Everyday life

There weren't many people in the cafeteria. Only one person sat at the table by the window.

Shoko Ieiri.

She wore a white coat. Though she was still a student, she had already begun helping out in the infirmary. An unlit cigarette hung from her lips; smoking wasn't allowed in the cafeteria. She held it there like a lollipop, gazing out the window in utter boredom.

At the sound of footsteps, she turned.

"Oh, finally decided to get up?" she asked Suguru Geto, her tone casual. Unlike Satoru Gojo's loud, boisterous concern, her voice carried a quiet appraisal. "You don't look too good."

"He had a nightmare," Satoru Gojo answered before he could, plopping down across from Shoko and reaching for the plate of saury in front of her, which had already gone cold.

Shoko slapped his hand away. "That's mine."

"Stingy."

"Don't you have some on your own plate?"

"I want yours."

"Drop dead."

Suguru Geto sat down across from them. From this seat by the window, he could see the athletic field and, farther away, the gate leading to the outside world. This was his seat. He had always sat here during his days at Jujutsu High. Later, after becoming a curse user, he would still occasionally dream of it.

Shoko glanced at him and pushed another untouched plate of saury toward him.

"Eat," she said. "Ignore that idiot."

"Who are you calling an idiot?!"

"You."

Suguru Geto picked up his chopsticks.

The saury was grilled just right, its skin lightly charred and its flesh tender. With a little soy sauce and lemon juice poured over it, it tasted exactly as he remembered. He ate slowly. Every bite was so real it was almost unbelievable-the saltiness, the tartness, the taste of fish fat on his tongue. All of it was real.

He was eating a fish in a cafeteria.

Across from him sat two people he had once had in his life, before destroying everything with his own hands.

"Geto, you really are acting weird today," Satoru Gojo said suddenly. He had already finished his own portion and was picking up the last piece of fish from Shoko's plate. She had given up resisting and merely watched him expressionlessly.

"How am I acting weird?" Suguru Geto asked.

"Can't really say." Satoru Gojo chewed the fish, his words muffled. "You just feel different. Like you're a different person. Your eyes are different."

"My eyes?"

"Yeah." Satoru Gojo put down his chopsticks and looked straight at Suguru Geto. "Your eyes used to be really... how do I put it? Bright? The kind of bright where one look told me what you were thinking. They're still bright now, but it's different. Like there's something more in them."

"More of what?"

"Don't know." Satoru Gojo shrugged, wearing a rare expression that wasn't quite joking. "I can't see through it."

With the unlit cigarette between her lips, Shoko looked from Satoru Gojo to Suguru Geto. She said nothing, but her eyes said, Satoru's right.

Suguru Geto lowered his eyes and picked up the last piece of saury.

"You're overthinking it, Satoru," he said. "I just didn't sleep well."

He wasn't telling the truth. But he lied the same way he always had: with a calm tone and a natural expression, neither evasive nor guilty. He had always lied like that, so no one had ever suspected him. Not even Satoru Gojo.

Not even Satoru Gojo?

Satoru Gojo clicked his tongue, leaned back in his chair, and propped his long legs on the table. He didn't press further, but his Six Eyes never left Suguru Geto. Through them, the flow of cursed energy in Suguru Geto's body looked exactly as it had yesterday: steady, quiet, contained like deep water. But beneath that layer of cursed energy, somewhere deeper, something had changed.

Like the same mirror, now with a crack in it.

An exceedingly fine, almost invisible crack.

"Whatever." Satoru Gojo stretched. "Now that we're all awake, what are we doing today? Want to go on a mission? I heard there's a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit on the loose."

"I'm not taking any missions today," Suguru Geto cut in.

"Huh? Why?"

"I have something to do."

"What?"

Suguru Geto set down his chopsticks and raised his head. He looked at Satoru Gojo, then at Shoko, before finally turning his gaze out the window. Someone was running on the athletic field-Yu Haibara, his steps light and quick. Kento Nanami stood beside the track with a stopwatch, looking thoroughly reluctant to be acting as the timekeeper.

Yu Haibara.

September 2007.

Suguru Geto remembered that date. He hadn't seen it on a calendar; he had heard it from Yu Haibara himself. Though Haibara hadn't yet told him the exact day, in his memories, Yu Haibara had died in September 2007.

One month left.

"Geto?" Shoko's voice brought him back.

"Hm?"

"You said you had something to do."

"Oh." Suguru Geto drew his gaze back. "Nothing important. I just want to take a day off. I've been a little tired lately."

Shoko glanced at him without asking further. She took a lighter from her white coat pocket, turned it over twice in her hand, then put it away again. Smoking wasn't allowed in the cafeteria, but she always repeated that motion without realizing it.

"Then take a break," she said, as casually as if she were commenting on the nice weather. "It's not like there's anything important going on."

For once, Satoru Gojo didn't argue. He took his legs off the table, folded his arms, and tilted his head as he watched Suguru Geto, as though studying an interesting puzzle. But he said nothing. He merely smiled, and that smile held something only he understood.

After breakfast, the three of them left the cafeteria together.

The sunlight was lovely. The sky shone blue, with a few white clouds drifting lazily across it. Yu Haibara was still running on the field. When he saw them passing, he waved from a distance and called, "Morning, everyone!" Kento Nanami gave an expressionless nod, though the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Suguru Geto stopped.

He stood on the stone steps outside the cafeteria, sunlight falling across his shoulders. To his left, Satoru Gojo was complaining that Shoko had dropped her lighter again. To his right, Shoko was bending down to pick it up, muttering, "What's it to you?"

It was a day in August 2007.

A long time had passed since the Star Plasma Vessel Incident. The followers of the Time Vessel Association had probably dispersed by now, returning to their daily lives, continuing to be ordinary people, continuing their stupid, ugly existence.

There was one month left until Yu Haibara's death.

Until he killed his own parents, defected from Jujutsu High, and became a curse user, there was still...

Suguru Geto didn't want to count anymore.

He knew only one thing.

He was still alive. Satoru Gojo was still alive. Shoko was still alive. Yu Haibara was still alive. Nothing had reached its end yet.

"Geto, come on. What are you standing there for?" Satoru Gojo had already walked a few steps away and turned back to look at him. The sunlight on his white hair was almost blinding.

Suguru Geto took a step forward.

He walked steadily, his stride exactly as it had been before-neither fast nor slow, with a reassuring rhythm. He came up beside Satoru Gojo, and the two walked shoulder to shoulder along Jujutsu High's stone-paved path.

"Satoru," he said.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

Satoru Gojo glanced sideways at him. It was so brief that Shoko never noticed. But Suguru Geto did. A light flashed through those azure eyes, as though something had been seen, then hidden away.

"Fine." Satoru Gojo looked away and slipped his hands into his pockets, his gait turning loose and carefree again. "Don't tell me, then. You'll tell me sooner or later anyway."

Suguru Geto didn't answer.

In his heart, he said, Yes. One day, sooner or later, I'll tell you everything.

But not now.

For now, he only wanted to linger a little longer in this sunlit morning, in this everyday life he had once possessed, then lost, and now miraculously regained.

Even if only for a little while.

Beside the field, Yu Haibara finally finished his last lap and bent over, panting hard. Kento Nanami handed him a bottle of water, saying, "Running too fast will hurt your knees," even as he unscrewed the cap for him.

In the distance, Jujutsu High's main gate stood slightly ajar, offering a glimpse of the world outside-a world filled with non-sorcerers, cursed spirits, and every ugly thing. The world Suguru Geto had once wanted to destroy.

But now, looking through that gap, all he could see was a clear blue sky.

Suguru Geto looked away and caught up with Satoru Gojo and Shoko.

He didn't know how much he could change. He didn't know how long his memories would last. He didn't know whether Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes would one day see through all his secrets. He didn't know whether, in the end, he would still take that road of no return.

But he knew one thing.

He wouldn't let Yu Haibara go to Zama alone.

That was his first promise.

A promise he made to himself.

The wind blew down Jujutsu High's hillside, carrying the scent of grass and earth. In the distance came voices, laughter, and the clack of wooden swords. Everything was just right.

The corners of Suguru Geto's mouth lifted in a faint, almost imperceptible curve, then it vanished, as though nothing had happened.