HAVEN || SATORU GOJO

XI

EVENTUALLY THE LID OF GRIEF had settled over its tomb. A box that rattled but stayed shut. everything had eased and the year had repeated its days over and over. The summer started again, the new influx of students who were like little baby chicks had hatched, following around their upperclassmen, trying not to lag behind.

The empty spaces were filled.

And a girl with raven black hair, braided with an immistakable yellow headband stood in the distance beneath a willow tree over a hill, dancing, twirling around as she hummed.

The sight twinkled in the woman's eyes.

"Riko?"

She snapped out of the daze.

'Be happy Rieka!'

The voice that would sound fourteen forever seemed to flee in the distance.

She was nineteen now .. a fourth year, nearing the end of her student years at Jujutsu Tech. Everything settled into a simple rhythm after the events of last year.

The balance had been restored in their lives .. and slowly they began to grow up and apart, finding their own interests away from one another.

Nanami and Yu continued to be re-evaluated for their sorcerer grade, showing more and more promise as the years passed.

The now third years that were hailed as prodigies had found their own place in the world.

Shoko had recently received an internship that would later help her in gaining her doctorate, so she was frequently busy, working from dusk till dawn.

Suguru was constantly out exorcising curses .. like a self cleaning oven, he would come back to the school every now and then just to repeat the task by grabbing another job.

Yaga had become the new principal of the school, no longer teaching, but rather guiding students who needed his intervention.

Satoru Gojo had been labeled the strongest .. not just labeled but he was the strongest. There wasn't a single person or thing as of the moment could surpass him. He was looked up to by many of the underclassmen and upperclassmen alike.

And Rieka, her vines had grown significantly, crawling their way up to the sun .. but she herself had stopped growing. The pain of loss had been gently tucked away and healed over as just another scar along her body.

She still thought about it, even dreaming about Riko .. some days her heart would still be heavy .. other days like today .. she seemed to have been granted with a sense of forgiveness.

"Yeah, sorry.." The woman mumbled quietly, rubbing her eyes.

The sun peered and waved through the crevices of the blinds. They really needed to get new curtains for the bedroom.

The man had walked into the room with a chuckle. Rieka was slowly blinking herself back to sleep again.

Satoru Gojo chuckled, picking the girl up from the bed and plopping her onto the ground, forcing her to wake up a bit. "Of course today is the only day you don't want to be late .." The woman grunted, finally taking a few steps to the bathroom.

"You don't want to see Suguru?"

"That's not what I said!" She had shouted.

They hadn't seen suguru in a month. That was almost a new record for the two men. The male had gone and left to deal with a number of natural disasters that had occurred within a short span of time during Japan's hurricane season and exorcised so many curses that he had set a new record.