2006: A year and a half at Jujutsu High.
Suguru and Satoru are playing basketball in the basketball court as Shoko and I talk on the sidelines. Shoko and I talk about the most recent movie we watch and then the topic changes quickly.
"So, has Satoru asked you out yet?" She asks curiously.
"What?! No! Why would he?" I say in more of a hushed tone so he wouldn't overhear.
She scoffs, "oh come on, really? You don't know?"
"Don't know what?" I ask innocently.
"Wow, you're wayyy more naive than I thought." She says.
"What's that supposed to mean? And what should I know?" I probe.
She shakes her head smiling, "I'm not going to say anything. That's between the both of you. But sooner or later the truth will come out."
"And what truth is that?" I ask crossing my arms annoyed.
"That you love him." She says.
I groan, "I do not."
"Liar." She says.
I roll my eyes, "what do Suguru and you both insist on teasing me like that."
"We aren't teasing you. We just want you both to be happy. What we can't point out the obvious?" She says plainly.
I sigh and look over at him. He's handsome in every way. His voice, his laugh, his smile, and of course his eyes blow me away. He's perfect. But someone like him could never love someone like me. It simply isn't true. I know Shoko is messing with me.
I take a deep breath and look away as the heat rises to my face, "even if that were true," I say in a low tone, "someone like him could never fall in love with someone like me." I say looking to the ground.
She just shakes her head, "Naomi, you aren't nothing to us, and especially not to him. He admires you ya know."
I scoff, "yeah right."
"When will you see you are more than you think?" She says encouragingly.
The boys start to get a little heated now with their voices, "you wanna take this outside Suguru?" I hear Satoru ask.
"Oh boy. C'mon Naomi, right now is the perfect time for a smoke break." She says dragging me outside with her.
She lights a cigarette and we stand there for a minute before being passed by Sensei Yaga. He looks mad already, like someone spilled his coffee all over him.
"Man, what's got him worked up?" I ask.
"Who knows, he's probably just on edge for possibly being the next principal." Shoko says.
"You'd think he'd be happier." I say.
A few minutes later Suguru and Satoru leave with him. Satoru meets my eyes and I raise an eyebrow at him. He rolls his eyes and points at Yaga mouthing 'i'll tell ya later.'
"Maybe they're getting assigned a mission." Shoko says.
"Probably." I say.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine." Shoko says as we begin to walk away.
I sure hope so, because I think i'd lose myself if I lost either of them.
———
It takes a while for Satoru to knock on my door, but I get up and open it quickly when he does. He walks in and takes his shoes off immediately. Uh oh, not a good sign. Something's off. He never does that. He always keeps his shoes on to annoy me.
"We leave today for an assignment." Satoru says.
"Today? That's quick." I say amazed.
"It's the star plasma vessel. She's ready to ascend. So Suguru and I have to babysit the brat until assimilation day." He says sitting on my couch.
I sit next to him and nod my head, "well, that doesn't sound bad, but it could still be really dangerous. I'm sure there are plenty of enemies that will try to go after her."
"It's possible, even so I can handle it. But it's not the assignment I was hoping for. Seems so useless." He tells me.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I mean, why do we have to let her ascend anyways? I mean we should just let Tengen evolve and be done with it." He says in a bored tone.
"Yeah, but then you'd have to fight him." I tell him.
"Yeah, but I can take him. After all, I am the strongest." He says confidently.
I roll my eyes, "even if you could, i'm pretty sure there's a lot more to it than that."
A few minutes goes by in silence.
"When do you leave?" I ask finally.
"In about an hour or so. I just wanted to tell you bye." He says looking at me.
I nod, "well, be careful." I say.
He unexpectedly wraps me in a hug tightly. My breath hitches for a moment and my skin sparks with electricity, but I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him as if I will never see him again.
I hear him chuckle as I hold on to him, "i'm coming back."
"I know, I just..." I start but my eyes start watering. I don't even know why. He is more than capable of taking care of himself. It's just the thought of losing two of the three friends i've ever had kinda hits me hard. Anything can happen, and I just hope it goes smoothly.
I pull away and a tear falls down my face. I cannot show him weakness. He will be perfectly fine. Plus, it may prove to be a good challenge for him. He finally has gotten put on the most important assignment ever. But I still worry.
I go to wipe my tears but Satoru beats me to it. He wipes my face and smiles. It's so quiet in this room, and his eyes are watching me softly, searching for...something. But I don't know what. Then I notice how close we are. We're so close to each other, I can practically feel his breath on my lips. He looks at my lips for a brief moment, and my eyes become lazy. But just as something bad happens, like getting lost in each other, Suguru walks in the room.
"Hey Naomi, just wanted to stop by and say-" he says before he stops suddenly. My back is turned away from him, but I can tell Satoru is way past annoyed with him. He looks away from me and I scoot away from him quickly, like nothing was happening. Nothing was happening anyways. Satoru wasn't going to kiss me. He would never do that.
"Oops!" He says with a surprised face and wide eyes as he slams the door shut.
"I'll come back later!" He says as he walks away quickly with muffled footsteps.
Satoru clears his throat, "sorry, we uh... we got carried away." He says not looking at me.
I don't look at him either but with my peripheral vision, "yeah uh, anyways. Good luck on your mission. See you when you get home." I tell him.
He nods and finally looks at me, hints of red still in his face, "see you soon, Naomi Suzuki."
"See you soon Satoru Gojo." I answer.
He rises and leaves the room, leaving the room empty and my head spinning.
———
Suguru came back later on and knocked on my door. I open it to a wide smiled Suguru Geto.
"Ugh, nothing happened." I say annoyed as I let him in.
He takes his shoes off and stands with his hands in his pockets still smiling.
"Sure looked like something did." He says wiggling his eyebrows.
I roll my eyes, "well it didn't and it won't. Satoru and I are friends." I tell him seriously.
He chuckles, "yeah okay. Keep telling yourself that."
He wraps me in a warm hug goodbye. I hold him tight and close my eyes in his chest. He towers over me, so his hugs always make it look like I disappeared.
"Are you two going now?" I ask him.
"Yeah, Satoru's outside." He tells me.
I nod and smile, "well you two better come back in one piece, or else i'll have to kill you."
He chuckles, "don't worry. We'll be fine."
He turns to put his shoes on and right before he heads out the door, he stops and turns to me, "and don't worry, I'll bring your boyfriend back in tact."
My jaw drops at the comment but he closes the door before I can say anything. I groan and throw a pillow at the door.
"Jerk." I say to myself.
They were only gone for about three or four days. Those were some of the longest few days I ever had at Jujutsu High. Of course Shoko was there too, but both of us just seemed bored. We tried to watch movies, but it never really was the same. We've been on assignments before sure, but not for this long.
After a day or two, the school went on lockdown. Every Jujutsu sorcerer and student was on high alert, ready to strike at any moment. We heard there was an attack on school grounds. I immediately begin to worry, but Shoko tells me to chill until we know what's happened. I can't help but hope they're okay though.
When they came back though, I was shocked. Satoru with a dead girl under a sheet walking back into Jujutsu High. When we had heard there was a big fight a few hours ago, no one mentioned casualties. And Satoru looks like shit. Blood all over him, his eyes almost dead. Something went very wrong, his eyes have never gone cold like this before. I run up to him and he stops in front of me. But no words are spoken. He just stares at the ground, he doesn't even look at me.
Shoko runs up and takes the girl from his hands. She checks him over quickly but is astounded.
"He looks fine. Maybe some scars and some tattered closthes but otherwise, fine." She says.
"Satoru, where's Suguru? What happened?" I ask checking him over.
He sighs finally looking at me, "I don't know. They sent a team to go find him."
"Find him?" I ask confused.
"We haven't heard from him since the attack." He says.
"Attack, what attack. I knew there was a fight but… Satoru, what happened?" I ask.
He shakes his head, "not here. I'll tell you soon. For now, give the girl a proper burial. It's all we can do for her now." He says solemnly.
Shoko nods and walks away with the girl.
Satoru grabs my arm and escorts me away, "I need to wash up real quick. Then i'll tell you."
He seems….different. More mature. What happened on this trip?
We walk to his room and enter. I've never been in here before. Never really thought I'd get to come in here. He shuts the door and I take my shoes off.
"Satoru, please tell me Suguru's alri-" I start to say, but when I turn around, he hugs me.
I'm surprised once again but I hug him back. He holds onto me now like I'm never coming back. The roles are reversed from a few days ago. He buries his head in my neck and grabs the back of my shirt almost desperately, like he'll never let me go. I put a hand on the back of his head and one around his shoulders.
"Satoru." I say in a soft tone, "what happened?"
He takes a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm okay, I just…. well I need a hug." He says innocently.
Never have I ever seen the great Satoru Gojo show weakness of any kind. But here he is, needing me for once. My heart breaks in two. What happened to him?
"I-" he says clearing his throat and stepping back bringing me to the couch and we sit, holding hands still, "I failed."
My heart breaks for him. He sounds so defeated. This is really bad.
"We were all there. We were all together and everything was fine." He starts in a tired tone, "and like an idiot, I let my infinity down. I never let my infinity down, unless I'm with you or Suguru. And Suguru almost died because of me."
I can see his anger beginning to build up, and I rub circles on the top of his hands. He looks down at our interlocked hands and squeezes. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"Fucker came out of no where. As soon as I stopped using my infinity, he stabbed me right through the chest." He starts.
My mouth drops open almost to the floor, "then… well how are you here?!"
"Well, it wasn't a cursed weapon, and he didn't hit anything vital. He put up a good fight at first. Caught me off guard again and stabbed me through the throat, and slashed me up pretty good." He says.
"Satoru.." I say astounded, and almost leery. Am I seeing his ghost?
"Luckily for me, I had a breakthrough. I was able to enhance my technique and heal myself completely. After that, I could see everything as it was. I finally figured out my hidden technique, Purple." He says.
"Purple?" I ask.
"Yeah, it's basically a mixture of the red and blue techniques, and is pretty devastating. Used it on the attacker, Toji Fushiguro." He says.
"And I assume he's…" I start.
"Dead, yes. I went back to the deeper levels of Jujutsu High and found the girl, shot in the head. Found Suguru too and called a search and rescue team for him. He's hurt bad, but I think with Shoko's help he should be okay." He tells me.
I nod in relief. At least Suguru is going to be okay.
"I'm not sorry I failed the mission. Honestly, I don't care if she ascended or not. Doesn't make a difference to me if that old fart evolves or not. But I failed her and Suguru. They were counting on me to protect them. She wanted to ascend, that was her wish. But I wasn't strong enough." He says defeated.
I give his hands a squeeze and he looks up at me and smirks tiredly.
"Thanks Naomi, for listening. And I promise you, I will never fail again." He says determined, "from now on, I focus only on being the strongest and the best I can be. I showed weakness today. Never again. I will not lose my friends, the people I love, because I was stupid." He says.
I nod and give him one last hug. He hugs me tight, and then stands.
"I should get cleaned up. Would you want to go visit Suguru with me after?" He asks.
"Of course. I'll just wait out here." I tell him.
He nods, "won't take long."
He walks into the bathroom more mature somehow. He walks with a chip on his shoulder. He walks determined to keep his promise no doubt.
I make a silent promise that day too. I promised myself i'd never get in the way. I promised I would never distract him from keeping his. I promised to never fall in love with Satoru Gojo.