AN: I'm back with another chapter, and in light of the recent uproar Gege made with 261 chapter would like to make an announcement - screw you, Gege I won't pull such shit with characters and will fix problems my way.
With that said, I hope you won't find this chapter boring. Enjoy.
Gojo doesn't know how long he lay on the floor — minutes, hours, or days; the time stretches for an eternity. But even eternity is nothing when his body begins to ache due to the hard floor. Though he has no desire or strength to get up, he does so anyway with difficulty and reluctance, feeling absolutely beat, and stares at the ceiling once again while processing what the hell just happened.
Well, who would have thought? That blasted Reborn turned out to be right again — he really did crash and burn. Spectacularly. How pathetic. And that nightmare… It felt real. Too much real even. Was this a curse? For getting attached to someone? A curse for falling to be the Strongest as he was told to be his whole life?
Satoru shudders at the thought involuntarily, a shiver running over his skin, one that even Infinity can't keep out. He doesn't know the answer to that, and it… scares him. Scares even worse than being alone.
That's it. He needs a distraction and fast. Anything to get rid of the phantom taste of blood in his mouth, the feeling of weapons, and the pain of his injuries on his body that had long since healed thanks to Cursed Reversed Technique, but ache as if they opened anew from this nightmare; all of this clings to him like he gained the second Infinity, only much more dark and sinister than the one that is given by Limitless.
Or maybe his mind plays tricks on him like with the strange bout of panic earlier, and these feelings only exist in his cracked, lonely mind.
Satoru doesn't know whichever he would prefer. It being real or fake.
Feeling like he's going in circles, Satoru slaps himself a few times, then shakes his head. It helps to a degree as the sting drags him from the quicksand of thoughts and memories to reality.
Get a grip, Gojo Satoru. Focus on finding the distraction. Tsuna said something about Hibari and Hayato making a list of available houses for him to look at, didn't she? Seems like a good time as any to check that list out.
Now, where's his laptop?
The said laptop is found among the bed covers a few minutes later, still here from the time when he watched anime due to boredom. As he turns it on, Satoru realizes he doesn't have their email. Nor Gokudera's or Hibari's. Neither do they have his.
Thankfully, that's easy to fix. Fishing his phone out of his pocket — it's thankfully undamaged from his fall earlier — Gojo finds Hayato's contact, which is listed as Smoking Cat. He remembers Gokudera's rant on that front when he saw his contact name on Satoru's phone by accident one day.
"Oi," Gokudera tosses Satoru his phone as the four of them — Satoru, Tsuna, Takeshi, and Hayato – lounge in the Sawada Residence's yard, soaking in the sun. Hayato had just come back from fetching Gojo's phone as the white-haired teen misplaced it upon arriving at Tsuna's and forgot where it was, until remembering suddenly a few minutes ago and having Gokudera search for it with a great huff of annoyance from the delinquent teen who went along with the request nonetheless. "Don't lose it anymore. Also, some Fox Eyes called you. Five times in a row. "
"Ah, thanks, Hayato, you're the sweetest; must be my best friend calling, he's a worrywart," Satoru catches the device easily. As he types a quick message to Geto, assuring the latter of his safety and that he will call him later, Gojo feels someone burning a hole in his skull. Only one person in their group does that. "Hayato-kun, what's got your whiskers in a twist this time, hm?"
"What's it with you calling me cat puns?" Hayato hisses, hackles rising. "You even named me Smoking Cat in your contacts."
"Oh, someone's been naughty and checked my phone?" Satoru teases. When Hayato's face grows hot in embarrassment, Satoru continues cheekily. "You hiss like a cat when you are displeased for one; you are picky with affection and have a favorite owner, in this case, Tsuna-chan. And you smoke, thus you are a Smoking cat."
"I wasn't snooping, it was an accident! And. I. Am. Not. A. Cat." Gokudera proclaims, puncturing each word, and then he starts to rant. He starts in Japanese and gradually slips into another foreign language. Satoru looks at Takeshi and Setsuna.
"What's the language, and what is he saying?" he asks the two who clearly understand the words and seem sheepish to say the least, as their friend goes on and on with his tirade.
"It's Italian, his native one, he switches back to it when he's super irate," Takeshi explains with an air of someone who had been on the receiving end of this habit multiple times.
"He's saying curse words in your address," Tsuna adds, ears a light pink due to the crass words. "The most polite thing is "White-haired menace". Others… don't pass the censure."
In response, Satoru burst out laughing.
Satoru chuckles at the memory. Needless to say, Hayato listed him as said "White-haired menace" in retaliation to Smoking Cat. No doubt, he would be crude with Satoru for texting at such a time, but some things took precedence. Plus, this could be amusing.
He begins to text.
Me: Nighty, Kitty~
Smoking Cat: What do you want, you hairless yeti?
Me: Rude and mean! Anyway, I got a request.
Smoking Cat: Out with it.
Me: Can I have your email? Or Hibari's? I need to take a look at that list.
Smoking Cat: At this time? Whatever. Hibari has the list and photos on his laptop. I'll send you his number and email. He's a workaholic, so he won't bat an eye at you writing a message.
Me: Thankie! You're such a softie underneath it all!
Smoking Cat: Go get bitten to death by the skylark if you're such a masochist.
Satoru laughs at the retort, knowing it isn't malicious in the slightest. And true to his word, Gokudera sends Hibari's number and email mere minutes later. Gojo responds with a thumbs-up and emoji sending a kiss. Gokudera sends a middle finger. Gojo simply uses a winking emoji.
Deciding that was enough of bothering Hayato for his help, Satoru checks Hibari's email one more time, and types it on his laptop and a quick greeting along with it, hitting send.
The yakuza guy answers a couple of minutes later.
HibariKyoyaOf Namimoridotcom: You're here about the houses, I assume?
Like Hayato said, he didn't bat an eye at the letter. He's also straight to the point and no-nonsense. It fits with what he got from their brief interaction at Namimori Shrine. Boo, what a bore. Still, he writes back:
GojoSatoruIs Amazingdotcom: Right in one!~
HibariKyoyaOf Namimoridotcom: I'll send it all as an attached file. If anything catches your interest, call me or Setsuna, and I'll find the real estate agent. They won't dare to trick me or her.
Oh? Sounds like he's more than a "policeman" as Setsuna called him. He's truly the yakuza guy. While he thought that, the aforementioned file arrived, with the text saying: "You owe me a spar".
GojoSatoruIs Amazingdotcom: Anything for you, birdie ;)
Hibari doesn't dignify it with a response, but Satoru can imagine him rolling his eyes while staring at the laptop's screen or something else of the sort at Gojo's ridiculousness.
Giggling at the thought, Satoru gets to work, ready to pull the all-nighter (which is not unusual for him) if need be. While Sawadas housing the siblings is nice, and awesome, he can't live off their generosity forever. The Fushiguros are his responsibility, and Megumi is his first step at the new Jujutsu Society, where the new generations of sorcerers are strong and don't die so young either from Curses or old fucks who cling to useless traditions.
As the Strongest, he can't afford to fail at this. Either with the goal or giving Megumi and Tsumiki happy, safe childhoods.
Not this time.
The first thing Megumi becomes aware of as he wakes up is Tsumiki's soft breaths and the warmth of the covers around them both.
Oh, he thinks, still a little drowsy with sleep, right. This wasn't the dream.
Gojo and Sawada-san brought them here yesterday after being dissatisfied with their apartment. They gave them food and a bed and promised to take care of them. Of course, Megumi has to become some fancy-schmancy sorcerer under Gojo's tutelage in exchange, but as long as Tsumiki is happy and they have food, Megumi doesn't care about anything else. Though, he wonders how long this charity is going to last before Gojo and his friends grow bored and he and Tsumiki are tossed away like trash.
If it happens, he won't be surprised. Wouldn't be the first time anyway.
Now fully awake, Megumi decides he had enough of lying around. Careful, so as to not wake his sister up, he gets out of the bed and pads to the bathroom. The whole house is quiet, its residents still in the land of dreams.
Must be pretty early, Megumi thinks. However, when he emerges from the bathroom done with all the procedures and in fresh clothes several minutes later, he realizes he has to amend his earlier statement as there are voices coming from downstairs.
Curious, Megumi follows the voices. The shadows move with him, welcoming him into their embrace and hiding him until he wishes to be seen. It has always been this way; maybe since he was three? Doesn't matter when, but he's glad for it; he doesn't want them to think he's eavesdropping even though he isn't. Kinda?
"You're going today?" The first one he hears is Sawada-san. Hidden by the stairway, he, nonetheless, sees her standing by the fridge, opening a bottle of juice. Her hair is done in a ponytail this time, and she's dressed in an orange tracksuit, looking sweaty. She must have been jogging or the like.
"Yes," the second voice is Reborn-san's, although he's obscured from Megumi's sight. "Why wait? The more we gather information, the less chance we have of being taken by surprise by this group."
"If you do run into them, be careful," Sawada-san warns after taking the long drink from the bottle. "We don't know what their end goal with us is."
"Worried for me or them?" Reborn-san's voice is full of amusement.
Sawada-san rolls her eyes, putting the bottle away and closing the fridge. "I'm worried about damage cost if you come head to head."
Reborn-san clicks his tongue. "When did you start worrying about the money more than your dear tutor? You don't interact with Viper much."
"Since I'm the one who has to deal with mountains of paperwork in the aftermath, so Mammon isn't at fault," Sawada-san quips in response before a frown mars her features. "I'm serious, though. Be careful."
"Always," Reborn-san promises before opening and closing of the door, indicating he has left the house. Silence settles for about a minute until Sawada-san calls out:
"You can come out, Fushiguro-kun."
How did she—?! Flushing in embarrassment at being caught, Megumi goes downstairs, head hanging low. When he reaches the older girl, he starts to apologize:
"I'm sorry, I wasn't eavesdropping or something like that!" he gets out in a rush. "I just heard voices!"
Sawada-san binks, taken aback by the sudden burst of emotions. Megumi's surprised at himself too because it's very unlike him, but if his rudeness costs Tsumiki's happiness and safety, he won't forgive himself.
Sawada-san recovers after a moment. "Fushiguro-kun, I'm not mad," she soothes him. "I didn't think you were eavesdropping. In fact, if it wasn't for my Intuition, I wouldn't have noticed you, you were blending in so well. Did something wake you? It's the weekend. I thought you and your sister would sleep in."
"I'm just an early riser, I don't like sleeping in. Tsumiki is still asleep though," reassured that she isn't angry, Megumi raises his head. He's half tempted to ask what she and Reborn-san were talking about, if it concerns him and his sister, but another thing comes out entirely.
"Why are you helping us?"
"Why are you asking, Fushiguro-kun?" she asks in turn. It is not a deflection. Sawada-san is genuinely curious about his reasons.
"Because the world is cruel and adults are only out for themselves. Good people don't get what they deserve, and bad people get away scot-free." Megumi knows this as the truth. If it wasn't the truth, their parents wouldn't have abandoned them, or people wouldn't be, so indifferent to their plight. Gojo wouldn't have come, talking some mambo-jumbo.
Megumi fully expects to be brushed off for such a worldview. "You're still a child, what do you know?" and the like. But Sawada-san surprises him again.
"You're right," she agrees to his shock. "The world is a cruel place," there are shadows in her eyes that prove she experienced that cruelty herself. "Sometimes bad guys win, and good people break and die too young under this cruelty. But it's not always bad. Sometimes good people stay strong and share that strength with others. With it, the world becomes a little less bad."
"Is that why you help us?" Megumi wonders. While he doesn't share the view, what she says makes sense. "Because you endured the bad and shared the strength?"
"In a way," Sawada-san hums as she leans against the kitchen counter. "I can help, and Satoru is my friend; friends help each other. But, Fushiguro-kun, you and your sister are also strong."
"How so?" Megumi asks with a frown. He isn't sure he understands.
"Your parents left you two far earlier than they should have," it's a statement, not a way to hurt. There's understanding in her tone that can be gained only through similar experiences. Did her dad do something like his did? "Many in your situation would cry and do nothing else. But you two went on with your lives as best you could. That takes strength." Green meets brown, finding nothing but sincerity.
Megumi, for his part, is left speechless. Nobody in his life ever did or said something like this, either for him or Tsumiki. For almost all adults, they are just kids, helpless and pitiful, not to be taken seriously. This is the first time ever, that someone took them seriously, treated them like equals.
And… Maybe it's just Megumi, and he's projecting, but Sawada-san reminds him of Tsumiki — not just with looks — both she and his sister share the inner light. But while Tsumiki uses that light as a shield, Sawada-san also uses that light as a weapon if need be, he's sure of it. It's that realization of their likeness that prompts him to say the next words.
"You can call me by my name," Megumi says, putting on an indifferent facade, so she won't see she struck a cord. "It's a mouthful to say our surname every time, so you say our names. I'm sure Tsumiki won't mind."
He can't trust their kindness. Not yet. Not when it can be taken away in a blink when their guard is down.
But he can offer this much in return for her honesty.
Sawada-san seems to understand this as she gives him a smile in response.
"Of course, Megumi-kun," thank you for reaching out, he hears in her voice. "You also can call me Setsuna-san. Or Tsuna-san if you both want to."
He only nods to this. Megumi hopes he won't regret making this first step.
AN: That's all for now. Next on the update is rewrite the stars. See you untill then!