The Year 2006 (Satoru Gojo x OC)

Chapter-Twenty-Eight: Maybe Not (2006)

Seven Months Ago

Satoru promised himself he wouldn't go in here.

And, honestly, he'd done a pretty good job of it, too. Until Yaga sent him on an errand run across campus...

One that required him to go through the girls' dorms.

It's not like he spent much time there. He had no reason to as Shoko usually came to the boys side, and none of the other girls were good enough to get his attention anyways. They were all weak.

But, now, being on this side of the campus felt forbidden. Especially as he got a look at the yellow caution tape that blocked off the first room on the right. He shoulda' kept walking. Since when did he care when another room of the deceased was being cleaned out by the sorcerer assistants? It's a weekly occurrence these days.

His curiosity got the better of him though, and before he knew it, he was hovering towards the door, barely peeking in past the caution tape.

It was the first and last time he'd ever see Akana Hasegawa's room. And honestly, it looked similar to how he expected it to. Everything was crisp cut and clean, not a single thing out of place. There were very minimal colors, and minimal forms of entertainment as well. Even her books were about school and cursed energy. Jeez. She'd clearly made it her entire life.

Ah, Satoru could relate though. Not to all the tightly wound boring stuff. But, about that very last part? Yeah. The only difference was, he didn't have a choice in making sorcery his entire life. His entire life only existed because of sorcery...

But, now that he thinks about it, he didn't know if Akana had a choice either. He'd never get the chance to ask her now. And it was only then that his cruel curiosity got the better of him, suddenly wishing to ask her a million questions. She'd no doubt get fed up with him after the first one, and he'd only feed off that reaction and attempt to keep it going. It's just that...

He never really asked her anything when she was...here.

Yeah, sorcerers died all the time. But, that was really the first dead sorcerer that Satoru knew fairly well. He won't say he considered her a friend. But, he definitely took her presence around him for granted.

He inhaled deeply and lazily weaved through the boxes littering the hallway outside her room, deciding to take his first and last look at what was her life...all sealed up in cardboard for the most part. Aside from a Polaroid on the floor of her and her fiancé who cried all the time, there wasn't really anything worth noting.

"Did you hear what happened to this one?" One of the sorcerer assistants whispered to the other, piquing Satoru's interest. "Apparently the curses tore her apart limb from limb. What a horrible way to go."

A bitter taste of blood suddenly pooled in Satoru's mouth, brought back to that night in the basement last week. The image of Akana's body being mutilated was something he couldn't get out of his head. It came in flashes, either in his ears or in his eyes. It was annoying, and each time, the image seemed to get worse and more distorted.

He was having a hard time remembering what was real about the encounter and what was his mind playing tricks on him.

He's lucky he has Suguru. Sure, it's not like he talks about it with Suguru. He doesn't talk about it with anyone. But, Suguru helps keep him grounded and distracted. Suguru always knows what to say to lift his mood, and Satoru couldn't imagine being alone with all those thoughts.