Toilet-bound Hanako-san

Ch. 12 - A Painful Memory

"Get your answers?" Satoru asked as you emerged from Tengen's residence. 

"In a way," you chuckled, smiling up at Satoru as you ascended the stairs. "Let's get back to Suguru."

"Ooo, are you two lovers now?" Satoru asked playfully as the two of you began your trek through the tunnel. He had thrown his arm around your shoulder with a clown-like grin on his face. 

"Satoru," you grumbled.

"What?! I'm just curious," Satoru laughed defensively. "Suguru's been through a lot. He deserves happiness, so...I just want to make sure he gets it one way or another."

You lightened up a bit at Satoru's resolve. "If you must know, we are working on it," you mumbled quietly.

"Working on it?!" He laughed again, his voice booming through the tunnel. "What's that mean?"

"We...said that we love each other last night," you continued to keep your voice low, unsure if you should really be spreading this information to Satoru. The guy seemed like a loud mouth to you. 

"That's huge!" Satoru celebrated. "Good for you two!"

"Sure," you blushed and looked away as the two of you continued, now approaching another set of stairs. "I just wonder how Suguru truly feels. I mean, he's the one who said it first but with the stuff you told me about and the stuff I just learned...it feels a whole lot more complicated than just an 'I love you.'"

"Wow, he said it first," Satoru's voice settled down, genuinely impressed at Suguru's bravery in that regard. "I'm sure he feels that for you 100%!"

You laughed at Satoru's demeanor. "It's not necessarily that I doubt that. There's just a lot that I've learned about just now that I need to talk to him about."

"Oh, got it," he nodded with a confident, close-lipped smile. "I'll butt out...for now."

Back at Suguru's apartment was your chance to speak to him about things. You especially wanted to learn more about what he went through those ten years ago. 

"Alright," Suguru placed his bag on the dining room table with a smile, "now are you gonna' tell me about your meeting with Tengen?" You had withheld the information at school when he asked about it, knowing that you were instead going to ask about sensitive information.

"I learned a lot," you smiled, plopping down on the sofa. Suguru came and joined you, giving you a funny look as you didn't continue speaking. 
"I wanted to ask," you finally spoke, "about what happened ten years ago." Suguru shifted in his seat, visibly uncomfortable. "Satoru already told me a good chunk of it. I want to know what this Toji guy said to you to make you want to kill an entire village."

Suguru swallowed hard and looked away as he searched for the answer. "I had always lived under the philosophy that the strong should protect the weak -- the strong being jujutsu sorcerers and the weak being those without jujutsu."

"Right," you encouraged him to continue as you noticed he trailed off. It was clearly something painful for him to recall.

"It was a series of events, one after the other, that caused me to...lose my mind," he took a deep breath. "First, Riko was killed in front of me...just after I promised her freedom," he lingered on that thought for a moment, attempting to keep the tears he had at bay. "Shortly after, one of my underclassmen, Yu Haibara, was killed."

"But clearly what Toji said to you after Riko was killed was some sort of catalyst," you inquired again. "Gojo said that he said something to you and you weren't the same after that."