3:39 PM  〚October 11, 2013〛

"Getou," Satoru calls out as the boy was filing out of the gym. "Fight me."

Suguru turns around slowly. "What?"

"I said fight me," Satoru says a little louder. "Come on."

"What?" Suguru asks again, walking towards Satoru.

The white-haired boy grins. Good. "Next time you're looking for a challenge, don't go running around to some weak dogs." He'd seen the new bruises, the fresh cuts—he thought they'd both quit in an unspoken agreement two years ago, but apparently that wasn't the case.

It doesn't matter. Those bastards don't have the right to roughen Suguru up, not that they could.

"Get on with it, Sadako," Satoru calls out again when Suguru starts looking hesitant. "If I win, you buy me sweets for the rest of the month."

"And if I win?"

"I'll stop bothering you." Like Satoru ever would. Even Suguru knows that's a lie. Still, his now-opponent drops his things to the ground.

They spar everyday for the next three months. The last time they do it, Suguru wins only because Satoru lets him; he swears that's the truth. He wasn't looking well that day and by the time Satoru checked, Suguru's forehead had already given the sun a run for its money. He'd recoiled in fake shock, and then they both had to struggle through a flurry of I'm fine's and no you're not's before Satoru finally got Suguru to just be still for a moment you asshole, I'm calling a cab because you're going home.

Suguru is silent for the rest of the day. He only mutters a meek "thank you" when Satoru comes back with what looked like half the medicine supply of the nearby pharmacy—to be fair, Satoru wasn't sure of which meds to buy, so he bought all of the possible ones. He keeps looking at Satoru all weirdly throughout the afternoon, too, which is unnerving, but to hell with it. Satoru looks back every time with a pointed eyebrow raise and a glass of water in hand that he shoves to Suguru every few minutes.

When his patient is all wrapped up in blankets looking like a whole cocoon, Satoru starts washing the dishes. He sweeps the living room and adjusts the things on the decaying coffee table, careful to move the picture frames just a little more to the center and face them right so they're the first thing Suguru sees when he sits down.

Satoru even folds Suguru's laundry. He finds that day that it's a very therapeutic thing to do when you're sitting in silence surrounded by the waning sunlight. He also finds that his bruises had started to form—Suguru landed a few critical hits to him earlier, and every time he moves certain parts of his arms and legs he feels their dull ache.

He comes back to Suguru's room an hour and a half later, expecting to see his friend asleep. He wasn't.

Suguru squints up at him from his blanket-armor. "You don't look like the housekeeping type," he grates, voice husky. "I don't," Satoru laughs, sitting beside him. "And you look like a punk but you aren't."

Suguru only smiles. "Too early to tell."

"Yeah?" Satoru only whispers, tucking in one loose end of a blanket around Suguru.

Suguru tries his best to turn to Satoru. "Yeah."

Outside, the rush-hour bustle continues to rage, the noises seeping into the peace of Suguru's house. The sunlight is dying, though—the day's remaining embers are finally starting to burn into the nothingness of the approaching night.

It takes the roar of a car racing furiously by before anyone speaks again.

"Thanks," Suguru says, his eyes closed. "Really. For everything."

Satoru had lain down on the floor a few minutes prior. He gets up now and asks, "Why do you sound like you're saying goodbye?"

"I'm not, dummy." Suguru replies. He opens his eyes. "Besides, I don't think I would ever escape you."

"Good," Satoru says with a conviction that doesn't match the room's soft atmosphere. He adds, a little more softly, "Me too."

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✰Omoide no yokocho✰ episode #51 transcript — excerpt  〚December 22, 2018〛

SATORU: Hey, Suguru, do you know that all I want for Christmas is you?

SUGURU: Oh really? Me too.

SATORU: And then they lived happily ever after.

SUGURU: You wish.

SATORU: Maybe you do. And everyone else can, too! We'll be hearing out your Christmas wishes for this Christmas-special episode.

SUGURU: That totally wasn't scripted.

SATORU: It wasn't! I was like, oh my God, I'm great.

SUGURU: That you are. So what are you doing this Christmas, Satoru?

SATORU: I am...drum roll please!

SUGURU: I won't do that because you shat on it last time.

SATORU: Fine. Whatever. I'm...going to buy presents! Lots of sweets! And then I'll head to KFC and fight my way through the lovebirds nesting there.

SUGURU: I could come with you.

SATORU: Oh?

SATORU: That was a joke, but sure, we can.

SUGURU: Oh, well—

SATORU: What about you?

SUGURU: I've already bought presents, so I guess I'll go to some festivals or something. Walk around the city.

SATORU: You wanna try out some of the food?

SUGURU: Why not?

SATORU: Alright, save the date.

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A set of Instagram stories. 〚December 25, 2018〛

● A nighttime photo of the Tokyo Dome with colorful lights.

● A photo of a long-haired boy in a half-up half-down hairdo smiling, holding up a peace sign. He is holding a paperbag and what looks like a takeout bucket from KFC inside another bag. The text on the photo reads, "hello @gsuguru". There is a time stamp above the person's head and a location tag of the dome at the bottom.

● A boomerang of a view of the top of the dome panning down to reveal half the head of a white-haired boy with creased blue eyes, evident that he was laughing when the video was taken.

● A photo of the same long-haired boy, a little blurred because the boy is seemingly moving towards the phone.

● A video of the two walking in a street with trees wrapped in white Christmas lights. The voice from behind the phone says, "Hey, Suguru, how was the cake we tried from the new corner shop?". The addressee is a little out of focus as the camera is a bit shaky, but his reply of "It's definitely better than that thing we tried baking two years ago" can be heard. A laugh booms out before the video ends.

● A photo of a cafe interior with the wall-mounted menu in the center.

● A photo of a white-haired boy holding a paper cup, smiling.

● A boomerang of the long-haired boy going through a door and waving his hand. There is a paler hand waving at the edge of the screen. The small text at the bottom reads, "good night, merry christmas B)".

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Phone call excerpt, incoming from: Mei Mei; 12:09 AM 〚December 26, 2018〛

MEI MEI: You sneaky bitch, I knew you were on a date!

SATORU: It's not a date. And I'm not sneaky, you should have listened to our podcast episode, it was there.

MEI MEI: Yeah, no, I binge them per month.

SATORU: You could just say you don't listen to it, I won't hold you to it. Or maybe I would. Couldn't this have been a text?

MEI MEI: I needed the source to validate my query right away, so no. You either reply super fast or like...a year later. So you guys are on good terms now?

SATORU: Why don't you ask him?

MEI MEI: That sounds like what someone would say if they were on good terms with someone.

SATORU: No it's not. I don't know who you've been talking to but they're lying to you.

MEI MEI: Whatever. Go win him back, Gojo! =]]]

SATORU: I'm not trying to?

MEI MEI: Sure.

SATORU: Really now, Mei Mei, why wouldn't you believe me? And what are you doing snooping around in someone else's business, hmm?

[Call ended.]

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✰Omoide no yokocho✰ episode #56 transcript — excerpt 〚January 26, 2019〛

SUGURU: I can't believe that a year ago I was carrying the show.

SATORU: I'm not going to say sorry for that.

SUGURU: I wasn't expecting you to.

SATORU: But I will say sorry to our audience for depriving them of my presence. (SUGURU: Pff.) I'm here, now, though! One big happy family.

SUGURU: That's a cute concept.

SATORU: As all my concepts are, my liege.

SUGURU: "My liege"?

SATORU, giggling: I don't know, it just came to me.

SUGURU: You know what else I can't believe? (Starts laughing as well.) That- that you've been my friend for this long.

SATORU: You need a little spice in your life, liege.

SUGURU: Stop that.

(There are sounds of laughing for a short bit=))))

SUGURU: Fuck, stop—I don't even know what we're laughing about—

SATORU: You started it first!

SUGURU: Up next in this podcast—a mess we can't contain.

SATORU: We've always been messes that couldn't be contained.

SUGURU: That is a profound thing to say in this kind of setting.

SATORU: I'm simply multifaceted.

SUGURU: That's not the even the right term for this—

SATORU: Well it could be—

SUGURU: UP NEXT—

SATORU: NEXT EPISODE ON OUR PODCAST WILL HAVE ACTUAL ADVICE! There, I said it.

SUGURU: We should be taken off air.

SATORU: No shit.

SUGURU: Well, Satoru, could you give them a little spoiler?

SATORU: Of course, my liege. Don't—

SUGURU, laughing: Stop!

SATORU: You've got a thing for those names, don't you?

SUGURU: What the fuck, Satoru— (Scuffling noises of a person being hit.)

SUGURU: Right, sorry for that. Satoru will now go on with the spoiler.

SATORU: Yes, before my friend here commits violence. Since it's going to be February soon, we're making it love-themed! Next week, we'll be tackling what it means to be in love.

SUGURU: Because love is multifaceted.

SATORU: Just like me!

SUGURU: Just like you.

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✘A discarded note.  〚February 11, 2019〛

https://youtu.be/kJNZASy2ATY