#lilydasimp

And suddenly, he is still. Numb, in a way colder than any winter snow could ever dream to be. Is it wrong, he wondered, that for the span of a breath, he thought your voice as something forbidden— a sacre elixir he should never taste, because it stirs within him… that faint yet infuriating ache he couldn't even name.

That sting of feeling. Dripping, drop by drop, only to melt into the darkness lies deep within his mind.

Perhaps the world would call it… belated remorse?

No.

Geto Suguru has never known remorse. Not on that distant night when he burned an entire village down to ashes. Not as bodies collapsed like brittle stalks beneath his stride. To him, those monkeys are worthless. He has never regretted bearing the weight of justice in a world rotting from within, even if it meant offering up his soul to hell, piece by piece.

“Perhaps so… Y/N-sensei.”

Answered, Geto wondered if those monkeys down there could witness this very moment— on the twenty-fourth floor of an apartment not far from the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, where darkness and light crossed path, a cruel, fleeting union of this filthy world.

Was it the night drawing closer, or was it him stepping forward, while the distant sun couldn’t be bothered to look back his way?

Still, his thoughts lingered on that lone figure. The man didn’t like the way you leaned over the balcony, even though he knew full well that the barrier between you and death was sturdy enough to keep you in this world. And yet… because it was you, simply because it was you that he cared so much.

"Aren’t you afraid of falling, sensei?”

Only a thin wisp of white smoke drifted from your lips in reply. Refusing to let the silence of the one who had once stood beside him for so many years linger any longer, Geto leaned fully against the railing— right there, beside you.

What had he even expected to hear, after everything that had happened?

“The thing I feared most in this world,”

“....already happened ten years ago.”

The night brushed past your bitter smile.

Every word seemed to carry tenderness distilled from all that was once pure in life, and yet, when it reached his ears, it was unbearably cold. Why? The man wondered.

“You smoke?” Since when?”

“Since the day you left.”

He tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, but in the end it was nothing but a pointless attempt, far too obvious to someone who knew him better than anyone else.

In just a moment, he had forgotten just how skilled you truly were.

An accusation, the gentlest one he had ever heard in his life, like the moonlight tonight. It flowed quietly into his mind, washing over every ache and sorrow this world had pressed upon the body of a damned sinner, a cursed soul, the bearer of hell.

Serene.... a hymn amid the mad, blood-soaked grind of endless slaughter, meaningless, hopeless, without an end.

"I taught you that, didn’t I?”

“Never waste a single word on your enemy.”

Those familiar words echoed faintly in his heart, casting a quiet weight over his dark brown eyes. A glance was enough for Geto to take in your delicate frame, hidden behind loose waves of hair, drifting lightly with the passing breeze. Just like the way the woman he had always longed for would let the ashes fall onto a world full of sorrow.

How unfair it was, Geto realized then, you hadn't changed at all.

Your eyes were still distant, were so.. far away. Your hair still tied high, just as he had always wished to touch it.

Always like this. Always.

You were the one he respected with his mind, and with his heart.

Why were you still so gentle? Ten years had passed, had you truly not cared to change at all? It turned out the only one who turned his back on everything was him.

“Enemy?”

"I'm not your student anymore?”

An echo of the past, Geto knew he was still sane enough to tell where the thin line between reality and illusion lay. He only resented himself for carving every word you had ever spoken into a heart long gone cold, so that now he was forced to face them as punishment far harsher than any sentence that could be passed.

He almost laughed. Laughed at himself, for daring to think he had any right to breathe out such meaningless words.

“Didn’t I already tell you?”

“You’ll always be my student no matter what.”

You’ll always be my student no matter what.

No matter what.

By now, the late night had fallen utterly still. The cigarette along with its last fragile ember slipped from your fingers, slowly falling from the rooftop of the towering building. The wind carried away the bitter smoke, the night’s restless chorus weaving over the faces of the two of you.

“Your phone, sensei.”

This silence was killing him.

“What’s wrong, Satoru?”

Night descended upon the human world. Darkness crept quietly into the sinner’s mind, smothering the faint trace of light that flickered in his eyes just the moment ago.

“…Have you confirmed Geto Suguru’s location?”

“Yes. The rooftop. Building 24T2.”

Geto recognized the voice on the other end of the line.

“…Do your best to stall him. Backup is on the way.”

“…Give me exactly thirty minutes. I’ll be there.”

But even so, did it really matter?

After all, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was never meant to take Gojo Satoru’s head.

“Just take it easy, Satoru."

Only fools would think his target was Gojo Satoru or the Special Grade Rika.

“I mean it's actually quite relaxi—”

The phone hit the ground.

“…sensei—!”

A merciless kick. The blue screen shattered the moment it collided with the wall beside it. The line on the other end fell silent.

The two figures stood motionless, like twin statues carved from stone.

“Your reflex is still as sharp as ever.”

The wind surged through every strand of hair. Your sharp gaze locked onto him in a silent warning, before dropping onto the thin trace of blood seeping from the cut along your slender wrist.

Geto would have been blind not to notice the wound on your skin. And yet he chose to ignore it just as he had chosen to leave everything behind, to sink himself into that reeking mire alone.

Because there was nothing else he could do.

This was inevitable. Geto could not turn back after everything that had happened. He had burned his memories to ash, buried every remnant six feet under the very moment his heart lost its place of refuge.

There was no salvation. Nor was there any need for it. The demon had shed everything, and had no need for anyone’s pity.

So be it. Let this battle be taken as a meticulous arrangement of fate itself. And should anything go wrong, it would only be destiny cruelly playing its hand.

“Your Nullification Technique is a real nuisance."

In a blink of an eye, the light coat was tossed aside.

“Looks like we’ll have to settle this one-on-one, hmm?"

Geto wagered everything against death, or perhaps he simply didn't believe in it at all.

Either way, he showed nothing but disdain when the gate of hell yawning open before him for he was challenging the very person who had taught him every strike, every movement, down to the instincts etched into his body.

A fight to the death. All or nothing. In the end, there was nothing left for him to lose.

You'll always be my student no matter what.

No matter what.

“Is that really true, sensei?”

“Is it really true…?”

As if he were speaking to the shadow of his own mind, Geto knew he was no longer sane, yet at the very least, he was still aware of what he was doing.

“You were the one who taught me never to let personal feelings interfere with a mission, weren’t you?”

Then what was this?

Why were you the one betraying the very principle you had drilled into him, over and over again?

You were lying.

You didn’t strike, only dodge. That movement alone told him everything, you knew his every step, every instinct, every intention before it was even born. Not once did you attack.

What were you being so stubborn about?

Pity?

“Very well. Very well.”

Or were you hoping he would return and become a "good person" again?

How naive, how foolish.

“Come back, Suguru.”

Those words rang inside his head. Relentless. Inescapable. Gnawing. Geto despised that look in your eyes— the one that planted remorse deep in his chest, and yet he couldn't stop thinking about it.

Perhaps this was the curse people spoke of.

That fragile figure lay gasping in his arms fit so perfectly, so perfectly it felt wrong.

Footsteps echoed against the tiled ground. The dark alley drew closer, and closer and he could already sense the presence of other sorcerers waiting there.

"Geto-sama."

The man didn’t care who spoke, he simply nodded.

“Retreat.”

“I already have everything I need.”

Geto Suguru had everything he needed. And he now knew everything he needed to know.

He trusted you when you said you would never allow personal feelings to interfere with a life-and-death mission.

You lied.

Liar.

And this... this was the punishment.

“You will always be my student no matter what.”

No matter what.

No matter what…

Yet Geto chose to grant you a second chance, just as you had always forgiven him.