Chapter Text
"I'm sorry, Iori... But we can't do it anymore." Gojo lowered his voice as the words came out.
The girl in front of him barely moved, completely static at the news. "Please tell me I heard wrong..." Her voice held back the tears that were trying to form.
"Tell me you're not..."
"Yes." Satoru interrupted her, "I'm finished with you."
Utahime stared at him for a few more seconds, completely catatonic. Satoru was about to give another classic break-up speech, but was interrupted by a laugh.
"You've got to be kidding me."
For the first time in a long time, Satoru held one of his sarcastic replies on the tip of his tongue, choosing to keep quiet.
"So, you mean that after spending almost two months with me, after spending the entire last week finding a way to sleep with me, you just break up with me?" Utahime waited for Gojo to start apologizing, but no, he remained completely silent. And that irritated her even more.
"After everything! I'm an idiot, everyone told me you were no good, I knew it... I knew it, even though I was in the same cycle as you, I was a- "Gojo tried to calm her down by grabbing one of her arms that was gesturing as she screamed. "Don't touch me! In fact, don't ever look at my face again, you fucking asshole."
Utahime turned to leave, but stopped in the process. "At least tell me why..." he said in a whisper.
"Maybe I'm just not ready"
Utahime turned around with her eyes rolling. There was nothing but pain.
"What do you mean?"
"I know you love me, and you love me very much... you've all loved me, in fact." Gojo realized that he'd said that last part unwillingly when he looked down at Utahime, his expression one of pure disbelief.
"But you're not capable of love, are you? That's the fucking excuse you're going to tell me, really Satoru?!" Gojo didn't have the energy to try to justify himself, what was he going to say? Come on, was that really the reason?
"Fuck you, Gojo." And this time she actually turned to leave.
At that moment, Gojo was left alone in the park where they had arranged to meet, the girl's unfortunate thought being that they were going on a romantic date. Only now did Gojo realize that he was standing under a cherry tree.
With his departure, the air seemed to have become lighter, colder. Gojo liked the cold. Walking over to the tree trunk and sitting down under the breeze, he rested his forearm on his eyes, taking off his faithful sunglasses.
The thought that this time he had ruined everything, again. That's why he hated getting stuck in relationships, they usually ended in a similar way, the first few weeks everything was wonderful, until that excitement fizzled out. An emptiness and indifference set in, and every second it grew.
He didn't want to ruin everything with Utahime, he didn't even want to betray her... He thought the problem could be fixed with sex. He never went without for long, and it was almost two months into their relationship.
Almost
Gojo didn't even make it two whole months, it was laughable. If he had another one that lasted longer, it was because he had been forgiven several times. But he couldn't afford that with her, because they were in the same friendship circle, so things got complicated.
.
.
.
.
Gojo was a little startled when the end of class bell rang. He had spent almost the entire day immersed in his existential bag and hadn't even noticed the time passing.
"Gojo!" Shoko startled him by slamming both hands on his desk.
Gojo looked around comically and then pointed at himself.
"So you really broke up with Utahime?" Shoko was used to ignoring his jokes and getting straight to the point.
"Look, news travels fast in"
"Just answer me, Satoru."
"We're done, that's it. Can I leave the interrogation now?" Gojo said, leaving the room, but was quickly followed by Shoko.
"Why do you seem so sorry?"
Gojo looked at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"I'm not sorry." He said more to himself than to Shoko.
"You're not being yourself all day."
"Maybe it's because this is the first time our Don Juan has broken up with a girl who is also part of our circle of friends." Geto appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the conversation, Gojo was so airborne that he could tell if he'd been there from the start.
"Thanks a lot, Geto, you really understand me, unlike some people." Gojo folded his hands and batted his eyelashes, glancing sidelong at Shoko. Even though no one could see because of his glasses.
"Of course, no one here will leave your highness alone." Shoko dramatized a theatrical exit with her hand, before turning down the corridor without them.
"Do you want to go to the arcade now?" Changing the subject, Gojo really needed to be distracted, so he invited Geto to a place he loved, the arcade, which was entirely themed around old video games. He felt like a kid in an amusement park.
"I didn't want to, but you deserve it."
"You can't let Shoko hear me being spoiled." Gojo then ran to the exit before hearing Geto's complaint.
They rode their bikes slowly to the arcade not far from the school. The owner had picked a great spot, but in Gojo's opinion it was always too crowded after school.
"Satoru! Long time no see." Haruno Matsushina was the owner of the establishment, a nice man in his fifties. "And that girl who was coming with you?"
A nice man, but curious. He loved asking about everyone's life, he always knew what was going on before the person even knew.
"Oh, we broke up yesterday." Matsushina was surprised at how naturally Gojo spoke.
Geto, noticing the mood that had consolidated, asked about the round sign with a red circle with a stripe through it, passing over a fist.
"Oh that?" He pointed. "Lately there have been some boys from another school coming here, they're picking fights with your school, using the games as an excuse."
"Wow, what assholes, why would they do that out of the blue? As far as I know, the other school is a long way from here."
"They keep calling the people at their school bourgeois, daddy's boys, you see. So I made a rule that if they pick a fight, they'll be banned for a month."
"Careful, Satoru, that they don't hit your ego."
"Fuck you, Geto." Satoru said, as he walked over to the machines, with the tokens he had just bought in hand.
The place was actually more visibly full than it used to be, Satoru usually came at weekends in the morning when there was hardly anyone there. Geto chose an Atatari, which was empty. The controller was a bit hard and people didn't play on it that much. Halfway there, they were blocked by a group of four teenagers wearing different uniforms.
Gojo tried to pass between them, but was blocked by two of them. "Excuse me, but can you let us through?" Gojo used his high-pitched voice to speak.
"No." The boy simply spoke.
First Gojo and Geto looked at each other, and that look was enough for their minds to share.
"You don't seem to realize that the path is blocked."
"Didn't you hear him tell you to take a walk?!" Another boy a little shorter than Gojo spoke up.
"Did you see Geto say that? I thought we heard a simple no."
"You're right, Satoru, we're not fortune-tellers, unfortunately." The group of boys turned to them and only then realized the size of the problem they had created.
But not all of them, an average-sized boy bought from Satoru, turned around and grabbed Geto's shirt. As a matter of pride, he continued to hold on even when his hand visibly faltered.
Geto and Gojo smiled, but their pleasantries were cut short by the arrival of Matsushina, who was wearing a very pleasant smile while holding a baseball bat.
"I've just explained the reason for the sign, and you're going to confuse me?" Matsushina pointed the baseball bat at them. "Get out of here, now!"
The boys scurried off like frightened cockroaches, Geto and Gojo walked back to their destination.
"Hold it right there."
"What? Mr. Matsushina, we didn't do anything, they started it."
"I didn't ask who started it, I told you to get out of here."
"There, my heart, you hurt me like that." Geto dragged her to the exit, before Matsushina could really use that bat on them.
Outside, they got on their bikes and rode slowly, since they hadn't even been in the arcade long.
"We're being followed," Gojo said after a while. "It must be those guys."
"Every man for himself, goodbye!" Geto shouted as he turned a corner. Gojo wanted to swear at him if that really wasn't the way to get to Suguru.
Satoru began to pick up speed when he realized that two people who were still following him were catching up. Not that he couldn't beat them, but he really didn't want to fight without Suguru.
Lost in thought as he picked up speed, Satoru didn't notice that there was a hole in the sidewalk, which caused the wheel of his bicycle to lock and throw him forward with all his might.
"What the fuck!" Gojo ended up falling on top of someone.
His body was all sore, that's great. Gojo thought.
"Get off me!" The man pushed him, causing him to fall to the side.
"Now you are-" A third voice came out, it was one of the boys who had been following him. Satoru stood up, dusting off his clothes.
"And him!" The other interrupted his colleague.
Yes, you've already realized it's me, can you skip that part?
"Nanami Kento, from the Yakuza!"
Gojo froze, immediately turning his face to look at the figure next to him. It was a blond man, his hair was tidied to one side -or it had been before the accident-, he was wearing a corporate suit, the only thing that stood out was his colorful tie with different patterns, and a clearly expensive watch.
He definitely didn't appreciate a member of the mafia, Gojo concluded, but as soon as he met his hateful gaze while adjusting his green glasses, he changed his mind.
Uncomfortable, he shifted his gaze to where the boys should have been, but they were no longer there. There were only the two of them left.
The man walked calmly towards him and stopped about an arm's length away. Gojo swallowed. Before he could think, the man punched him right in the stomach.
"That's for throwing me to the ground and not even apologizing" His voice was full of contempt. "And that..." In one swift movement with his feet, he kicked Gojo, sending him crashing to the ground. A throbbing pain spread even more strongly through his body. "That's because you knocked me into a fucking puddle of dirty, muddy water."
At that moment, Gojo simply wished he had stood up to those two. God forgive his laziness. He spoke to the heavens.