the monstrous creature effortlessly tossed them aside as if they were nothing. Their battered forms crashed to the debris-strewn ground with a sickening thud.
Satoru's voice again. "Everyone, retreat, now!"
Shit. Shit. Shit.
You were paralyzed.
Move, you yelled at your own muscles.
Move, goddamn it. But they refused your command.
The curse twisted its grotesque form towards you. Its eyes completely devoid of light or life. Your heart raced as it advanced.
You had to do something.
In an instant, the curse closed in on you, its dark, oily fingers stretching towards you. Time appeared to crawl as its hand loomed closer. Your heart froze. Then an inexplicable sensation surged from deep within you, like a taut thread snapping.
The air shifted around you. The curse stopped.
Its grotesque form convulsed as the cursed energy surrounding it twisted and contorted. Its scream echoed through the cavernous decay of the hospital as its own malevolent aura recoiled upon it.
The curse transformed, changed into something else entirely.
Something you wanted it to be.
You could feel the curse, feel its fear, feel its evil. All of it.
With a trembling hand, you reached out, deflecting the cursed energy of the curse onto itself. The curse convulsed and writhed. Its form disintegrated under the crushing weight of its own malevolent energy. Then it simply dissolved into nothingness.
But it didn't stop. The fear didn't stop. You still felt its fear. Its evil. Everything.
It coursed through you, too overwhelming to bear. It threatened to consume you entirely as your own cursed energy spiralled out of control, creating a maelstrom of chaos around you.
Suddenly, Satoru's voice cut through the chaos. "Suppress it! You must suppress your cursed energy!"
But your consciousness was adrift in the maelstrom. The uncontrolled energy threatened to consume your very being. Then, for a fleeting moment, you saw Satoru's face as he ran towards you. Time stood still for a moment as your gaze locked with his.
Satoru.
In that moment, you found yourself ensnared in the depths of his terror-stricken eyes. All noise ceased, and sensations dulled. The chaos that had enveloped the surroundings was quelled, its frenetic energy pulled back, forcibly contained within.
Silence replaced the chaotic energy that had suffocated the room, and the swirling vortex of curses collapsed into a singularity within you.
An explosion of blinding light illuminated the decimated hospital before it was once again plunged into an unsettling silence, now without the oppressive presence of the curses.
You crumpled to your knees. A sudden sensation of decay washed over you. You leaned forward and coughed up a painful spurt of blood. Satoru ran towards your crumpling form. His arms carefully enveloped you, before you hit the ground.
"You're such a stubborn woman," he whispered. His voice barely audible, eyes locked with yours, shining with a depth that spoke volumes.
Friends, Satoru... Remember?
****
"Do you have any idea how damn reckless that was?" Satoru's voice now a sharpened blade slicing through the thick air.
"I did what I had to, Satoru. We're all still standing here, ain't we?"
He took a step closer, his voice low and lethal. "You gambled with something you don't understand, something you can't control. Next time, you might not be so lucky."
A bitter laugh escaped you. "Concern, is it? You're a fine one to talk about understanding and control!"
His jaw clenched, a battle raged in his eyes.
Nobara chimed in. "Both of you, maybe we should talk about this when—"
"No," Satoru interrupted, his eyes never leaving yours. "You can't just run around and do shit that might kill you."
"And you think I want to die?" Your voice cracked, "Satoru, I felt that power. I felt it trying to consume me! But would you rather I did nothing and let us all die instead?"
A pained silence followed your words, interrupted only by the strained breathing shared between you and Satoru.
"She's right. She saved us back then." Megumi pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. "—wouldn't the better question be, what the hell this cursed technique was?"
You took a deep breath. "I don't know what that was—it just came all of the sudden."
Satoru's expression shifted and he let out a frustrated exhale. The silence that followed even more painful than the arguing.
After a beat, Megumi chimed in. "That cursed technique you unleashed back there? It's like nothing I've ever seen before." His gaze darted between you and Satoru, assessing the situation. "It kinda reminded me of Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, but it's not quite the same. Yours is more like—"
"—manipulating the very essence of the cursed energy, changing its nature, its intent," Satoru claimed in. "It's massively powerful."
"—and dangerous," Nobara added.
Satoru turned to you again. "You need to learn to control it. You hear me?"
"Oh, you think I don't know that?"
He stepped closer, his voice a whisper yet charged with intensity. "You know nothing."
Your gaze locked with his. Behind the layer of frustration and anger, there was a palpable fear in his eyes—a fear of losing something precious. But the stubborn part of you pushed forward, your voice tense. "What's your problem, Gojo?"
He raised an eyebrow as you called him Gojo. He was silenced.
"It's more than just control over her cursed technique. It's also about the consequences of that power," Megumi interjected cautiously midst of the strained silence. His eyes carried a grave seriousness that flickered between you and Satoru.
"I know," Satoru murmured, his stance still rigid, his gaze never leaving yours.
"Explaining for the ones, that don't get it?" Yuji said.
"Think about it. If this power can manipulate cursed energy to such a degree, it's going to draw attention. Not just from curses, but potentially from other jujutsu sorcerers as well," Megumi continued. "If it's that powerful, it's likely that others want to exploit it—or eliminate it."
You flinched at his words.
Eliminate?
Yuji's eyes widened. "So what do we do now? We can't just wait for someone—or something—to come after her, right?"
"No. We protect her, we train her, and we figure this out. Together. But for now it might be safest to keep a low profile," Megumi said.
Satoru inched dangerously close as he towered over you. "I won't leave your side," he declared, "—not until you can control it."
"What?"
"I will not let anything happen to you."
"You can't shadow me every single second of the day!"
His lips curved into a wry smile. "You'd be surprised by what I can do."
Did he even hear himself?
The room seemed to pulse with a charged silence as you stood your ground, anger glinting in your eyes. Then, a small smirk played on your lips. "Megumi can do this as well," you threw in, surprising not only Satoru but also Megumi, whose eyes widened slightly.
Caught off guard but still managing to maintain a calm exterior, Megumi shifted, opening his mouth to possibly rebuff or agree. But he was cut off by Yuji's enthusiastic, "Count me in, I'll protect her too!"
"Alright, Megumi it is," Nobara said with a playful wave of her hand.
"You're not even giving me a chance!"
The atmosphere shifted just enough to give space for easier breaths and softened expressions. But Satoru didn't let his guard down. He leaned in close, his voice low and hoarse. The words were for your ears only. "You're really pushing my limits, love."
Your pulse quickened. There was a hint of flirtation in his tone, but the fury in his eyes as they met yours stole your breath. You might regret this later, you thought.
****
Your fingers moved with gentle precision.
You maneuvered the sterilized cloth, dipping it in antiseptic before turning to Megumi. Positioned on the edge of the hospital bed, he offered a silent profile. His eyes deliberately avoided yours.
The scent of antiseptic lingered in the air. In the distance you could hear the echoes of footsteps and muffled conversations from the corridor beyond.
"I'm sorry," you whispered, subtly luring his eyes to meet yours, "—,for earlier. I shouldn't have put you in that position—with Satoru."
His eyes met yours briefly. "It's alright."
"It's just—," you leaned in closer, the distance between the two of you closing as your fingers gently dabbed at his wound. He flinched slightly. "—Satoru's arrogance is wearing me thin."
He was silent for a breath, his gaze lingering on the way your fingers delicately tended to his injury. "He wants to keep you safe."
"We all do," he added.
You looked up to him, and somehow you thought he wanted to say more. But the words were trapped.
"I know I am safe with you," you whispered.
For a split second, Megumi's face turned red. He quickly averted his gaze.
"Where did you learn to treat such wounds?" He asked after a while.
A heavy exhale escaped your lips. "Before Satoru found me, I was on my own—fighting curses and all." You paused. "I had to learn self-preservation, in every sense."
You guided the needle through Megumi's skin to close his wound, an unwavering focus narrowing your gaze. The sterile light of the hospital room cast a soft glow over the surgical instruments nearby, your fingers skillfully dancing between them with learned grace.
He watched, the slightest flinch barely revealing the sting of each pass of the needle. "You're quite good at this."
"Survival breeds skill, sometimes," you replied, carefully threading the needle despite the close proximity, "I suppose most sorcerers have a troubled past."
A faint smile played on your lips. "It's probably that struggle that pushes us into this dangerous career path, don't you think?"
"I wish circumstances were different for you—that your path wasn't so hard."
Your breath caught. You had to stop stitching him up for a second as you processed his words.
"Perhaps," you replied, gently placing the needle down and giving him your full attention. "But it's that path that led me here—so I'm glad it was."
Yes. Your past has been one of scars and bruises.
But it also led you to this very point. Even in the wreckage left by Satoru's heartbreak, there was a light, a silver lining. You'd found something unique, something precious—a home among friends who felt like family.
As your eyes lingered on Megumi's, an unspoken understanding bridged the space between you. In that quiet moment, between the antiseptic scent and the distant hum of other people, you found a trace of calm, a whisper of what might be amidst the remnants of what once was.
But reality, as it often does, shattered the serenity with a sharp crack.