A/N at the end of the chapter
CHAPTER 13
{POV: Suzue Kujou}
Suzue could only take note of finding herself trapped in a body that wasn't hers again. The sensation was both familiar and disorienting.
In front of her, she recognized the same adorned room she had seen countless times in her visions. And she recognized the man standing before her. Black hair tied in a ponytail, red eyes shining with pride and tenacity... she remembered seeing him in her visions, arguing with her – with Kaede.
He stood before her, covered in blood and soot, the world outside that room seemed to be in flames, and echoes of suffering resonated in the distance; the cursed energy he emanated was terribly familiar.
At his feet, Suzue recognized among the various burned bodies the servant who had spoken to her in the last vision. The sight made her stomach churn, but Kaede's body remained disturbingly calm.
The man looked at her with a gaze full of anger and concern; he approached with determined steps and held out a hand to her. Suzue didn't perceive any fear in Kaede: she didn't perceive anything, to be honest. It was like watching a play where she was both the audience and the protagonist, her emotions a twisted reflection of Kaede's.
«Come on, let's get you out of here. Please. I'll protect you; I swear it.» he added gravely, with a barely hidden sense of urgency. He seemed... desperate. His voice was rough, yet there was an underlying softness, a plea masked by his commanding tone.
Kaede barely moved her head, lifting it to meet the man's eyes. «Ryoumen Sukuna. That's what they call you now, tight?» she began with a disturbingly calm voice «I won't go with you. He wants me here. My family wants me here.»
A flash of betrayal crossed the man's eyes. He retracted his hand with a brusque movement. «...And I'm not your family?»
His expression changed from hope to disappointment and finally to anger. Though Kaede said nothing more, Suzue could sense a small spark of pain at hearing those words. It was as if she was tapping into a deeply buried part of Kaede's emotions, raw and unfiltered.
The man's gaze hardened again, his face now a mask of rage. «You don't even know what your own children look like! How many years has it been since he was last here? That man abandoned you!» His words were like daggers, aimed to wound deeply.
Kaede still showed no reaction, nor did she move an inch, her eyes fixed on the red eyes of the man, of Sukuna. The duality of her existence in that moment was overwhelming; Kaede's stoic exterior was at odds with the tumultuous emotions roiling within.
«He would never do that, he –» she protested weakly, her calm voice beginning to crumble inexorably, but Sukuna interrupted her sharply.
«He never loved you! He used you and discarded you when you were no longer of use. And now, he's sent people to kill you, to erase any trace of his failure.»
That was the breaking point.
Kaede wavered and instinctively took a step back, distancing herself from the man. She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her flesh.
«Leave. Before I make you regret coming here.»
Sukuna also took a step back, increasing the distance between them even more, resignation starting to take over as he continued to watch her with a grim expression. «I get it. You are beyond salvation.»
Suzue felt Kaede's heart pounding furiously and the disturbing calm she had always felt in her shattered, revealing a more frightening and raw emotion.
Hatred.
The room seemed to close in around her, the once comforting walls now oppressive and confining. Kaede's eyes, which had been a window to an unfathomable resolve, now burned with a fierce intensity that made Suzue's pulse quicken.
She took a step forward, her fists still clenched, her nails drawing blood from her palms. The air around her seemed to crackle with energy, the temperature rising as her anger manifested.
The flames outside the room seemed to respond to her anger, flaring up higher as if fed by her cursed energy.
The room seemed to vibrate with the force of her emotions. Suzue could feel the cursed energy building, a pressure that threatened to explode. She could see Sukuna brace himself, his own cursed energy rising in response.
«Kaede, don't—» he started, but it was too late.
The room began to shake, the walls cracking under the pressure of Kaede's unleashed power. Flames erupted around her, consuming the remnants of the already burning building.
The flames licked at the tapestries, the furniture, and the bodies on the floor, consuming everything in their path.
Sukuna shielded himself with his own cursed energy, but the intensity of Kaede's attack forced him to retreat further. The room was becoming an inferno.
«Kaede, stop this! You're going to destroy everything-»
As Suzue teetered on the edge of losing herself entirely to Kaede's rage, she struggled to hold onto a single thought, a fragment of hope that might break through the torrent of hatred.
She opened her eyes abruptly and sat up in bed, her heart pounding incessantly in her chest, awakened by loud music coming from the room below hers.
"What... what was that?! Sukuna? Like... That Sukuna...?"
The name reverberated in her mind, stirring up the intense emotions from the vision. She felt a wave of confusion and dread wash over her as she processed the realization. She just knew It was him, even though he was human; it made sense.
Ryoumen Sukuna.
The name held a weight that made her shiver. It was as if all the pieces of a puzzle had suddenly fallen into place, but the picture they formed was one of overwhelming terror.
It wasn't just the shared emotions; it was the depth of those feelings, the way they resonated within her. Each new vision seemed a little more intense and real than the last, making it harder for her to distinguish where Kaede ended, and she began.
She exhaled deeply, trying to calm her racing heart. The picture emerging from those continuous visions was growing more and more worrying. Suzue's mind replayed the last moments of the vision: the rage, the uncontrollable power, the sheer force of Kaede's cursed technique, the flames... Her same flames.
Suzue felt a slight tickle on her cheek and noticed with surprise that she was shedding a tear.
"Seriously?"
She quickly wiped it away, rubbing harder than necessary as if to banish not only the tear but also the memory of what she had seen and felt in the vision. It was unsettling to think that she could be so affected by someone else's experiences, even if they were deeply rooted in her family's history.
She looked around: she was undoubtedly in her room. How did she get there? She remembered being in the basement with Ijichi, working on the report, then Satoru had finally returned to Tokyo... then they had argued, yes.
Her face flushed at the memory: raising her voice at Satoru was something she had not planned.
She was still wearing the clothes from the day before, kindly lent by Shoko. Then? Did she fall asleep like that while they were talking?
The thought that he had to carry her to her room made her feel strange. But... she hadn't slept so well in days, if not for that vision.
"Satoru..." She needed to talk to him, to explain everything. He had to understand what she was going through, what she had seen and felt. But then she hesitated, the words dying in her throat.
"How could I explain something I don't fully understand myself?"
She couldn't burden him with this. Not yet. She knew he was already dealing with the aftermath of that mission at the prison and the chaos it caused. He was trying to protect everyone, including her, and the last thing she wanted was to make things more complicated.
She needed to understand more, to process what she had seen and felt. She needed to figure out a way to manage this on her own terms before involving others.
She refocused on the music coming from the room below, Satoru's room.
Ano hito no Mama ni au tame ni
Ima hitori Ressha ni notta no
Tasogare semaru machinami ya Kuruma no nagare
Yokome de oi koshite
"Not exactly the kind of music I'd expect a guy like him to listen to..."
She looked at the window and saw that dawn was just breaking; she frowned. What the heck did Satoru think it was, blasting music at that volume?
Anyway, now that she was awake, she had plenty to do; she had left the Zenin clan hanging since she went to the prison with the students, hadn't turned on that phone in days, and could already imagine the headache reading their insults would give her.
Besides... she hadn't seen Megumi and Nobara since that day. Now that their teacher was back, she couldn't put off that moment any longer.
She quickly slipped off the overalls and shirt, determined to return Shoko's clothes. She lingered on the still visible bruises and wounds on her body; if she was lucky, within a couple of days she would finish the healing sessions, and at least the physical damage would be just a bad memory. She was supposed to meet Shoko that morning at 7 AM precisely for that.
She moved to grab her clothes but her clumsiness led her to bang her knee against the edge of the bed with a loud thud.
«Damn it—»
She probably just gave herself a new bruise for the doctor to heal.
The music downstairs momentarily lowered.
"Well, at least now I can hear my own curses."
She quickly slipped on a white T-shirt and a long, wide black skirt; it wasn't much of a wardrobe, but then again, she was poor and had to make do. Her shoes... she didn't even know where they had ended up; after being rescued and treated, she hadn't seen them again. They were probably so worn out they were thrown directly into the trash along with the rest of the clothes.
She sighed. She'd have to go out in slippers.
The music downstairs resumed at full volume, and Suzue decided it was definitely time to get out of that room before it turned into a nightclub.
Fuanna kimochi o nokoshita mama
Machi wa ding-dong toozakatte yuku wa
Asu no asa mama kara denwa de
Shikatte morau wa, my darling
She grabbed her still-off phone and Shoko's clothes, then quickly left the room, closing the door behind her. She made it slam, on purpose; she wanted Satoru to realize he was a lousy neighbor and that because of him she had to go out at dawn to find a quiet place where she could at least hear her own thoughts.
Suzue descended the stairs, heading to the teachers' lounge, passing by Satoru's room on the ground floor.
She entered the still-deserted teachers' lounge and dropped into a chair.
Finally, she could be alone with her thoughts for a moment; she needed to think about what to do next.
One thing was certain: she couldn't go back to the Zenin clan, nor did she want to. Her position there at Tokyo Jujutsu High, however, was precarious, and had been secured directly by them, and she feared that just as they had brought her there they would do everything to remove her now that she was a troublesome element.
She wondered if she should go beg Principal Yaga to keep her there even without a salary but hoped that the relationships cultivated over the past few weeks would be enough to guarantee her place.
Who knows if they had talked about it the night before, together with Satoru, about what would become of her now that all the knots had come to a head and after the mess she had caused.
"Damn it, if I hadn't fallen asleep like a log during such an important conversation, I probably wouldn't be sitting here overthinking."
She remained lost in her thoughts for who knows how long until the door to the room opened; Shoko peeked in, looking at her with a slightly stern expression.
«You know, if you don't get proper rest, it's pretty useless to heal physical wounds.» she scolded, entering the room. «I was waiting for you for the check-up.»
Suzue quickly turned to the clock on the wall.
"7:30... How long was I lost in my thoughts?!"
She sighed and put on an apologetic face towards her colleague. «I'm sorry, Satoru had the music at full volume and woke me up at dawn... and then I lost track of time.»
She smiled weakly, hoping to elicit some compassion from her, but Shoko seemed more surprised. «Wow, music so loud you could hear it from your room? What a pain in the ass.» With a quick movement, she grabbed the mug from her desk and approached the coffee machine, ready to make herself some coffee.
Suzue buried her head in her hands, glad that someone understood the annoyance her neighbor caused. «Yeah well, his room is directly below mine, hard not to hear everything he does...»
Shoko paused, thoughtful, the mug lifted mid-air and the coffee machine still pouring coffee into the void. «Below yours? Suzue, your room is directly above Satoru's?» She turned to look at her with a worried and questioning expression. «Why did you take that room? There are plenty of empty rooms in other wings of the building...»
Suzue didn't quite understand the question or Shoko's concern. She hadn't had a say in the choice of her room. It was...
«...It was his doing? On my first day, he told me that was my room and didn't— I mean, at the time, I didn't imagine his room was below and that he'd be such an annoying neighbor.»
Shoko's expression darkened further, looking almost disgusted.
«...it was him? What a sick bastard.» She finally snapped out of it and poured herself some coffee. «Suzue, did you ever wonder why all the rooms in the wing where he stays are completely empty?»
Suzue still didn't understand her colleague's concern and looked even more confused.
«...Because he's unfriendly?»
Now Shoko, standing by the desk, looked at her like she was an idiot. What wasn't she saying clearly?
«He, well... has the Six Eyes. He can see through walls and stuff... You get it?»
There was a long moment of embarrassing silence during which Suzue weighed the implications of that statement. Her room was directly above his. He had the Six Eyes. And according to Shoko, he could see through walls like Superman. Suzue felt her face flush and started babbling nervously.
«H-He wouldn't... H-He wouldn't use the Six Eyes for... that, right?»
The door to the staff room opened again, revealing the person in question, scratching his head and with a blatantly fake yawn. He wore round sunglasses and a black tracksuit. Despite being up since dawn listening to loud music, he hadn't even bothered to make himself presentable.
«Damn, I didn't hear the alarm!»
Suzue turned to him, still red and incredulous, and saw Shoko do the same. She wondered if he really thought she was deaf. Unlike her, the doctor was visibly irritated.
«Suzue, I know I didn't have time to brief you on everything last night, but never stay too far from m—»
«Satoru, you perverted bastard.» Shoko interrupted him abruptly, looking at him like he was trash.
Satoru turned to her, confused and almost annoyed. «Okay? That's a new one, but as usual, thanks for your kind words... necrophile.» he concluded provocatively, with a mocking smile.
«Satoru, do you... see through walls? Like... Superman?» Suzue stammered, seeking answers, standing up abruptly and taking a few hesitant steps toward him.
For a moment, Satoru's gaze flicked from Suzue to Shoko, who continued to glare at him with disgust, then back to Suzue, as if slowly understanding the situation. He looked incredulous and dramatically offended.
«How the hell do you think the Six Eyes work, you two—»
«So you're assuring us you can't see through walls?» Shoko cut him off.
He seemed to think for a few seconds, then shrugged and with a nervous smile responded. «Technically, I can sort of see through walls but—»
«You don't look up when you're in your room, right?» Suzue looked at him hopefully, feeling her face burn. She recalled that morning, how he had oddly turned down the music just when she made a noise. Just when she was undressed.
«Right?» she pressed, urgently.
Satoru put his hands in his pockets and casually maintained eye contact. «Right. I swear.» he replied with unusual seriousness for him.
For a few seconds, Suzue stared into his eyes with all the intensity she could muster, trying to detect any hint of a lie. She almost believed him, but after a few seconds, he, clearly uncomfortable, looked away, holding back that familiar smirk.
"God. He does. He definitely does!"
She stiffened and grabbed her face with her hands, wishing she could disappear into her anger and shame right then and there, feeling the heat spread to the tips of her ears. She couldn't believe she had been so naive.
Satoru raised his hands in surrender and hurried to justify himself. «Put yourself in my shoes, when you first set foot here you were a spy sent by the higher-ups, I had to keep an eye on you! I only did it when absolutely necessary. It's not my fault I have extraordinary abilities, it's not like I can just "turn off" the Six Eyes.»
«Define 'absolutely necessary'» Suzue replied almost in a whisper.
He scratched the back of his head, trying to find a way out of the embarrassing situation. «When you were... too quiet? Or when you seemed... particularly suspicious?»
Suzue shook her head, still holding it in her hands, trying to contain her frustration. «There's a limit to decency! And this morning... Even this morning...» Suzue lowered her hands from her face, looking at him with a mix of disbelief and shame.
Seeing the growing panic in her eyes, Satoru tried to reassure her. «I won't look up anymore! I promise. But we can't change rooms, I'm sorry, I need to be close in case a certain King of Curses decides to cash in the favor you owe him.»
Suzue stared at him for a long moment, her breathing calming as she tried to decide whether to believe him or not.
«... And I like the view from my room.» he added finally, provocatively, making her sink back into embarrassment.
Leaning against a wall, enjoying the spectacle with a mix of amusement and disgust, Shoko couldn't hold back any longer from commenting on the soap opera. «That's gross. Change rooms, a dumpster is more fitting for someone like you.»
«Okay, okay. I get the message.» Satoru raised his hands again in surrender but with a playful smirk. «I'll do my best to respect your privacy. But you know, it's hard with my incredible powers and all that.»
He turned his attention back to her with an expression that seemed almost serious for a moment. «Now, if you're done painting me as the bad guy, we have some business to attend to, Suzue. I wasn't joking earlier, you need to stay close to me as a safety measure.»
Satoru smiled at her, a smile that was both encouraging and reassuring. Suzue took a deep breath, trying to regain her focus. «I understand.» Then, almost as if she suddenly remembered, she pulled out the phone Naoya had given her. «I have an urgent matter to resolve first. This... I haven't turned it on since that day at the prison. I can imagine they're furious about the mess that's been stirred up and my silence...»
Under Satoru's watchful eyes, Suzue turned on the phone, and after a few seconds, the sound of a notification was heard. Then another, and another.
The number of missed calls and unread messages... It was almost dizzying. She sighed, disheartened, gathering her courage.
«Wow that's a lot… Tell me something, do you plan to go back to them?» Satoru interrupted her train of thought with a sarcastic tone, already knowing the answer.
«Of course not!» she quickly replied, but he snatched the phone from her hand too quickly for her to react.
She could only watch in disbelief as Satoru quickly typed something on the phone before almost tossing it back to her.
«There, problem solved! Let's go, we have more important things to do.» He turned with a sly smile toward the door, waiting for Suzue to follow him.
She looked at the phone, nervous about what Satoru might have done in those few seconds. Her eyes landed and widened in disbelief on the message he had typed and sent... to Naoya Zenin.
"Fuck off."
A/N
My girl needed a breather chapter before moving on with the main story; though, it's not entirely a spin-off since some important events are still included!
I wonder if any of you, paying close attention to details, have already formed a general idea... (з)
Facts:
I don't really believe that Satoru can see through walls, at least not in the way Shoko and Suzue mean it. However, when backed into a corner, he neither confirms nor denies it, so I'll leave that up to you!
Regardless of this, I absolutely imagine him living like a hermit with the rooms near his own deserted—partly because of this belief and partly because he's a terrible neighbor!
Here's the song he's listening to, I find it absolutely perfect for the idiot he is: Rouge no Dengon
Canonically, Sukuna doesn't have black hair, but I've changed far worse plot elements than this, so the Sukuna that Suzue sees in her visions has black hair. I hope this doesn't cause any confusion.
And with these useless bits of information, I leave you ️