Chapter 32

#

Lady Tiamat sighed.

Everyone paused oddly.

"Uh… mom?" Suiryu said gently. "What else happened?"

"To be honest, nothing. Ryomen and Chusi had to speak with the fae Celine about the arrangement, I am also holding them to said arrangement since we have an agreement in place now."

Suddenly, everyone turned and stared at Sukuna who was doing his damnest not to give eye contact to anyone. "Seriously, that's impossible for you to avoid our gazes, spill what's the deal you made? The fact remains you MADE a deal to do this which makes it even more funny…" Suiryu said.

"None of your damn business" Sukuna snapped back.

"So, they still had to take that memory forgetting bath? If so, wasn't it pointless in them doing so if we all just saw what they did now?" asked Suguru.

"I was going to reveal this to them anyways." Lady Tiamat explained. "What needed to be known is retained, what needed to be forgotten has been. So, as such there was no harm in letting you see this."

"By the way, I have to ask… who is she?" Yua demanded as she pointed to a young girl with red hair.

"Oh, Yua, I apologize, this young lady is Inari, a dragon who I allowed to live on the earthly realm. She gave up her form to do so until she found a mate. She had since attempted to claim Kento there, he has been turned as well but has yet to accept her."

"Nanami is a dragon!?" Satoru demanded. He appeared devastated. "Now who am I going to annoy?"

"Take your pick" Sukuna snapped to him. "Not it," he said shortly after.

"Anyways, yes, Nanami has been turned, and the young lady there will hopefully be his wife, I have high expectation. But for the moment, I think you need to catch up with your families do you not?" Lady Tiamat asked.

It was getting late and everyone was tried from the tale.

#

"Hold it…."

Yua had just gotten home. She was hearing about what had happened through Suguru with the kids and the school. But, she didn't realize how much the sorcerers are influencing the education system! "You mean to tell me, that they have blatantly allowed sorcerers in these contests despite the fact they are cheating?!" she demanded.

"Yes, but, we made sure they didn't" Rook explained.

"Rook, bed!" Yua ordered. It was one in the morning after all. Rook had come down to sneak a snack, but, Yua thinks he was eavesdropping more or less.

Her son smirked as he was quick to head to his room, Suguru smiled and shook his head. "The thing with Rook, as playful as he appears to be like his father, he is taking up more of his uncle's personality and intellect"

Yua paused. "He's acting like Sukuna?"

He ho humed the notion. "Not acting, but… embodying the better aspects of him. He thinks through the situation first, then pick out the weakness, flaws and other factors that will hinder his plan. Lastly, he will act accordingly. He does take it seriously, Yua. At the same time… I wouldn't dare cross that child."

Rook has taken a shine to Sukuna, ever since he was young. Then again, despite the way he is, Sukuna doesn't show favoritism. If you want to fight him, you fight him with everything since he could care less if you were a child or a seasoned veteran in the art of battle.

Sukuna never went easy on you.

Rook knew it too and respected him for his action. After all, as a child, adults naturally go easy on a kid to build their confidence. Sukuna on the other hand will grind them down, beat them and show no mercy. If a child cried about it, he could care less. Yua had seen such a thing happen once more, in fact it was Rook when he was little, was in tears. Sukuna glared at him. "Stop crying" he ordered.

"YOU'RE NOT FAIR!" Rook protested. "YOU HAVE FOUR ARMS, I HAVE TWO!"

"So?" he asked. "What of it?"

"How can I beat someone with four arms…"

"Brat, I only used one against you." Sukuna said bluntly.

Rook paused. "What?"

"I never used my other arms, I had no reason too, and that's how weak you are compared to me. I didn't even use my whole hand. Merely, this finger" he held up his pinky finger to him. "This is all I need to defeat you, you are merely a pinky's worth of effort to me."

Rook was devastated. He ran off shortly after, Yua wanted to speak to him about this, and yet, a part of her knew that Rook asked for the sparring session. He only has himself to blame for the result.

Yet, in that action, Rook trained harder. He focused better and became determined.

He was going to beat Sukuna with his own strength.

"Yua?"

She snapped out of it. "Sorry, just thinking about Rook when he was little…"

"Ah, anyways, you would be very proud of him. He actually controls the school, and he does so as a Tooru would."

She paused to this. "That's my boy!" Satoru cheered.

"Rook controls the school?" she asked.

"Indeed, they challenged him to fights, he had won them all. But, what really put him over with the students was the fact that the captains of three sports teams approached him, asking him to help train them. He agreed to do so."

This took her aback a little. Rook agreed? If he was imitating Sukuna, he would have flat out refused! But, she can't forget, Rook is her son after all!

"They won the track and field event they had at the school too, I won't go into too much detail since I know the kids want to tell you personally." Suguru said and laughed.

"I really appreciate you looking out for everyone, thank you Suguru." Yua said full heartedly.

Suguru blushed a little. "It was no problem, Yua."

She yawned aloud. "Well, today has been fun, but I want to sleep in my own bed." She decreed.

"You go ahead first, I'll follow you shortly" Satoru called.

She nodded and excused herself for the night, she could hear it in Satoru's tone. He wanted to speak to Suguru alone…

#

He had a feeling this was coming.

Suguru sighed aloud as he waited for Yua to leave the room. When the door closed to the bedroom, Satoru stared him down. "Look, about what Lady Tiamat said… The palm reading…"

"It's me, isn't it?" Suguru asked bluntly. "Let's call it now, the palm reading it's me that she was referring to. Look, Satoru, we were kids back then… I am not saying I didn't have feeling for you… I still do in a sense but… not as strongly as before."

He looked to Satoru who was silent on the matter. "Yeah…" he said and peered away. "The thing is… after seeing that… being shown and told THAT happened when my brain was wiped… How could I ignore it?"

"Are you talking about what you and Sukuna spoke of?"

He nodded reluctantly. "The fact that my dumbass who couldn't remember a damn thing about himself, realized that that clueless bastard had more of a clue than the coherent me!" he paused. "I… I don't know what to make of this information…"

Suguru sighed. "I am not forcing my way into this dynamic… I refuse to bring it up since this has been pushed on Yua for too long and I believe she needs to make that choice. However, I think she is more concerned for you than herself."

Silence befell them. Satoru chuckled a little at first but then, paused. "UGH!" he moaned and then sat at the dining room table… then falling face first into it. "I don't know anymore… I don't know what to do… I'm being a greedy bastard, that I know… at the same time… am I doing this because I am that confident that I can change and make sure she has her needs fulfilled? Or am I just that big of an asshole to hog Yua to myself without realizing she has needs that have to be filled and I can't do it!?"

"This… is a new madness for you to endure…" Suguru said offhandedly. "But one I cannot help you with. Excuse me, I am going to call it a night"

As Suguru was about to walk out the door. "What if Yua didn't ask you, but I did?" he said aloud.

He froze.

Suguru turned and found Satoru looking to him with great sincerity. "What are you talking about?"

"If… if I asked you to join the family… would you?"

He didn't know how to reply to that. Suguru sighed aloud. "I would consider it, however, I would see want Yua's approval over yours."

"Fair…" he whispered meekly.

"Good night Satoru, it's good to have you and Yua back."