SAINTS || Gojo Satoru

9

The worst part wasn't that Miyazō had emptied her guts infront of Gojo and his students, nor his snide laughter as he rubbed her back and pulled her out of the room. It was how the goo surrounding the room slithered slowly, as though it was alive, and came up to basically swallow her vomit. Air bubbles popped around the mucus as it covered her vomit and her stomach seemed ready to regurgitate a second round.

But she pushed it down, instead calling Hanenoken forward. Her knees weakened as the angel appeared before Miyazō in her massive form, her wings spanning across the room. Gojo allowed her fall into his arms and pulled her to his chest. His students quickly noticed that he'd turned his infinity off to hold her, and that allowed some of the goo to drop on his shoulder, and he accidentally stepped on it as he shuffled his feet backwards.

She wasn't thinking of that. She was looking forward at Hanenoken. The white feathers caught some of the mucus and the sight of that caused a bitterness in Miyazō's chest. But Hanenoken's wings darkened in colour, to a hard silver, glinting in the strips of light that peeked into the room from the mucus covered window on the wall. And only then did Miyazō notice that the feathers of her wings had hardened to blades.

She was still resting in Gojo's arms as they all watched the feathers from Hanenoken's middle pair of wings separate from her body. They were hard as steel now as they floated around her and they glowed a soft blue as they spread across the room. She turned her head to the five of them.

"Close the door. Close your eyes." Came her voice, soft this time. Her hands came up to tug on her blindfold. Miyazō's own eyes widened.

"What?" Nobara argued.

Itadori spoke up after her, "We want to fight it too."

Gojo snapped his head to both of them, cradling Miyazō so close he could feel her breath on his neck, and she could see the goosebumps rise on his skin. "Shut that door now." His voice was harder than they were used to, and it made them flinch. "Now, Itadori! Shut it!"

And the pink haired boy hastily rushed to shut the door. Uncaring now about the mucus he was stepping in as he pulled the door against the goo that had gathered under it. There was a loud bang as he shut it completely and for a moment, everything was calm. Miyazō planted her feet firmly on the ground, trying to stand on her own.

Gojo allowed her find her balance and turned his infinity back on, but still allowed his palm to ghost over her back. And just as everywhere was quiet and calm, a scream tore through the silence. It's inhumane nature forced a chill down your spine and Megumi smashed his palms against his ears, bending low.

A dim blue light could be seen peeking out from under the door, growing brighter as the scream got louder. Miyazō's stomach churned. She held it tightly. The scream began breaking into small sobs in between the screams. And faintly, they all could hear human screams under the monster one and Gojo swallowed deeply.

"You've exorcised your first curse consciously, Miyazo." He said, eyes boring into the door.

She looked up at him in horror, "Why are we hearing human screams, Gojo?"

He gulped again and turned down to look at her, "The cursed spirit must have devoured humans to reach it's size."

Her blood ran cold.

"You mean there were people in that thing?" Megumi screamed out at Gojo.

"We have to help them!" She tried to hold Gojo's forearm, but his infinity was back on. And he didn't look like he would be turning it off anytime soon.

"You can't." He said.

She turned over to the others, "You guys! We can't just let people die." She rushed forward to the door, to try and push it open. She didn't know what she would do, but she couldn't just allow people die. They were still screaming that tortured scream, and the light coming from under the door was almost blinding.

No. Hanenoken couldn't have finished whatever she was doing. She was killing people! Miyazō's fingers had just about grazed the door handle when she was pulled back by heavy arms. She turned back to look at Itadori. And it was his expression that chilled her to the core. She always associated his face with a smile or a laugh. Generally with a lighthearted expression. But now, now there was such horror and pain on his face as she begged them to save the humans.

"You can't save them," he said, holding her so tight she thought her bones would break. He looked as though he was talking more to himself than to her, and she wondered what exactly he'd been through. "You can't save them." He said it again and again, quietly. She almost didn't catch it. 

And it was how he kept speaking it. And how the others just stood still. She just didn't understand it. The screams had begun to die down, as the light began to dim. She was still being held tightly in Itadori's arms as the place became silent again, and the goo around them began melting to some sort of pale liquid. And it quickly evaporated into the air around them. 

Miyazō was breathing heavily, tears wetting her cheeks as Gojo walked forward and pushed the door open. Hanenoken was backing them all, tying her blindfold around her eyes again. Her second pair of wings was gone at the moment, but they could all see tiny feathers appearing at the base, and they realised the wings were growing back.

She turned to face Miyazō, her lips turned downwards. "You have a lot of cursed energy in you, Seijin. For me to have done that, and you're still standing." And she faded away after that.

She had a hard time processing what had just happened. Gojo just walked forward and picked something from the ground. She looked at it closely as he walked over to her. Her brows furrowed. Why would he be holding a severed finger? 

She patted Itadori's hand hard, prompting him to release her. She stood up straight and looked at Gojo.

"Is that a finger?" It didn't look like any human finger, with it's reddish skin, black markings and strange shape.

But Gojo just answered her quietly, "It is. It's for Itadori."

He gave it to the pink haired boy and she yelped as he swallowed it.

"What the-"

But Gojo just ghosted his hand over her shoulder, "I'll explain later. Let's go. You need to sleep."

But she wasn't feeling the exhaustion just yet. She still allowed him lead her home, having said goodbye to the others. And the walk back was silent, as opposed to Gojo's rather talkative nature. He was silent next to her. And it was when Miyazō could see her building around the corner, that her eyes finally became heavy and her steps slowed.

Gojo just looked at her and laughed softly. He led her inside and up the elevator, allowing her rest on his body inside the metal chamber. He finally carried her when she looked too weak to walk, into her apartment and walked over to her room.

He gently placed her on her bed. Then he moved to take off her shoes slowly, fingertips running along her ankles. He pulled the covers over her and removed the strands of hair that had fallen over her face. He played a little with that single white strand, smiling softly to himself before he stepped away and left her room.