Chapter Text
Satoru couldn't remember the last time he felt this excited. All the exciting situations that had happened to him in the last few weeks lost their significance compared to that night when he returned through the dark streets of the sleepy city with a letter hidden under his jacket.
The city seemed so quiet and empty. He followed the road, lit by a row of lanterns, until he reached the proper house. He closed the iron gate a little too loudly and ran across the garden to the door. The house was asleep. Satoru made his way up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom in the dark, making as little noise as possible. He closed the door to the room. Walking towards the bed, he took off his jacket, taking out the letter from inside pocket. He lit the kerosene lamp on the table and fell heavily on his back onto the bed. He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. He smiled at the sloppy, chaotic handwriting, as if the entire letter had been written in a hurry. Somehow this suited Suguru so well.
Satoru,
He tried to imagine the sound of his name coming from the boy's mouth, but was disappointed to realize that he couldn't. Suguru never used his name when they spoke directly, and if he ever did, Satoru couldn't recall the memory. He went back to reading.
Satoru,
You were right, your letter was indeed a surprise to me - even more than you might have expected. I would like to say that it is good to hear that at least you are satisfied with your stay. However, I would lie if I said something like that because I am absolutely not happy with your satisfaction. If you think it's because it's about you, then, although I'm reluctant to do so, for the first time I have to admit that you're right - but only partially. Even worse than your satisfaction is my dissatisfaction. Words cannot express how unhappy I am to be here.
Starting from the beginning: the estate is unimaginably large and it is overwhelming. It’s difficult to go anywhere because I often get lost. There are guards and servants everywhere. I feel like they are constantly watching me. I don’t know how long I will be able to ignore the maids who cross themselves when they see me.
The day after my arrival, I met Ryomen Sukuna himself and I am very reluctant to think back on that meeting. He is a terrifying and very unpleasant man. He said that if I didn't heal his nephew, he would drown me. I can't tell if he was serious or if it was just one of those weird aristocratic jokes.
As for the boy, his name is Yuuji. I like him. I spend all my time with him from dawn to dusk, trying to understand why his health has deteriorated so much. When I treated Nanako, who suffered from a very similar condition, it seemed obvious to me that the environment and the conditions in which she lived were responsible for everything. But this argument doesn't apply to Yuuji - he is neither poor nor hungry. He lives in the best possible conditions. So are some kids just like that? Just weaker than others? Maybe. But if that's the case, I don't know what I can do about it. I'm afraid Ryomen Sukuna might actually drown me. If this happens, please remember that you are the reason I am here.
Suguru.
Satoru lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling with a smile on his face. This letter was the culmination of the author himself - cynical, not very effusive, full of a cool and distant sense of humor. Yet this letter brought him so much joy that even he was not prepared for it.
He rolled over and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, but sleep didn't come. All tiredness left him instantly as thoughts swirled in his head. So he got up and grabbed a kerosene lamp and sat down at the desk, taking a sheet of paper and a pen in his hand.
+++
The morning after the ball, Suguru allowed himself to sleep a little longer than usual. He only woke up when, somewhere in his subconscious, he heard a maid entering the room. Without even opening his eyes, he lay still and listened as the woman walked around the bedroom and, as she did every morning, set the table and left breakfast. Then she left, closing the door quietly.
Suguru was still lying there with his eyes closed. He didn't feel like getting up at all. But although he still felt tired, he couldn't sleep. So he gave up, opened his eyes and glanced at the closed door. He sat up in bed, stretching and yawning. He glanced around the room with a cursory glance. As he expected, breakfast was already waiting on the table.
He got out of bed and went to the window to open the thick curtains and let some light in. The weather looked promising, the sky was cloudless. The boy stood there for a moment, enjoying the view of the garden bathed in the warm moonlight. His mouth was dry and there was an unpleasant bitterness on his tongue. He walked over to the table and filled a cup with water. He drained the cup in a few large gulps and set the vessel aside with relief. At the same moment he noticed an envelope lying on the table. He frowned and reached for the letter.
"What..." he said to himself, seeing that Satoru was the sender of the letter. Amazing. He had just handed him the letter last night, and already this morning there was a reply waiting for him.
He sat down at the table and opened the envelope.
Dear Suguru,
Your letter almost made me feel guilty for bringing you here. Almost. You have no idea how long I laughed at the thought of servants crossing themselves when they saw you. Even now I can't stop laughing.
However, your situation seems to have improved, doesn't it? Please tell me about your new friend, because from what I saw you seem to be very close. So much so that even I found it interesting.
“Of course you found her interesting,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. Satoru was interested in any pretty woman. It's surprising that he didn't try to flirt with her yesterday. Or Suguru didn't know anything about it
I'm curious about the person who may caught your attention like she did. If you tell me this is yours another patient...
It's the old way with me. I'm drowning in a flood of paperwork. What a tedious and boring job. I'm starting to question my life decisions. I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life like this.
I'm thinking about what you wrote about Sukuna's threat. It didn't sound very amusing, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll make some progress in treating this boy.
Don't make me wait as long for an answer as last time. I'm not the most patient person.
Satoru
+++
Throughout the day, Suguru couldn't get himself back in order. He felt a bit scattered and everything around him seemed so... Chaotic. However, everything indicated that it would be a rather calm and slow day. At least up to a point.
He saw Yuuji only for a moment, because the boy went to his afternoon lessons. Suguru thought contentedly about a free afternoon. Maybe he'll even write a letter to Satoru...
But no.
He was sitting in his room, writing a letter, when a soft knock on the door echoed through the room. Suguru glanced at the maid briefly before going back to what he was doing, thinking the woman had come to clean or something. But she stood expectantly in the doorway. Suguru looked up at her.
"Yes?" he asked finally, raising his eyebrows.
"You have a guest, sir."
"A guest?" he made sure. The maid nodded.
Who came to him? The first person he thought of was Satoru.
The maid said some unknown name.
"Well, all right." he said, pushing away the paper and inkwell. "Take me to her."
He followed her downstairs to the front door, where a butler and a woman were waiting.
“That's him,” the butler explained, pointing at Suguru.
"Good morning." the woman smiled friendly.
"Good morning. What do I owe this visit to?"
"We met yesterday at the ball. I hope you remember," she added before Suguru could admit that he didn't actually remember. He looked at the woman for a moment and suddenly it dawned on him. Green dress.
"Ah, yes." All enthusiasm left him instantly. "What brings you to me?"
"Of course, I came for medical advice. Yesterday I heard so many good things about you... "
Suguru raised an eyebrow, looking at the woman unconvinced.
"Well... I don't know..."
"Please!" the woman took a sudden step forward and grabbed his hand. "Since Lord Ryomen dismissed the last court physician, we have been suffering from a lack of a good doctor in the city. Please, I will pay you!"
Suguru looked at the woman unenthusiastically. She didn't look like she was going to leave any time soon, and his refusal wouldn't do much good.
"Could you... Give us a room?" he asked the butler.
"Of course." They both followed the butler, who led them to the nearest living room. It was a spacious room with gray-blue walls.
"I barely recognized you without the mask,” she said, entering the room first. She sat down on the couch in the middle of the living room. "Despite your unusual appearance. Please don't misunderstand me, I mean it as a compliment. Yesterday I didn't get to see your face, so I had to imagine it. Now I feel disappointed in my imagination because even though it was very promising, the reality is much, much better."
He listened to her words with a straight face. He didn't answer right away. He sat down on the opposite sofa, on the other side of the low table, stretching the silence as long as he could.
"If you came here to compliment me, you didn't need to bother yourself coming here. However, if you really come to me with a health problem, please tell me what exactly it is and I will decide whether I am able to help.
"Ah, yes. Please forgive me. " Suguru somehow couldn't believe the sincerity of her remorse. Then the woman began to talk about the chronic joint pain she had been experiencing in recent years. Suguru briefly and concisely recommended that she use a certain ointment, and then firmly sent the woman home. This visit spoiled his mood for the rest of the day and he ended up not writing the letter.
To his despair, this wasn't a one-time thing. The very next day, another woman appeared who heard about the new doctor at the ball and decided to go to him with her ailments. This time – with real ailments, not with a poor attempt at flirting. After her, two more appeared. The situation was developing dynamically, patients were arriving every day - both women and men. Suguru wasn't happy with this turn of events.
Having some free time, he tried to finish the letter. Suddenly, the door to the living room opened and Suguru rolled his eyes reflexively, not even looking up. His patience was slowly reaching critical levels.
"Are you very busy?" He heard a familiar voice.
"Mei Mei." He looked at her surprised. After a while, the surprise turned into a smile.
The woman walked deeper into the living room.
"I was afraid you wouldn't find time for me. I know you have a lot of new patients right now."
"And I'm not happy about it at all. I came here to cure one boy, not to become a court physician. However, only a small proportion of these people come to me with a real problem. Most people somehow find me to be a great conversation partner. "
He heard her soft laughter. Despite all his frustration, he couldn't get angry at her.
"You're great conversation partner. " She walked around the chair he was sitting on and stood behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you writing home?"
"No." he put down the pen and put away the paper, promising himself that he would finish the letter in the evening.
"No?"
He didn't answer. He didn't elaborate, as she probably expected. He turned his head and looked at her expectantly. She looked down at him for a moment, but they both remained silent. Mei Mei moved her hand away and sat on a nearby chair.
"I wanted to talk to you. About what we talked about at the ball."
"So, I'm listening."
"I wanted to come to you the next day, but something stopped me. I don't know. But I showed up now. I want to know what your attitude is towards what I told you."
"Just like back then."
"Do you believe what I told you? About the purple-eyed wizard?"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes," he nodded. "I believe."
"Just like that?"
"Isn't the proof of your truthfulness hanging around your neck? "
She smiled knowingly.
"You said you'd heard of him before."
"Yes. Long ago. When I was a child, my grandmother told me about him."
"You never wanted to know his secret?"
"Until now, I thought they were just stories for children. I assumed she was telling me about him to comfort me about the color of my eyes or…" He stopped abruptly.
Or Shadow People.
He felt as if a certain revelation had suddenly dawned on him.
"Or?" Mei Mei tried to get him to continue.
He smiled and shrugged.
"Now you know it's true. Wouldn't you like to know about him? Who was he? What has become of him? "
"I... I don't know."
"I would like to know the secret of my ancestor's death. And you?"
The words died in his throat as he tried to answer.
Find out more about him. Find out the truth behind purple eyes. Find out the truth about the Shadow People.
"You could find out the truth about your origins. You had an unusual ancestor, Suguru. Very unusual. What a waste it would be to forget this."
+++
Satoru,
I don't know what ideas have formed in your head about me and Mei Mei - because that's the name of the woman you ask about so passionately. However, I assure you that not only she isn’t, but she has never been my patient. I wouldn't say that we are particularly close. In fact, we share several common interests, but we have nothing in common that goes beyond simple friendship. However, I understand that this may be too difficult for you to understand, after all, your world is too simple to understand such a "complicated" phenomenon as friendship between a woman and a man. I feel stupid that I have to explain this to you, and that I have to explain myself to dispel your suspicions - I hope I'm doing it effectively. Please don't make me tell you more about Mei Mei, if you found her so interesting, you should try to meet her yourself when you had the opportunity. Your vision is both understandable and incomprehensible to me. Understandable because I can guess why someone like you (and many other men for sure) find someone like her worthy of attention, but I don't understand it because, as I mentioned before. .. I don't look at women THIS way (and, horror of horrors, men too!!!).
But I don't regret it, because if I looked at women through your eyes, it would be very problematic. After the ball, I had many new responsibilities. It is with deep and sincere dissatisfaction that I must admit once again that you were right in saying that my reputation precedes me. Unfortunately, my person aroused a lot of interest and now I have many patients here as well. A lot of people decided to start wasting my time by showing up under the pretext of fake illnesses to meet me. Dealing with all of them is really exhausting. Flirting with them would have to be even worse.
You said you question your life choices... Maybe that's the price of a comfortable job? It is boring and monotonous. Although I don't know anything about it, so I don't know if it's a comfortable job, but from your stories it sounds like it.
I'm going to talk to Ryomen Sukuna regarding the boy's further treatment. I must admit that I am afraid of this conversation. If you don't get another letter from me, I'm probably at the bottom of the river.
Suguru.
Dear Suguru,
I'm glad you emphasized the point about men so carefully, because I almost missed it and thought that maybe you think about them THIS way. I had to read the letter several times to notice this part. Next time, write it in larger letters so I can be sure.
But seriously, I'm very amazed by your very negative attitude towards women. Is there a compelling story behind it? Forgive me if this is too personal question, but I have always openly admitted that I am a nosy person.
But I'm afraid you misunderstood me. I don’t find Mei Mei, despite all her adventages, interesting in herself. What was interesting was that you were the one who found her interesting. And believe me or call me a liar, my eyes weren't on her. I thought you knew that.
I am glad that despite the enormous amount of work involved in rejecting pushy patients, you found time to reply to my letter. I hope I get another one just as soon and I won't have to look for your corpse at the bottom of the river.
Satoru.
Suguru carefully folded the letter, put it in an envelope, and put it in a drawer. It was late evening, the room was dark, the only source of light was a candle on the desk and a flame blazing in the fireplace. He rested his head on his fist and became lost in thought, staring blankly into space, listening to the roaring fire.
"The man with the purple eyes. A wizard who lived long ago. Did he really exist?" he raised his eyes and looked into the darkest corner of the bedroom. He couldn't see him clearly, just the outline of his caricatured figure.
The dark apparition didn’t speak, staring at Suguru.
"Did he really come from beyond the mountains? Have you heard of him? You had to... "
"Stop." he interrupted sharply. "Stop. Don't talk about him."
"So, you know about him!" He stood up, leaning his hands on the desk "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Someone like him should be forgotten. But it’s impossible to forgot about such a monster." he was talking more to himself than to Suguru. Suguru thought about how ironic the word monster sounded coming from such a creature.
"Did you... Did you know him?"
Suddenly the phantom looked up, as if suddenly aware of the boy's presence.
"Don't talk about him. Don't look for him. Never! " And he retreated, fading into the darkness.
Suguru stared speechless at the dark corner of the room. He fell limply into his chair, unsure of what he should think about all this. The whole situation seemed so abstract that he began to doubt whether it had really happened.