Afterglow, Leave Your Body Golden Like the Sun and the Moon

Chapter 2- From The Heavens

He was here again. He slipped in silently, a group of shadows dressed in black following after him, taking their places scattered around the bar. One was just to the right of him, a Vodka-Coke untouched in his hand, water droplets sliding down onto his skin, arching over his knuckles and making a mess on the sticky lacquer of his bar. Megumi wondered if he berated the man his mystery admirer would come along to interrupt, his red eyes slanted yet curious, hints of black crawling out from under his collar. 

Ryomen Sukuna had become a regular, though why a man who looked like he bathed in diamonds for fun would make the effort to visit a place like this with a paint-stripped sign that swung and creaked outside, and tables with more broken chairs than none, remained a mystery. Though, Megumi could not decide whether it was an unwelcome one or not. 

Each week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays specifically, Mr Ryomen would arrive at 10 in the evening, pass his black coat that looked like it cost Megumi's annual wages to whoever reached out their arm first, and disappear onto the upper balcony, specifically the third table from the right. Several of the lights upstairs didn't work, the warm amber glow cutting off into sharp shadows, allowing shady business to occur that he turned a blind eye to to keep both his job and life intact. But those red eyes would follow him, piercing through the shadows Megumi dipped in and out of as he cleaned the bar, stacking dirty glasses and plates, and leaving Mr Ryomen's table until last. 

He would always leave before Megumi could reach it, and more often than not he vanished without a trace. The faint click of the door then silence, the air somehow more oppressive and stifling under the white lights of the front bar even without Sukuna's gaze on him. It was infuriating, never being able to speak with the man who acted like a charmed prince, bewitched by Megumi, clinging onto each of his words like pure gold spilt from his lips, when he only ever left behind ridiculously large tips that were more than his wages for the evening. He wanted to chuck a Negroni over his head, to see effortlessly styled pink hair fall flat like a wet dog. Or perhaps squeeze a freshly cut lemon slice into his eyes, to see what he would do if Megumi was out of view. 

He'd only asked his boss once if he knew who Mr Ryomen Sukuna was before learning to not let his name spill from his lips so easily. It felt taboo, like speaking each syllable would summon the man into existence, like a demon ready to reign havoc on whichever unfortunate soul had the misfortune of calling for him. He recalled the way his boss' eyes grew dark, brow furrowing as he cursed Megumi under his breath, forcing him to vow to never say his name again. He thought it was foolish to fear something as simple as a name, but the mixture of awe and fear nestled between a wrinkled brow opened his eyes wide and clear. 

People did not like Mr Ryomen, this was an absolute fact. 

When he walked in, regulars would shift their seats to the draggled, scattered stools nestled between scratched paintings and peeling wallpaper around the edges of the bar, hoping to stay out of his view. Should someone look at him too long, one of his shadows would appear and vanish, the unlucky victim alongside. If Sukuna parted his lips, the world was on its knees before him, ready to do anything, give everything, to serve him. It was a good thing Megumi was only paid enough to bother about pouring him his drinks. 

Since their first encounter, Mr Ryomen hasn't graced him with his presence at the bar. Instead, someone with short white hair and a red streak reminding Megumi of a failed decapitation would show up instead. No pretence of conversation, no apparent interest in Megumi whatsoever, only a simple word or two of the desired drink and a stack of cash on the bar. The first time he only took what the drink actually cost, but five minutes later Sukuna's shadow still hadn't left, drink getting warm and ice melting in the glass until Megumi took the rest of the cash and put it in his pocket rather than the cashier. A glance up into the shadowy heavens of the bar gave Megumi the briefest flash of sharp teeth in a sharp smirk.