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❝ 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗘, 𝗡𝗔𝗢𝗞𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗦 𝗠𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚. ❞
──── 𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙆, 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙆𝙊 usually went out. whether it was to eat or just to chill at a bar and have a few drinks. maybe even take a guy home. but as she stood at the entrance of the bar, she found a white-haired man sitting by himself.
just as shoko was about to approach him, but a few girls had approached him first. from outside it looked like they were flirting with him. he seemed rather happy to be enjoying the attention actually, but also kind of flustered with how many girls surrounded him.
he kept his hands in front of his chest, trying to listen to what each of them were saying. shoko decided to step in, getting quite irritated with the crowd that started to build around him. she clapped her hands together, getting the attention of the group of ladies surrounding them as they started to whisper among themselves, "now ladies, let the man just enjoy his drink." they all glared at her before spreading out away from them.
"shoko! i didn't expect to see you here." he waved, smiling from ear to ear. shoko scoffed at his goofy grin which he somehow always had. she sat, taking the bar stool next to him, "neither did i. you rarely drink, what's got in you in the mood?"
the bartender readied her order, sliding it down to her. they clinked their glasses taking a sip from their respective drinks. "nothing, i just thought i'd spend a night relaxing here. well at least until all those women started asking me for my number." shoko scoffed at his remark, "you're unbelievable, really. i don't know how naoko ever dated you?"
"eh, i'm not that bad to date." he retorted feeling a little offended by her remark. shoko rolled her eyes, "sure, you're just super clingy, annoying, stubborn, and a major douche when you get upset?" sarcastically saying, gojo's mouth opened wide. just as he was about to say something shoko beat him to it, "trust me, naoko tells me everything."
"speaking of naoko, you still stalking her?" before taking another sip of her whiskey, shoko asked. "i've bumped into her quite a lot, lately." he scratched his head remembering all the times he ran into her during the week.
"so do you still have feelings for her?" gojo spit out his drink from the sudden question. clearing his throat he thought of a response, "i don't know. i guess now that i see her more often i kinda feel like we're back to what we used to be in high school. well before we dated, of course. she's still kinda cold to me sometimes."
"i thought she would hate you, since you cheated on her after all."
"i thought so too." he held his head down low, "but we talked about it before we graduated it, she forgave me. she thought it would be better so we could both move on." he paused, "but i think even after all this time, deep down, i think i still love naoko. maybe that's why i could never date or just mess around with other women. i think deep down i feel like if i did, then i would betray her again, y'know." he sighed.
"i think i get it. but why did you do it in the first place, betray her." shoko asked, bringing back unwanted memories to his head. "i was stupid, drunk, and extremely depressed. naoko and i were having fights constantly, i just wanted to have some drinks to clear my mind. just to forget her for the night. but looking back, i wish never did that. because of that i lost the best thing in my life." he rambled.
"naoko understood me more than anyone, even more than suguru. maybe it was because she was also from one of the major clans? or maybe it was just that she listened to me and cared about me like no one has ever done?" silence was filled between them as satoru took finished his drink, chugging the rest of his beer down.
"she loved you a lot too. she would tell me all about you when you guys first started dating. she'd never been loved, especially since her family wasn't very loving. it was new to her, and she was scared but i think you helped her overcome that." shoko remembered all the times her best friend would come into her room.
she always talked about the boy. when he made her sad? when he made her happy? even when he made her angry? she shared everything and shoko hoped she would find someone that she loved just as much as naoko loved satoru. shoko thought they were perfect for each other, in every aspect. but even perfect things don't last, right?
"naoko's changed since she dated you. she was more open, but i feel like she closed a little bit of it. i think she's still scared. scared that her heart will break again." shoko sighed. gojo's heart broke a little. he knew he hurt her, but it hurt to hear it again. "how did she handle the breakup? i know it wasn't easy for me, it took me at least six months and even then, i don't think i ever fully got over her." he asked, he wanted to know if she handled it well. better than he did at least...
"she cried a lot. she watched a lot of movies too, i'm assuming the ones you guys used to watch. but i think she distracted herself a lot. when she moved to her place, she spent a lot of her free time in the garden. she told me she wanted to create one as beautiful as the garden at school and the one at her family home." shoko explained and gojo lowered his head. he imagined naoko walking around her dorm. crying to every movie as she fell asleep on the couch.
shoko continued "but i think because she didn't face her feelings, it took her longer to get over you. i thought she was going to feel more hatred than anything... do something like rip all your pictures or burn your stuff... but she didn't do any of that. she looked through photos, crying as she went through the stack."
"god, i feel like shit... but i'm going to fix this." he stood up from his seat, determined. shoko looked at him like he was crazy. but then again, she never understood a thing that went on in gojo satoru's mind, to be fair.
"even if i can't have her the way i used to, i want to at least make more good memories with her. just be part of her life again. even if it's just as friends." he declared, he was determined to make new memories.
and shoko laughed at him, "you'll never see her as friend, you and me both know that." she reasoned with her old classmate, but he could care less, "you're right, i could never see her as a friend. but i just want to see her happy again."
