What things would have looked like...

Intro: The end; The beginning of what could have been

After Gojo dies, he finds himself in a dark empty void. His footsteps echo in the darkness as he walks to the glims of light he sees in the distance. It doesn't take him long to realize that he has reached the afterlife.

As the light in the distance grows ever so bigger, he sees the source of the light. A hole in the fabric of space above the ground he was just walking on.

A figure is sitting down by the hole, watching down upon the events happening in Shibuya. He knows this figure all too well. However, this time, he is the only one able to hear him; speak to him and feel his embrace should it come to that.

At a loss of words, he stands there, watching the man look down the hole. No matter how much courage he was trying to build up to confront the man, his confused emotional side swiftly took over his tone of voice as he called out to the man sitting down at the hole.

"Suguru?"

The man looked up, with a confused look on his face.

"Saturo?"

He knew it was him. For the first time in a while, both his six eyes and soul felt it. The sweet undertone in his voice, though faint, was finally present in his voice again.

With many emotions, thoughts and feelings flowing through his mind, all he could get out of his mouth was a faint:

"Why?"

Though his question was unspecific, both parties knew exactly what he meant. Though Gojo wouldn't see his question fulfilled with words that would satisfy him, if those even existed in the first place, he did see his best friend try to formulate a response.

"I couldn't see more of them die. I couldn't bear the thought of having to arrange yet another funeral for my juniors."

"We could have protected them"

"We couldn't protect them all Satoru. Back then we could barely protect ourselves from real threats. We were inexperienced and cocky. If not for our overconfidence, Riko might have lived."

"Suguru.."

"You almost died that night Satoru."

"I lived, didn't I?"

"You might have, but Riko didn't. When she died, her death was quickly disregarded. It got me thinking of how our juniors are seen as disposable with little to no regard for their life, ambitions and dreams."

"Over time, I saw more and more of them die Satoru. One of them told me we should both do our best next mission. I saw his lifeless corpse a few days later, killed by curse. With the passing of each junior, I came closer to solving the puzzle to all these unnecessary deaths."

"When I was deployed to that village, I got my first and final glimpse of the true humanity we and my juniors had been trying to protect. They locked up two little girls in cages, beating them, starving them, abusing them. You want to know what they did to deserve that?"

"They saw the curses that were created from their leaked energy. They blamed the innocent children trying to warn them. They wanted me to kill them Satoru. These kinds of people are what our juniors died to protect. Ungrateful, disgusting humans. This situation was the key to unlocking the final piece of the puzzle"

"By drastically lowering the amount of humans, the amount of leaked cursed energy would nearly vanish. We would no longer have to send inexperienced sorcerers out to battle curses, risking them dying to protect the unworthy."

To say Gojo was at a loss for words would be an understatement. He saw his best friend decline over time, getting thinner, more pale and seeming more tired. He had been worrying about him, but never had he thought he hid so much pain and suffering behind his usual faint smile.

It made him mad. Mad that Suguru wouldn't let him help. Mad at himself that he failed to see the evergrowing sorrow behind his best friend's eyes. Mad that he didn't realize how far his best friend spiraled down his intrusive dark inner thoughts. Mad he was not there extending his hand to pull him out of the darkness that was slowly consuming him.

But most of all mad that his best friend would leave him just like that. He recounted the hurt he felt when he heard of his best friend burning down the village, leaving him without a choice as he went his path.

Gojo felt tears growing in the corner of his eyes as he grew more and more frustrated recounting his past. His emotions took over for just a moment, but words were let out that had been waiting a long time to come to fruition.
"Why didn't you take me with you? You just left everyone who cared about you behind. You left ME behind."

"I knew that in your morals and heart lie in a different place than mine. You have always been able to see the good in people. Been able to do the right thing. Something I found more and more tiring to do every single day. Even in my last moments, you could not muster any ill will towards me. As much as I didn't want to lose my best friend, I knew that keeping you around for my plan would make you just as unhappy as staying in Jujutsu High would have made me."

"I could have been happy being by your side Suguru."

"We both know you couldn't have Satoru."

A long pause followed after that sentence. Gojo knew his best friend was right. Even after all the hurt Suguru caused him, Shoko and the rest of the world, he still saw him and his best friend. The only one he ever had.

"Have you been wondering what could have been, Suguru?"

Suguru was a bit taken aback by the sudden change of subject, but let out an interested and acknowledging "hmmm"

"I've wondered what would have happened if I noticed you struggling a bit earlier. If I had been there for you when you needed me. What things would have looked like if they were just a little bit different."