Geto Suguru is a model student.

He commits himself to the rules and principles of the jujutsu world, clinging to them even when nothing makes sense anymore. Their cause has to be righteous. The people they protect must deserve their protection.

He forces himself to continue to dutifully play the role of jujutsu sorcerer, even now when it feels like his sanity is a fraying string connected loosely to some anchor he can no longer identify.

He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't fail missions (except that one time, the time that no one talks about anymore, as if it never happened, the time that he can't stop thinking about).

He doesn't get into trouble. He plays by the rules, as if by doing that, things will one day begin to make sense again.

Today's mission has brought him to a small town in a rural part of Japan. The trip was long, the heat oppressive. But despite any of the less than ideal factors, Suguru exorcises the curse without great difficulty.

But he makes a mistake. A small, seemingly insignificant mistake, one that no one would punish him for.

Before stepping into his assignment, he forgets to turn off his phone.

And it changes everything.

Satoru precariously balances his phone between his ear and shoulder, his hands filled with assorted cheap trinkets and candies. In hindsight, he realizes he should have grabbed a basket on his way into the novelty shop, yet somehow he never fails to underestimate how many things he'll want to get.

But it should be noted that he's not shopping only for himself. He likes to get Shoko and Suguru things too. Sometimes he even remembers to grab something for Kento, who's been going through a rough time since losing his classmate.

Satoru likes to prove that he can be considerate when he wants to be.

Shoko always rolls her eyes when he raises this point and says all it proves is that he has a family who will foot his bill without question. She's right of course, though Satoru chooses not to dwell on the fact that his parents would rather pay off an ever-increasing credit card bill than call on occasion and see how he's doing. Besides, does it really matter who's paying for things? The point is he takes the time to find something everyone will like.

Suguru always dutifully takes one small bite of whatever strange novelty candy Satoru brings back, so today he's decided to find something incredibly bad. Oh, and he should probably find something Suguru will actually like.

But when he tries to remember what kinds of things Suguru enjoys, his mind goes blank. He tries not to let the realization bother him; being the two strongest jujutsu sorcerers means that they don't have as much free time anymore. It doesn't matter that he can't look at the filled shelves of novelties and decide what to get. He'll just call Suguru and see what he wants.

Except it takes five back-to-back calls before Suguru finally chooses to answer him. And so Satoru doesn't give him a moment to speak before loudly announcing, "So I'm at this tourist shop in Shinjuku and I'm trying to decide what to bring home for you and Shoko. The stuff here is all kind of weird though. You should tell me what you think you want."

He's answered with silence. If Satoru's hands weren't completely full, he'd check to make sure Suguru hadn't hung up on him. But finally Suguru says flatly, "I'm on an assignment."

Satoru had forgotten about that. "Oh. Right. How's that going?"

Suguru doesn't supply an answer, but Satoru knows it can't be that bad. Suguru's the only sorcerer who's equal to Satoru, and the curse he's been sent to deal with seemed straightforward enough. The only hassle is that it's so far away, plaguing some tiny town that Satoru's never heard of. "Anyway, so I was thinking," Satoru continues. "This store has a lot of-"

"I think I could kill everyone in this village."

Suguru's deadpan delivery of the line has Satoru choking on a laugh. Suguru's the one always going on about how jujutsu sorcerers exist to serve the weak. All that talk of some greater purpose, it drives Satoru crazy. "Yeah? They're that annoying?" he asks. If that's how this assignment is going, it's a good thing Suguru's the one handling it. Suguru is better with people, even if Satoru might have the edge when it comes to exorcising curses. "Hey, do you think you'll be back tonight?"

Suguru doesn't answer.

"Because I'm thinking-"

"I have to go, Satoru."

Satoru laughs again, smiling to himself. "Alright. Well don't kill anyone. I'll see you later."

Suguru silences his phone properly before closing it and slipping it into his pocket. It was impossible to think over that annoying sound Satoru had chosen for his ringtone. It's still too hard to focus, like trying to sieve oil from water with nothing but his fingers. Some unfamiliar emotion adjacent to disgust is pooling in his stomach. The air is so, so hot - hot enough that he's discarded his uniform jacket, but it does little to help him find relief from the suffocating heat that coils around his chest like a snake.

He turns his gaze back to the people in front of him, the ones who chose to lock two small children in a cage, wrongly blaming them for the curse poisoning this town. The irony isn't lost on Suguru. These two young girls are the only ones in this village able to control their cursed energy, the ones who are least responsible for the people who have died at the curse's hands.

And now Suguru is being told that he needs to take care of the two of them, that he can't leave yet. Not when he hasn't properly rid the town of their curse.

The actual curse was reported by nearby windows to be a grade three, though it was strong enough that it may actually have been a grade two. Suguru probably shouldn't have risked consuming it. Maybe that's why he feels so sick now, his stomach roiling and his head pounding.

He contemplates calling the curse forward under his control and showing it to the villagers. But then he remembers they wouldn't be able to see it. No, instead all they see are two young girls. Two young girls who they're asking him to take care of .

"You want me to kill them," he says flatly. None of the elders will meet his eyes. They stare at the ground as they stammer excuses.

"They're - they're not children."

"They're cursed."

"They're the ones who-"

"Be quiet," Suguru snaps. Immediately after, his lips move to form an apology, but it's voiceless. He doesn't have words for these people. No, he has the desire to call forth the curse that was tormenting their town and feed each one of them to it. The entire thing would look terrifying to them, unable to see the curse, watching each other snatched by some invisible force and killed one by one and-

What is he thinking?

He doesn't want to kill people. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to find some kind of lifeline, something to cling to other than his disgust and anger. When he'd confided to Satoru how close he was to slipping, Satoru had laughed at him. Satoru didn't fathom he could be serious.

Because he can't be serious. He can't.

Jujutsu sorcerers protect the weak. But how can these people deserve protection?

But he's already exorcised the curse. Killing these people will accomplish nothing. It's the bloodlust of the curse he just consumed bleeding through into his mind. It has to be. He shouldn't have risked swallowing it. It was too strong, and it's affecting him.

Two frightened girls are locked in a cage. Maybe it's worth killing these people. But their blood isn't worth having on his hands. Not because of any guilt he'd feel, Suguru realizes with a cold clarity, but because he doesn't want to have any lasting connection to this damned town.

He inhales, exhales. He feels nauseous, overheated, exhausted. He needs to get out of here soon. But he can't leave these two girls behind. Though he doesn't know what will happen if he brings them with him, he knows leaving them here isn't an option. And so he says, "I'll take them with me. You can leave us alone now."

It looks as though the village's elders want to protest, but they wisely think better of it. There are some mumbled thanks (or perhaps curses; Suguru chooses not to listen closely) before they file out of the small room. He listens to the echoing of their footsteps, making sure no one is going to come back before turning his attention to the girls.

He slowly approaches them, trying to school his expression into something more neutral. There's nothing he can do about the blood and residuals on his clothing, but he can try his best not to add to the frightening nature of his appearance.

Suguru grew up as an only child. As a teen, he's never really interacted with children. He finds that he can't even judge how old the two girls are. They're clothed in oversized dresses and covered in dirt. Their hair hangs in their faces, but he can catch a glimpse of wide, frightened eyes.

"My name is Geto Suguru," he starts. "I'm a jujutsu sorcerer. I'd like to bring you home with me."

Both girls only stare at him, shaking as they cling to each other.

Suguru doesn't want to make hollow promises. After all, he doesn't know what will happen to the two of them. That's something he'll have to ask Yaga. But he imagines there has to be some kind of system, someone who will be able to help these two girls find a safe home. "I have to leave soon," he tries. "Will you come with me?"

The dark-haired girl whispers, her voice so quiet he has to strain to hear, "Did you kill the curse?"

Suguru nods.

"We didn't do it," her sister adds softly.

"I know," he promises. He reaches deep into the pocket of his pants and finds a few hard candies. Who knows how old they are? He must have accepted them at some point to appease Satoru and then forgotten about them. Still, he holds them out. "I have a friend who always brings candy home. If you want, you can come with me and meet him."

Neither girl reaches to accept his offering. Suguru starts to wonder what it'll look like if he has to forcibly bring them with him. It'll be a long train ride back to Tokyo. Regardless of how cooperative they are, he's going to need to call Yaga to figure out how everything will even work.

His head won't stop pounding. He can't figure this out. This entire assignment has been a string of things that haven't gone right, as if the universe is trying to push him to his breaking point.

He was at his breaking point. And Satoru's laughter, as much as he hates the sound of it ringing in his ears, is a stubborn tether, pulling him back.

The blonde girl says, "We can stay with you?"

Suguru isn't sure how to reply. He weighs the risk of making a promise he won't be able to keep, then says, "You can stay with me."

He's unprepared for the way the girls each rush to him, grabbing onto him so tightly that the breath is knocked out of him. They're both tiny, dressed in nothing more than dirty rags, and he's already thinking about what a sight the three of them will make on the long trip back to Tokyo.

But that's a problem for the future, and perhaps for someone else to figure out.

For now, the three of them need to get out of this town and never look back.

Mimiko wakes up on the long train ride, too anxious to stay asleep. She's never been on a train before; she's actually never even left her village before today.

Nanako is still asleep beside her in the seat to her left. She peeks shyly to her right, looking up at the boy who's saved him, the one who's going to take care of them now. She knows it's probably against the train rules, she gets out of her seat and wanders over to him.

He seems surprised, but he doesn't tell her to get away when she crawls up into his lap. He only shifts slightly, adjusting so she can rest more comfortably.

"You want to look out the window too?" he asks her. His voice is soft, gentle. She can't remember someone ever talking to her or her sister that way.

She really just wants to be closer to Master Geto. Still, she nods and studies him as he watches the countryside roll by. He looks so tired, but he's been nothing but kind to them, even when he had to convince both of them that the train was safe to ride and they nearly missed their departure.

"We're still pretty far from Tokyo," Master Geto tells her. With her head pressed against his chest, his low voice is a soothing thrum against her cheek. "You should try to sleep again. I can wake you up when we're closer."

"But you're not sleeping," Mimiko points out.

She can feel Master Geto's chest expand as he takes in a deep breath, then slowly releases it. "You're right," he concedes. "I've never been able to sleep while traveling."

Mimiko glances out the window, watching the scenery fly by. They're moving so fast, it makes her stomach feel sick. And she doesn't want to be sick. She doesn't want to trouble Master Geto. So instead she goes back to watching him as he keeps his gaze trained on the window.

After some time spent in comfortable silence, she dares to reach up and touch the plain black stud in his ear. "You have your ears pierced," she states.

Master Geto nods. The corners of his lips tilt up into a smile.

"Can I get my ears pierced?" She adjusts slightly, curling closer to Master Geto.

He wraps an arm around her. "Sure," he says with a nod. "But it's going to hurt a little, you know."

"I can do it," she insists. She imagines that Master Geto will be there with her, that she can sit in his lap like she is now. It won't be so bad. Not if she has him and Nanako with her.

In time, Mimiko falls back asleep, lulled by the smooth movement of the train and Master Geto's steady breathing. It'll be some hours before they finally arrive in Tokyo, at a busy train station filled with more people than she's ever seen in her life.

And Master Geto will sling his travel bag over his shoulder, scooping the two of them up in his arms. He'll carry them through the crowd, whispering reassurances to the both of them about how they're safe, how he has them. How they'll be okay.

And Mimiko trusts that as long as they're with him, they will be.

Suguru assumes the girls, Mimiko and Nanako, will transfer their affection over to Satoru when he presents them with a giant pile of sweets. But both regard him warily, inching away to hide behind Suguru. He's the only person they seem to be willing to trust, and so he's been left with barely a moment to himself since returning to the school.

Perhaps it's better that way. He's not sure he's ready to be left alone with his thoughts.

No one knows how close Suguru's mission came to ending in disaster, and he doesn't want them to find out. No one can know, especially not Satoru. But the dark emotion that rose to the surface feels like some beast, living and lurking just underneath his skin. It feels dangerously close to coming out again. Should that happen, Suguru doesn't know what he'd do.

The girls are staying in his dorm room until Yaga figures out a more permanent arrangement for the two of them. They're sharing a makeshift bed on his floor, curled up close to each other. Shoko helped them get cleaned up, even found some clothes for the both of them.

They look better already. They also look so, so young.

With them asleep, Suguru knows he should sleep too. But Satoru's in his room, sprawled out on his bed as if he owns the space. He doesn't seem to have any intention of going anywhere.

Suguru could ask him to leave, he supposes. But he doesn't.

"What an assignment," Satoru remarks. Suguru tilts his head towards the sleeping girls, and Satoru continues at an only marginally softer volume. "If you'd told me you were bringing new friends back with you, I would have picked something up for them too."

Af if Satoru didn't bring enough back from his trip to Shinjuku already. "I wasn't exactly planning on it," Suguru replies, keeping his tone measured. Perhaps it's a pointless effort, but even now he doesn't want Satoru to know the full extent of his exhaustion, going deeper than something a night's sleep will be able to fix.

Shoko's already looked him over, scolding him for injuries that he figured weren't too serious. Maybe it's a bad sign that he's to the point of thinking that bruised ribs are nothing, but at least he has Shoko for a classmate. One day she may follow through on her threat of not fixing him up, but until then he knows he's safe from anything short of a fatal wound.

"So tell me what happened," Satoru says, tilting his head towards Suguru. His glasses have fallen down his nose, exposing those bright blue eyes that never seem to miss anything. Even if Satoru's tone is friendly, Suguru can't help but feel like a witness at his own trial.

Suguru looks down, pretending to be interested in the snacks that Satoru has tossed carelessly onto the bed. He brushes away dusted sugar and crumbs, taking his time to collect his thoughts. "I was told it was a grade three cursed spirit," he starts. "They sent me because there'd be no one available to back me up if the situation escalated."

"Sure, okay. And you handled it," Satoru says, rushing Suguru through the bit of the story that doesn't interest him. "You swallowed it, right? You can show it to me later and we'll talk about it then. Now tell me about them."

Suguru looks over to the girls, clinging tightly to each other even in their sleep. Truthfully, he doesn't know much. Somehow they've come to decide that he's a person he can trust, but he still suspects that they'll shut down if he presses for too much too quickly. "Their names are Mimiko and Nanako," he says. "Their parents are gone. The villagers thought they were the ones responsible for the curse."

He studies them carefully, trying to determine whether they're truly asleep. Do they understand that the villagers had wanted them dead? On the small chance that they're not truly asleep, he decides not to tell Satoru. "It wasn't safe to leave them there. So I brought them back so Yaga can figure out what to do with them," he finishes.

For once, Satoru is quiet. He doesn't assault Suguru with a thousand questions, but he doesn't leave either. Suguru keeps his gaze trained downward, convinced that Satoru will be able to see something in his eyes if he looks up.

He wants Satoru to leave.

But he doesn't want to be left alone with his thoughts, because he'll have to confront the fact that he still feels so angry, so disgusted. And he can't tell Satoru. He can't tell anyone. What kind of jujutsu sorcerer would even consider killing innocent people?

Suguru startles when Satoru leans in, their faces only a few inches from each other. His breath catches...from surprise, nothing more than surprise, he tells himself.

"You're being weird," Satoru declares.

"Just tired," Suguru deflects. Simple, hollow excuses with a grain of truth are normally enough to get Satoru to leave him alone.

"Then you should sleep," Satoru says, as if it's some grand revelation, not what Suguru's wanted for the past few hours. Satoru makes a show of yawning, carelessly sweeping candies and trinkets off the bed and onto the floor, as if this is helpful and not a mess for Suguru to clean up tomorrow.

But then instead of getting up to leave, Satoru leans back and makes himself comfortable on Suguru's bed.

"What are you doing?" Suguru asks flatly.

"Well I just assumed it's a sleepover in your room tonight," Satoru states. He gestures vaguely at Mimiko and Nanako. "It would be weird if it was just you and them. So I'll stay too." Suguru can't tell if he's serious or joking. But as Satoru adjusts blankets and pillows, Suguru comes to quickly realize that Satoru fully intends to stay.

They've both grown taller over the last year. Even when they were first years, there would have been no way the two of them could comfortably share his bed. Satoru may be dense sometimes, but he has to understand that. He's really going to force Suguru to kick him out.

Except.

It's not lost on Suguru that this is the most time they've spent together in months. And so even if it means he's giving up on a good night's sleep, he doesn't put up a fight. He settles down as well, his back to Satoru's chest so he can keep an eye on the girls sleeping peacefully on the floor.

"We'll talk more tomorrow?" Satoru asks.

It's an invitation, one that hasn't been extended in so long. Ever since their failed assignment together, Satoru's been on a completely different trajectory from any of the other students at the college. He's grown stronger, his claim as the strongest jujutsu sorcerer now indisputable. Because of that, he belongs to so many people. The world needs him.

Who is Suguru to hold him back from that?

Still, he allows himself to be selfish. Just this once.

"Okay, Satoru."