Chapter 3: We meet again.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝟳𝗽𝗺.

Gojo was just lying on Nayuri's bed with Tofu, when his coworkers texted him for drinks at the nearby bar. He was a little surprised as he heard a text come through. However, he wasn't surprised to see it was Suguru and Shoko, both who were going out for drinks. Gojo thought about it for a bit. Did he want to go get drinks with his two friends? Should he? He was conflicted… But after a couple minutes of debating, he finally decided that he would. He quickly replied to their invitation and headed for the bar.

𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗷𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗿.

Shoko raised her arm high, letting Gojo know where they were. "Satoru!" she smiles at him. Geto waves at Gojo and also smiles. Gojo spotted them at the corner booth. He headed over, waving back with a slight smile on his face. "Hey…" He greeted, sliding into the booth across from them. Shoko then pats his back quite strongly. "I ordered already, so don't worry about it. I'll pay for all of us since I'm in a good mood!" she chuckles. Gojo gave a small nod in thanks to Shoko. He didn't mind. Free drinks are free drinks, after all. Geto noticed that Gojo sounded a little different than usual. "Satoru? Are you okay? Are you sick? Did something happen? You sound a little..different." He asks, his voice laced with concern. Gojo turned his attention to Geto, blinking at his questions.

"Different?" His gaze met Geto's as he let out a small sigh. In any other situation, he'd have no problem lying, but it was Geto. He could see right through him. Geto waited for his answer. "So?.. Did something happen or not? And I'm pretty sure you know that you can't lie to us. So tell the truth. What happened? You haven't been contacting us these few weeks..that's one of the reasons why we invited you." Shoko nods and looks at him. "Yeah..is something wrong?" Gojo sat silently, debating on how to explain it. It seemed that no matter what he said, they'd continue to badger him. He wasn't used to being the center of attention. Usually it was Geto being interrogated by Shoko and himself. He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms and letting out a huff. "So persistent…" He muttered quietly under his breath. "Fine… Just promise you won't laugh…" Geto smiled slightly. "Of course. Why would we laugh? If it's something serious, just say it." Gojo sighed, taking a moment to think about exactly how to explain it. He wasn't used to talking about these things. He wasn't even sure if he even knew how to explain.

He kept his voice relatively hushed, not wanting others to hear. "…Nayuri. We… got into some fights. And then we…" He took a deep breath in, hesitating on his next words. It felt strange, talking to anyone about something so personal. "We separated..." The little smiles on Geto and Shoko's face quickly faded into a shocked and concerned look. "What? Did I hear wrong? You and our lovely Nayuri separated? What did you even do?! She wouldn't do that for no reason. She's a reasonable person! Especially when it's you..." Shoko stared at him a little, curiosity in her eyes. "Just how the hell did you get into a fight with her when you just got home?! Huh??" Geto shouted a bit.

They looked genuinely concerned if he did something terrible. Because they know that the lovely and kind Nayuri wouldn't do that.. "Hey, don't look at me like that-" Gojo protested. "For once, it wasn't really my fault…" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I didn't do anything that bad… It was just… some small fights that built up. She felt like I was neglecting her…" He explained. Which I did do, but not on purpose…" He went quiet for a moment, hesitant to speak. He thought that what he said made him sound like a horrible husband. Shoko stared at him for a while. "You said you didn't do anything that bad...but you're also saying that you 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 her?" "The word 'neglected' sounded bad. He quickly defended himself almost immediately, trying to make himself look like the good guy. "It's not like how it sounds! It's just… I…" He let out a groan of frustration, lowering his head. He had a hard time getting the words out. "I… was working nonstop. We were doing all these missions, and I had so much to do that I just…" He paused. "… forgot to keep in touch." Geto then looked at him with disbelief in his expression. "Forgot to keep in touch? With Nayuri? With your 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 Nayuri? Were you that busy that you forgot about your own 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚?" Shoko stared at him, her stare almost turning into a glare at him. "Alright, quit making it sound like I'm some scum who doesn't care about his wife…" He said defensively. Geto and Shoko's stares were hard for him to handle. Their usually playful and happy expressions were gone, replaced with stares of judgment and disappointment. "Look, I wasn't purposely not keeping in touch. I just…" He let out a frustrated sigh, leaning back against his seat. "I'm just… bad at multitasking, I suppose…" Shoko sighs and relaxes a bit. "You could've just told us that! If we knew, we wouldn't have brought you to so many missions far from your place! Oh god...i really hope Nayuri doesn't hate me.." Geto looked at Shoko as she talked and then he quickly turns at Gojo, it's like he remembered something. "Wait, did you guys have a divorce?!" he asked out loud. Accidentally, of course.

Gojo's heart sank as he heard Geto's words. 'Divorce.' It didn't ring well on Gojo's ears. " N-No… we didn't have a divorce…" He quickly protested. "We just…" 'Took a break?' was what he wanted to say, but he didn't want to say it out loud. It made it sound like they just needed a little vacation instead of a serious time apart. "…separated." Geto sighed and looked at the table. "Honestly, I never expected Nayuri to ever do something like this.. Did she talk about having a divorce though? Because if she did...I don't think I know her that well anymore. She just..always seemed so nice. And she was kind too..." what Geto said made it sound like Nayuri just masked all her feelings..into a nice, happy act. Gojo's expression became upset as he heard Geto's words. It made Nayuri sound like she hid her true emotions behind a facade. Which… he knew that she did. And that realization hurt. He quickly became defensive. "Of course she's nice… She's the nicest person ever… don't you dare try to portray her otherwise…" He took a deep breath to calm down, glancing away and muttering quietly. "And no… she didn't say anything about a divorce.."

Shoko looked at him and smiled a little. "I'm glad..to say the least. At least you didn't divorce?.. " she said, trying to make it a bit better. "Haha..I haven't met Nayuri in so long..i should've visited her at least once. I feel bad now.." Geto nodded slightly. "Yeah..same." Gojo nodded, his gaze glued to the tabletop. He was thankful that Shoko was trying to make the situation better. It was difficult to hear that Geto thought of Nayuri as someone who hid her true feelings behind a facade… but he tried not to think about it too much. He let out a small sigh and raised his head to look at Shoko and Geto. "I'll make it up to her though." He muttered, determination seeping through in his voice. Shoko and Geto raised their heads quickly, looking at Gojo. "How?!" Both of them asked, at the same time. They wanted to know his plan to make the situation better. Gojo's eyes lit up as Geto and Shoko asked him that question. A smile on his face, showing that he had already thought of what he was going to do. "Well, I know her birthday's coming up… and I haven't forgotten that she likes this one store that sells these stuffed animals…" He smiled. "And I heard there's this one stuffed animal that's very rare, that she doesn't have yet… I'll get her that." Shoko smiled, but she had a somewhat doubtful look in her expression. "That's nice..but..do you think that'll be enough? I'm not saying that I know her better than you do!.. It's just..what if she doesn't accept you?.. What if she doesn't want you back?.." she quickly snaps out of it. "Ah, wait, wait! Don't take it the wrong way!.. I just..I'm just..scared for you, you know.." Gojo's eyes widened as he heard what Shoko said. That… that hadn't even occurred to him before. "It'll be enough… I'm sure it'll be enough…" He said it more so to himself than to them. The idea of her not allowing him back into her life… not letting him see her or hold her, or kiss her ever again.. He quickly shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind. He was Satoru Gojo, the strongest.

Geto looked at the both of them, sensing the down mood. "Everyone's so sad now.." he mumbled. "Let's just get drunk!" he suggests, his tone clearly wanting to lighten the mood. Shoko looked up at Geto and smiled. "Yeah! Let's get drunk!" she agreed. Satoru, don't you dare not get drunk! And stop being so sad, will ya!" she chuckles, patting his back a few times. "I'm sure it'll all be better soon, so don't be all sad now. Be happy. Be happy that you will meet her. Okay?" He let out a scoff and rolled his eyes at Shoko and Geto. Then he grinned and raised a hand to call for a waiter. He wasn't one to give up so easily on what he so desired. "Of course I'll get drunk. How do you think I'm going to have this much hope around you guys?" He joked, letting out an amused scoff.

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿..

Gojo was absolutely wasted. Geto and Shoko wanted to get drunk with him, but they just had a strong tolerance to alcohol. They had just as much drinks as him, but he ended up the only one drunk. "Hey, Gojo Satoru..are you still there?" Shoko waved her hand slightly in front of him, as he fell asleep and just woke up, still as drunk as ever. He slowly opened his eyes as he woke up from his drunken nap. His gaze met Shoko, then went over to Geto, then he slowly turned back towards her. "Y-Yeah, of course I'm here..."He said in a slightly slurred, tired voice. He sat up in an attempt to make himself seem more awake and less drunk. But he could barely sit up straight… the alcohol was definitely still working its magic on him. Then suddenly Geto and Shoko made an agreement of something, but Gojo couldn't hear them. Geto called someone. Gojo thought that it was a taxi, but after a few minutes, he saw someone standing beside him. It was..Nayuri. His dear wife that he missed so much.