@regensia said:
"You did this." He hadn't heard from his twin brother like normal that evening, enough of a sign that something was wrong, compounded by how Yuuji's phone went straight to voicemail. Sukuna had finally located his – their – teacher, the man's superior height not lessening the acrid bite of the glare from sky blue eyes. It was only through word-of-mouth he had learned his brother had returned, unconscious, and he had rushed to see the other in such a terrible state despite the treatment he was receiving. The natural progression was to hunt the one responsible all over the campus. "You sent him off on his own and now he's hurt...!" Who cared that his voice was echoing through the hall the way it was? If anything, it amplified the sheer rage and animosity in Sukuna's tone towards Gojo. "This was why I was so against it, why I told you it was a bad idea! Yuuji could've died, and it would've been your fucking fault!!"
Trying to convince his student to calm down would have been futile, that much was clear. Despite his eccentricities, Satoru was ever-pragmatic if not sufficiently empathetic, he wouuld’t waste his time.
He gave no reprimand nor interruption as Sukuna shouted, the normally stoic adolescent caught in a rare state of distress. Indeed, his decision to separate the two (if only momentarily) had paid itself off, this very observed reaction one which validated his hypothesis from the beginning.
His experiment could have justifiably been deemed immoral or cruel; he personally preferred necessary. In challenging the brothers, he’d confirmed the most salient of their respective weaknesses.
Without his twin, Itadori’s emotional impulsion reigned unchecked. Similarly, Sukuna’s staunch determination was one which centred around his deep-seated and near-gravitational desire to protect his brother. It was an admirable display of reciprocal devotion, one which Satoru had only really come close to experiencing once in his life.
But sentimentality and its tendency to have one linger within the realm of comfort was a detriment on the battlefield. These were sizeable flaws which would be easily exploited. He’d personally had his own precipitous lesson driven home by a blade through his skull.
“Could have.” He repeated, tone gentled as if it might have placated the inconsolable. “But he didn’t. You’re not going to be able to be at his side for the rest of both your lives. Familial bonds are one thing, reliance is another. Clinging to one another won’t make either of you invincible.”
