Temporal Paradox - Suguru Geto x OC

Chapter 13

Suguru followed closely behind his senior, hands tucked comfortably into the confines of his pants' pockets. His eyes, slightly narrowed, examined the back of her head carefully - not with malice, but perplexity.

"Senior," he called out quietly, mind still occupied by the image.

"Yes, Junior?"

Her immediate response caused him and Shoko to exchange skeptical looks.

Torako slid open the door to the lab just as Suguru was about to ask, 'Could it be that you have heavenly restriction that grants you a higher pain tolerance?'

But he stopped himself before he could utter those words.

A heavenly restriction was a type of restriction imposed on a sorcerer when they were born, affecting their cursed energy in exchange for limitations or improvements on their body. It was a trade of sorts; to get something better, one had to give something in return.

But if that was the case, then shouldn't Torako have low cursed energy?

'Then, perhaps...'

After a moment spent arranging his thoughts, he finally opened his mouth. "How is your pain tolerance so high? Is it because of a self-imposed binding vow?"

His senior's face shifted so that her lips were now forming an amused grin. She cackled flatly. "Ha. That's very creative, but, no."

Suguru's eyes followed her movement with a watchful gaze as she sauntered towards the countertop at the back of the lab. Small, purple irises stared at her hand that was reaching out towards a pot of plant standing atop of the counter.

It was a relatively small shrub, with a height reaching up to about twenty centimetres. From this distance, he saw a few red spots on the plant.

"That's hard to believe," Suguru said, voice lowering.

His senior picked a berry from the tree, finally turning back around to look at, not him, but Shoko. When their eyes met, Torako cocked her head in Suguru's direction, asking, "You wanna help me out here?"

Shoko's face spread into her usual lazy smile. "Please don't look at me like that. I'm also just as curious as he is."

Torako's eyes nearly rolled to the back of her head.

"It's just that your pain tolerance is unbelievably high, even for sorcerers."

"I doubt that. But if that's true, then I'm very proud," she exhaled sharply, eyes reflecting a somewhat contradicting disinterest. As she approached Suguru, she broke the berry in half before slapping a piece onto his hand. Then, with a flat grin, she said, "Well, too bad 'cus I don't know how it works, either."

Suguru and Shoko smiled, lips tugging upwards even though in their hearts, they wanted to launch their foot at their senior's face.

"It's probably genetics. Mix that with some cursed energy and willpower and there you have the recipe for a high pain tolerance. I think." She then pulled out her exceedingly advanced mobile phone, a sharp 'ding' telling Suguru that it had begun recording.

He sighed out, tossing the fruit into his mouth. "You just had your jaw ripped out an hour ago, yet here you are, acting completely indifferent."

"I'm not acting indifferent!" Torako frowned defensively, voice becoming uncharacteristically high that it cracked.

"It was unbearably painful, yes, and I almost cried, yes, but it's over now, so let's not think about it too much, okay? Your head will explode, otherwise - and that's my job, not yours."

In an instant, Suguru's gaze hardened, and his eyes became as sharp and cold as a blade.

As if his glare could cut her down, Torako winced and sheepishly raised a hand to defend herself.

"Bad joke. Don't be mad. I'm sorry," she quickly stammered out an apology.

A sigh escaped his lips before stretching his hand out for a ball of curse to swirl into his palm. His glare softened into one of worry. "With how much you injure yourself, you should hurry up and learn reverse cursed technique like Shoko."

Still with her phone in front of his face, she watched as he swallowed the orb with little difficulty. The sheer size of it made her cringe enough, but to think that Suguru had already habituated himself to this routine of consumption... it was truly pitiful.

"...Oh, yeah? You think so?"

Suguru's face twisted, and suddenly his expression became indiscernible.

'Uh oh,' Torako sweated. 'I didn't poison him, did I? I'm pretty sure the berry is safe, though... I even tried one myself.'

"Eighty percent."

At the corner of her eye, Torako could see Shoko's eyes widening, her usual nonchalance overtaken by surprise.

"I don't think there's anything you can do about the soggy taste of wet rag, but the taste of vomit itself has become a lot easier to bear." Suguru's eyes crinkled, and suddenly, there was forlorn smile spreading across his face.

Whatever he felt in that moment, Torako could see it in the way he exhaled - it was as if a tight knot had finally loosened in his throat.

It truly was a precious image.

Her brow arch, and she couldn't help but let a soft, crooked smirk seep its way through.

"Is that a challenge? Don't look down on me now. I'll get it to a hundred percent, just you wait."

Hearing her bold declaration, Suguru lifted his downcast eyes to meet with his senior's crescent ones.

Torako raised her arms into a proud shrug. "I told you, I'm the best."

"Hey, I helped too," a smooth voice chimed in.

The older girl scoffed, "Eh, I'll give you twenty percent of the credit."

"Twenty?" Shoko asked with a tilt of her head. She let out something between a snicker and a huff, placing a hand on her hip almost indignantly.

Torako's grin widened, an amused sparkle illuminating her pupils as she continued to tease her junior.

It seemed like the rumours were true, after all – Torako Murakami was truly a genius among genius.

Suguru's eyes soften as he glanced at his senior in silence, the curl of a grateful smile gracing his lips.