The Strongest | ɢᴏᴊᴏ ꜱᴀᴛᴏʀᴜ

Chapter 28

We arrive right at the top of the many stairs that lead up to school grounds. We're just outside of Master Tengen's barriers, and I feel a strange sense of deja-vu. The sky is dark already, and lights are burning all along the way to the buildings and in the windows. A smile comes all by itself onto my face.

Gojo and I start to walk, joking and laughing, but I fall silent when he pulls his white blindfold out of his pocket. He doesn't look at me when he takes off his glasses to reveal his eyes only for a moment before putting the blindfold in front of them. He holds it carefully to his face with four fingers of his one hand while using the other to wrap the fabric around his head in a skilled way that makes me wonder how long he's been doing this for. How many times a day does he tie his blindfold, and how many days a week? I watch him, fascinated, not saying a word.

Only when he's done does he look at me, making me quickly look away, and I'm sure he's grinning. "You okay?" he asks.

I roll my eyes, but I'm smiling. "Yes, idiot. Why shouldn't I be?"

He chuckles softly, which makes my insides light on fire. What is happening to me? "Well, maybe because we're meant to be getting along from now on."

I grin up at him. "I'm not promising anything," I repeat his own words that he said to Yaga this morning back to him.

Gojo grins back and is about to open his mouth to reply when a loud voice breaks through the silence, calling my name. My face lights up with joy when I see a dark figure running towards us, and seconds later, I'm swept into a hug. I laugh as Shoko's arms wrap around me and hold her, too.

"I'm so glad you're back!" she tells me, then looks at Gojo. "You're wanted in Yaga's office."

I sigh and want to go with him, but Shoko holds onto my arm. "No, just him," she says. Gojo and I look at each other. Just him? Shoko groans. "Go, Satoru. You've had her for long enough!"

There's not even time for either me or him to protest because she's already dragging me away. I look over my shoulder to see Gojo still standing there, shaking his head, but he's smiling, so I look back forward and smile too. There's no need for me to worry about anything. He can handle Yaga just fine - better than me in any case. And he'll probably go straight to his room after. Besides, I haven't seen Shoko for days, so I'm glad to get some time alone with her.

She's pulling me all the way to our rooms, opens the door to hers, and tells me to sit down on her bed. I do as I'm told, and I can't stop laughing at her seriousness. She's adorable.

"So," she says and heads over to the little tea station she has by the window. "How was it? Tell me everything."

I sit down more comfortably and laugh again before telling her everything. Well, not everything. I tell her that we barely talked the first day, but that he saved my life, and that after that, I couldn't be quite as mad at him anymore. That earns me a smirk from her, and I narrow my eyes. "Save it," I say. "We didn't even do anything together on Saturday. I had a great spa day, though."

"But you did do something on Sunday?" is her logical response. She's standing by the window with her arms crossed while waiting for the water to boil.

I nod. "Yes, well, we were in the city together. I needed someone to carry my bags." This is the full truth. Not the entire truth because I think there were certainly other small factors involved as to why I wanted him there, but I won't tell her that. I love Shoko, and I know that she loves me and Gojo, too, but she really doesn't have to know everything. Which is why, when I tell her about today, I leave out quite a bit. I don't tell her about us having sex or the fact that we had lunch together and spent the evening walking through the streets just doing nothing. I also don't tell her how nice it was.

"I feel like you're leaving something out," she says, though, and I look away.

"What makes you say that?"

"What you're telling me sounds nice and all, but that doesn't explain in the least why two you arrived here looking like actual friends. It's not that you just didn't like each other before. You two hated each other so much that you couldn't even stand just leaving each other alone. So much that you had to be sent away. Something is missing here."

I roll my eyes. "If you're starting about sex again, I -"

"I never said anything about sex," Shoko grins. "But now that you mention it..."

"Are you kidding me? You've been going on about that for days. I'm sure he's slept with a lot of people, so that wouldn't make me special. If I had. Which I didn't. Because I don't want to." There, my first lie.

Shoko pours the tea into two cups and shakes her head. "No, he hasn't. And you've been wanting to sleep with him ever since that one mission you two went on."

"What? That's not true!" I say, offended because maybe she's right. Is she? Have I? After that horrible mission, where I almost died? Where he left me to almost die?

She just gives me this look that tells me she doesn't believe a single word I'm saying, which, to be fair, she shouldn't.

Something clicks in my brain, and I sit up. "Wait, and what do you mean he hasn't?"

Shoko only shrugs, carrying the tea over. She sits down next to me, hands me a cup, and I thank her. "Well, Gojo and I have been friends for a long time, and in that long time, he hasn't," she says.

I don't know what to think. "With anyone?"

She shakes her head, making my whole world fall apart. "Well, there was one girl, but it was a long time ago."

Is she serious? But how did he...? All the things he did... Am I the first woman he's had in God knows how long? "What?" I just ask because what else am I supposed to say to this? "Mei Mei?"

Shoko laughs. "She likes to flirt because she knows he's too dumb to do anything about it. But no, not with her, either."

"Not even when you guys were in school?" I ask, and Shoko shakes her head again.

"No. He was busy with other stuff," she tells me, shrugging, then sips at her tea.

I can tell that this topic is uncomfortable for her to talk about, too. So whatever it was that happened, it affected Shoko, too. Of course, I knew that they were in school together, but... Was there someone else? Is that what happened? I figure I could just ask her if I don't want to ask Gojo, but the way she looks right now, I don't want to do that either.

"So... if I did..." I start because I really want to know what this means. Does this mean I'm something special? I don't think so. Maybe I'm just the first one who was stupid enough to let that idiot -

Shoko's face lights up in an instant. "I knew it!" she says loudly.

"Shh!" I look around. I don't want anyone to hear this.

She puts a hand to her mouth and apologizes. "Sorry. So, do you like him?"

My face goes bright red. Do I? "I think I need to figure that out, don't I?"