HAVEN || SATORU GOJO

XXXVII

"WE'LL MEET AGAIN,
ONE DAY, SUGURU."

The day when the moon had lost a bit of its luminescence .. on that day, it rained, poured so heavily that the moon wasn't visible at all from the clouds. The day that his heart had been torn out, his platonic soulmate ripped from his life, the blue skies, the radiating brilliance that seemed to flicker and fleet away.

His dream, the idyllic dream where they were all happy, it seemed to shatter at his feet, fragments and cracks all along the ground, a path that reflected each of his memories and smiles, laughter and everything in between.

The dreams that he vowed to do anything, everything and all he could to protect. In the end, he fell short.

They fell short.

The day was fleeing to an end. The second year girl who was currently on sorcery suspension after one of her kouhai had been lost under her watch in a quasi grade one mission.

"Rie, you don't have to do this all by yourself.." The miko had come back from the shrine after doing her routinely praying. It was clear she was in a hurry to arrive back to the school to bump into her friend.

The demigod child had also gotten into trouble for smart mouthing the higher ups. It wasn't anything new. Among the faculty staff at the school and auxiliary managers, she was still a golden student. Ijichi still frequently updated her on everyone's progress and missions, knowing that she worried and looked out for everyone else.

"I kind of do.." The brunette chuckled a bit as she wiped the chalkboard clean. As a minor part of punishment that went along with her suspension, she was on classroom cleaning duty alone.

There was a loud huff as Rieka felt herself getting shoved to the side.

Utahime had begun wiping down the chalkboard alongside her.

Rieka Urashima couldn't help but laugh a bit until it died down into bitterness. The ravenette also noticed this and let out a loud sigh, scrunching her brows and clenching the chalkboard eraser.

"You of all people shouldn't blame yourself. It's not fair, Rie. It's never fair for you." The girl began. Even as a priestess—or rather one in training, she still couldn't begin to imagine why the gods were so cruel to her. As a miko, she'd heard of the Urashima family—she'd heard of the heiress of the family. The one who was said to be the most loved by the gods.

Utahime, for a few years, watched the young Rieka grow up with her countenance and sheer loveliness. How could the gods put so much burden on her shoulders? So much loss and suffering?

Why was Rieka rejected by the world?

"I'm glad you still have some heart for me. But you shouldn't have sympathy. I'm not necessarily someone you want to understand." The chestnut haired girl said softly with a smile, leaning her head against Utahime's own.

It'd been several years since their student days. Over a decade now. Even so, that memory of the two of them burned as though it were recent in her head.

Her senpai had gone from being trampled on by the rules of Jujutsu society and the higher ups to rebuilding it from the bottom up entirely, going so far as to have the strongest and most developed countries in the world seek her demands.

Rieka now had the entirety of not just the Jujutsu world but the world leaders playing in the palm of her hand.

The woman was playing god — resuming her rightful role as her ancestors did.

"At first, it was a dream that i didn't think would happen." The man began. He donned a black long sleeve that wrapped itself around his lover's waist, savoring the touch, never being able to bear going without it again.