Rina and Satoru and two sides of the same coin, both born as the strongest sorcerers of their time. Rina Akumu struggles with her past and blames Satoru Gojo for most of her misfortunes. This belief and so many more circumstances has torn them apar...
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chapter four ___________________________ 【the price of effort】
A/N: This chapter contains a slight reference to the thought of suicide.
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It wasn’t uncommon for Rina to have bad days—days where getting up felt like facing a special-grade curse, the weight of exhaustion pressing on her chest like an unyielding grip. Her eyes, framed by dark circles, felt heavier than usual, to the point where she’d forget to wear her blindfold, exposing her "Eyes of Oblivion" and amplifying her fatigue tenfold. Last night had been restless, the memories clawing at her mind until sleep became a fleeting ghost. Today was bound to be worse.
“It’s important to me that you trust me,” Satoru’s voice echoed in her thoughts.
“Though... I doubt that’s possible anymore.”
She wasn’t supposed to care about his words—not at all. But the tone he used, the disappointment when he saw what had become of their relationship, pulled at a thread somewhere deep within her. And she hated it. It felt too familiar, too close to the edge. The feeling pressed down on her like an unbearable weight, as if she might eventually crack beneath it all.
Rina sat by her window, the curtains drawn tightly, blowing a slow plume of smoke from her kiseru. Sleep wouldn’t come; all she could do was think—about her students, her friends, and herself.
She shook off the thoughts, reminding herself it was just another rough patch, another storm to weather. Still, a quiet question lingered at the back of her mind: would it mean to simply fade away? But there wasn’t room for that; she had responsibilities and people who depended on her, even if she sometimes felt like a ghost at the edges of their lives.
Taking a final drag, she snuffed out the embers and watched the last wisps of smoke curl into the dim blue of her room. Setting the kiseru aside, she used the wall to steady herself as she made the short leap to her bed.
Laying down, her eyes fluttered shut trying to catch a moment of peace before the day inevitably pulled her back. But a knock on the door broke the silence, making her eyes snap open.
She sighed, clasping her hands together on her stomach as the knocking persisted. “God, just go away,” she muttered, grabbing a pillow and covering her ears.
“Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty,” came a voice from outside, far too chipper for this early in the morning.
Great, she thought, recognizing Satoru’s voice. “Don’t come in,” she warned, her tone sharper than intended.
