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“Suguru,” Satoru says with a completely straight face, his tone more serious than Suguru’s ever heard before. “Can we adopt him?”
“Satoru,” Suguru replies equally seriously, his face just as intense. “That’s kidnapping. And also we’re underage.”
Satoru breaks character instantly, tossing his hands up in the air in frustration. “It’s not kidnapping if it’s consensual!” he exclaims, brows furrowed indignantly. “Hey, you consent, don’t you?”
The poor kid he’s cornered startles like an offended cat, instantly defensive. “Who the hell do you think is just gonna go with you, weirdo!” he snarls, face red.
Suguru tilts his head in thought as he looks closer. The boy’s unique black and white hair colours was what drew Satoru towards him during their mission in the small town of Makochi. The moment he spotted him, he started tugging Suguru along and yapping about how this boy was their long lost secret lovechild, or something.
However, as Suguru peers at the boy’s eyes, he realises that one is gold like Suguru’s own and the other, which he thought was silver, is actually closer to steel blue. It isn’t anywhere close to Satoru’s own dazzling sky blue, but the fact that he happens to have both their hair colours and their eye colours...
Suguru leans back, satisfied with his observation. He disregards the boy, who had frozen during Suguru’s inspection but is now turning even redder and stuttering all sorts of confused and outraged complaints.
“Let’s adopt him, Satoru,” Suguru agrees seriously. He says it with the air of an ancient philosopher announcing his latest revelation, his hand rubbing his chin and gazing meaningfully into the distance.
The boy flushes so red Suguru worries he’ll start exuding steam. “Hah?!” he yells, putting up his fists like an instinctive reaction. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“C’mon, kid,” Satoru grins, all Chesire-like. “Don’t you want to support teen pregnancy?”
Suguru rolls his eyes. Satoru’s definitely doing this on purpose to see how flustered the boy can get. Satoru ignores the sputtering of the shorter boy and continues, “Oh, my bad. You’re too young to know what pregnancy even is, aren’t you? You see, kid, when a man and woman love each other very much...”
The boy they’ve been accosting seems to snap at that, face screwing up like a hissing cat’s as he snarls, “I’m the same damn age as you two, dumbass! I’m in high school! And don’t call me kid, my name’s Sakura!”
Ah, Suguru thinks as he looks down. Not bad. He guessed we were in high school based off of our appearances and the fact that we’re in uniform.
Satoru doesn’t even react with surprise, proving Suguru correct in that he was just trying to piss off Sakura. Instead of gracing Sakura’s outburst with a response, Satoru just directs a pointed look downwards at him. Given their 8-inch height difference, it’s not hard to infer exactly what he’s trying to imply.
Sakura gets pissed instantly, throwing his fists up again and shifting into a fighting pose. “You wanna go, sunglasses bastard?” he shouts, as furious as a cat that’s been doused with water.
Satoru just throws his head back and guffaws, slinging an arm around Suguru’s shoulders as he gasps with laughter that shakes his whole frame. Suguru valiantly holds back his own laugh, seeing as how Sakura was literally vibrating on his feet in anger.
Satoru’s bout of giggles eventually fades, but Sakura’s face seems to only get redder. Suguru cocks his head in confusion, having previously assumed that the red tinge to Sakura’s face was from fury. However, even as the fury seems to drain from Sakura and decrease to around the level of indignation, he only gets more flustered.
Satoru, having had his fill of teasing Sakura, leans his entire weight on Suguru. Long used to the other boy’s antics, Suguru supports him without even stumbling.
“Suguruuuuu,” Satoru whines, and though Suguru can’t see his face from where it’s resting on his shoulder, he can easily imagine the pout that’s on his friend’s lips.
“I’m bored, let’s go find something to do in this tiny town,” Satoru continues, pleading.
Suguru hums in agreement and, after thinking, turns to Sakura to ask for directions. Though, before the question even leaves his mouth, he stops. Sakura is currently so flustered he’s blushing all the way up to his ears and down to his fingers, evident on the hand that he’s holding up to his mouth in embarrassment. His eyes are resolutely directed at the ground.
“Hey, Sakura, you okay?” Suguru asks, equal parts confused and concerned.
Sakura doesn't respond with anything other than an indiscernible hrngnngn sound. Suguru makes to step forward, genuinely worried for his well being, but someone else interrupts first.
"Ah, I see you've made some new friends, Sakura-kun~" a teasing voice reaches his ears, stopping Suguru as he turns to see who has arrived. A boy with copper-coloured hair and long tassel earrings steps forward with a pleasant smile, followed by a smaller boy with hair dyed yellow who's half-ducked behind him.
"They're not my friends!" Sakura protests instantly, face still mottled red. The taller new arrival just laughs lightly, stepping forward neatly with his hands folded behind his back, which is held ramrod straight.
Before Suguru even processes it, the new boy has inserted himself smoothly between Sakura and the two of them like a shield. Suguru's mildly impressed, really.
"So," the new boy starts, still smiling, "What exactly is your business here in our town?"
Oh, Suguru realises. He's registered us as potential threats.
Slipping into his habitual charismatic persona comes naturally. With a smile that rivals the newly-arrived boy's, he gestures at Satoru and himself and introduces, "I'm Geto Suguru, and this is Gojo Satoru. We just came here after school for a day trip because Satoru saw a picture of the wind chimes on the entrance to your street and wanted to see them in person."
It's a lie, but not an obvious one. Satoru had seen the wind chimes online and became enraptured, which is why he badgered Yaga-sensei into making this a dual mission even though this was only a low-level curse that Suguru finished off quickly. Apparently, he kept stealing his cursed corpses and stashing them in weird places until Yaga-sensei gave in and agreed.
If he picks up on the lie, the boy doesn’t show it. He just nods and matches Suguru's smile with his own as he introduces, "I'm Suo Hayato, and this is Nirei Akihiko. We're from Furin, a school that protects the town. My apologies for my rudeness, but I had to be sure that you weren't a threat."
Satoru remained strangely quiet during this exchange, which is why Suguru isn't surprised when he reacts loudly at this.
"A school that protects the town?! Seriously? That's straight out of some shounen anime!" He laughs, but not spitefully. He's still half-slumped over Suguru, so the shaking from how hard he's laughing vibrates Suguru's own frame as well.
Sakura jerks his head to the side, drawing Suguru's attention. His face is still flushed, making Suguru worry again about whether he's feeling well. Turning towards Suo, he asks, "Hey, is Sakura okay?"
"Ah, that," Suo says fondly. "You see, Sakura is our resident romance sensor."
As Sakura sputters out denials in the background, Suguru scrunches his brows in confusion. "Romance sensor?"
"Indeed," Suo confirms, and continues, "When he senses romance, he goes all red and gets extremely flustered."
Satoru detaches from Suguru, now invested in the conversation. Arching an eyebrow, he leans shamelessly into Suo's space, as if purposefully trying to disrupt that mild-mannered disposition.
"Oh? Are you implying that there's romance between darling Suguru and me?" he challenges, only half-serious.
Suo's smile is that of a shark, with just as much of a hidden threat. "I am."
The ensuing silence just draws more attention to the fact that Sakura's face has been steadily turning darker shades of red. As time ticks by and no one says anything, the casual smile slips off Satoru's face. The confusion is blatant on his face when he says, "Wait. You're serious."
Satoru whips his head around to send a bewildered look towards Suguru. Suguru, just as lost himself, holds up his hands in a sign of man, I don't know either. Satoru turns back around to stare straight at Sakura, who jolts at the sudden attention. Pushing down his sunglasses so the neon blue of his eyes are directed at Sakura in all their full glory, he demands flatly, "What the hell, man."
Sakura bristles, cat-like, and protests, "It's not my fault you two act like a c-c-couple!"
Satoru makes an indignant face, but he's rendered speechless. He really doesn't seem to have any idea how to respond to that, so Suguru steps forward and rests a hand on Satoru's shoulder easily. As he opens his mouth to speak, he notices that the casual movement has flustered Sakura even more.
"You must be mistaken, Sakura. Satoru and I are just friends, nothing more," he assures.
Sakura looks highly doubtful of this fact. However, before Suguru can continue to convince him that Satoru and him are most definitely not dating—after all, he would surely know if they were—the sounds of yelling draw their attention.
All the redness vanishes from Sakura's face instantly and he makes a tsk noise as he turns towards the direction of the noise. Like instinct, he beckons the other two boys before setting off at a sprint to where the sounds are coming from.
"Let's go!" he shouts, eyes sharpened with determination and spearheading the group like a reliable leader. It's like Suguru's looking at a completely different person from the one who was blushing and stuttering the word "couple" just seconds ago.
Suo gives them an apologetic smile and follows Sakura, as does Nirei. Satoru watches them leave, not bothering to hide the intrigue on his face. Suguru is just about to suggest that they leave lest they get caught up in what is likely a fight, but Satoru tugs at his sleeve. Eyes fixed on where the trio had disappeared to, he says, "Suguru. Let's go help them."
Suguru's first response is to refuse. They fight curses , not other people—and when they do, it’s against much stronger and experienced fighters. Their cover would most definitely be blown if they joined the fight. But the expression on Satoru's face gives him pause. It's dead serious, not a twitch to the corner of his lips to imply that he’s joking.
Oh, Suguru thinks. He truly wants to help them.
And, well. How could he ever say no to that?
When they arrive at the scene, Sakura and Suo seem to be keeping the situation under control rather well. The group of nameless grunts they’re up against only have the advantage in numbers, though even that seems to be failing them. Suguru marvels at a particularly vicious axe kick from Sakura and the way Suo effortlessly sends another opponent sprawling to the ground, smiling all the while.
Satoru wastes no time in diving into the fight, taking down several guys quickly. Suguru follows with a sigh—he warned Satoru on the way there to hold back so their training doesn’t show as obviously, but it’s obvious his advice fell on deaf ears. Seeing no point in restraining his strength if Satoru isn’t, Suguru enters the fight and doesn’t hold back.
With both of them helping, the fight was over in minutes. The four of them stand above the beaten thugs, barely out of breath. It’s only then that Suguru spies Nirei stepping out from behind a store corner, looking slightly terrified but otherwise none the worse for wear.
He turns away, hoping futilely that maybe somehow he and Satoru can make a rapid exit without having to fend off any questions about how suspiciously good they are at fighting, but Nirei almost seems to teleport in front of him.
“U-um!” Nirei says by way of grabbing Suguru’s attention. Suguru vaguely registers that this is the first thing Nirei has said to him since they met, but that thought is promptly shoved out of his mind when the shorter boy leans forward and rattles off, “What’s your height? Weight? Blood type? Hobbies? Skills? Type you’re into?”
Suguru blinks. He’s more than a little swamped, head spinning from all the questions and too stunned to respond.
“Ah!” Nirei seems to catch himself, blushing lightly. “You just seemed so awesome while fighting, and I really like collecting data on people I find super cool.”
Satoru pops up out of nowhere, propping an arm on Suguru’s shoulder. Lazily, he drawls, “Really now? That’s a cute little quirk. Though, make sure not to overwhelm poor Suguru here. I think his brain is struggling to catch up.”
Suguru scowls and bats Satoru’s arm away. He could be so ridiculously possessive sometimes, flaring up like a peacock at basically anyone who shows even an inkling of positive emotion towards Suguru.
Unbidden, Suo’s implication from before rises to the forefront of his mind. Suguru barely begins to compare Satoru’s characteristics to that of a particularly jealous girlfriend before he shuts down that line of thinking. He really shouldn’t be letting Suo get to him so easily.
Beside him, Nirei isn’t at all deterred by Satoru’s sudden appearance. Instead, he just switches targets to Satoru, whom he’s now bombarding with inquisitive question after question. Satoru is more than happy to soak up the attention, answering his questions eagerly. He’s visibly puffing up his own ego more and more with every engrossed nod and scribbled line from the starry-eyed Nirei.
On a whim, Suguru’s gaze slides to the side to behold Sakura. Somehow, he’s not surprised to find that the boy’s face is once again flaming. Next to Sakura, Suo smiles with his hands once again behind his back, eyeing Suguru with a look that outright screams I know something you don’t.
Refusing to be cowed at that, Suguru smiles back, ensuring his back is straightened to take full advantage of the height difference between him and Suo. Suo doesn’t react, but Suguru watches him close enough to note the slightest twitch of his mouth.
“Suguru!” Satoru practically shouts into his ear from behind. “This one is adorable, can we adopt him too?”
Suguru turns to eye him distastefully, subtly jabbing an elbow into Satoru’s side that makes the white-haired boy double over in pain. “No. You don’t even know his name.”
“Yeah I do!” Satoru argues once he’s recovered from Suguru’s attack. “It’s…uh…”
Satoru’s eyes are open wide and his face half-twisted in a scowl, indignance written all over his features. It’s an expression that would be unattractive on anyone else, but on Satoru it manages to look just as pretty as the summer sky. Suguru can’t tear his eyes away.
Sakura makes a noise like a boiling tea kettle.
Suguru, suddenly hyper-aware of the presence of three unfamiliar people next to them, snaps his head to the side so fast he thinks he might break his neck. Satoru is apparently incapable of being cowed by anything in the world, because he continues prattling on without pause.
“Gojo-kun,” Suo begins in a tone that instantly puts Suguru on edge. “Did you manage to answer all of Nirei-kun’s queries just now?”
Satoru nods, acting like he didn’t just guess who Nirei is based on context. “Yeah. Why?”
Suo’s smile takes on a sharp edge like the blade of a knife. “I was just wondering what your answer to his question about your ideal type was.”
“Huh?” Satoru responds, squinting suspiciously. It’s clear he senses a hidden intent behind Suo’s seemingly harmless question. Yet, he still lacks a reason for refusing to answer, so he utters, “I just said…someone with good morals.”
The noise that Sakura’s still making rises significantly in pitch.
“I see,” Suo acknowledges politely, still smiling. He tilts his head, inciting another wave of utter dread in Suguru.
“Oh, but, Geto-kun,” he adds, putting Suguru incredibly on edge. “You haven’t answered Nirei-kun’s questions yet, have you? You should probably start with your ideal type, since that’s only fair.”
That’s precisely when Suguru realises this boy is dangerous to an indescribable degree.
Nirei, completely clueless to the mental torture Suo is currently subjecting Suguru to, just whips his head to face Suguru. His pencil is positioned expectantly behind his notebook, poised to begin taking down whatever Suguru says next.
Faced with the full force of Nirei’s hopeful, puppy-like eyes, Suguru caves.
“Someone who…” Suguru stammers, fighting to keep the mental image of a certain boy with snow-white hair and sky-blue eyes out of his mind. “...is cheerful and lively, I guess.”
Sakura begins to emit a sound not unlike a dog whistle.
The edges of Suo’s smile curve upwards conspicuously, his one uncovered eye narrowed and scheming like a fox’s. Suguru has never once felt threatened since he first discovered his cursed technique at the tender age of seven, but now he felt immensely like a prey animal being stared down by a bloodthirsty predator.
Nirei, who is obviously an angel sent down to Earth from heaven to spread kindness and joy, saves Suguru from his morbid fate. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, he jots down Suguru’s response and follows up with another question immediately. Suguru shamelessly uses this as an excuse to position Nirei between himself and Suo as a shield, while diligently answering every question the shorter boy asks.
“So,” Satoru asks casually, slipping next to Suo. “How does your whole ‘protector of the town’ thing work?”
“I don’t know,” Suo responds in a friendly tone, though something in his posture screams danger , “How does your whole ‘too strong for a normal high schooler’ thing work?”
Satoru chokes ungracefully, before clearing his throat. Confidently, he opens his mouth as if to conjure up some comeback as a rebuttal, but no noise comes out. Instead, he just closes his mouth again and backs off in a clear retreat, tail firmly between his legs.
In the background, Suguru breaks off his conversation with Nirei. With the air of an exhausted middle-aged salaryman after a long work day, he sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose. Like second nature, he aims a kick at Satoru. However, the other boy was obviously prepared for such an attack and dodges in a manner not unlike a cat avoiding pets.
Sakura, who cooled down in the time between Suo’s lethal attack on Suguru’s dignity and now, begins to glow red again. Vaguely, Suguru is reminded of an iron bar being heated until it is red-hot, cooled down until it reaches its normal silver colour and then heated back up.
Beside him, Satoru leans in and begins to peer at Sakura’s face. He loops an arm around Suguru’s neck so he’s forced to lean in and observe the Furin student’s face as well. This action only serves to spread the redness from Sakura’s face to his ears and down his neck, a change that Satoru beholds with the serious look of a researcher watching bacteria multiply.
After the routine sputtering that comes with invading Sakura’s personal space, he attempts to shove them away, to no avail. Satoru is clearly well aware of the sheer space and mass that a pair of 6’3 and 6’1 high school boys take up, and uses this fact to his full advantage so the two of them don’t budge even an inch.
“W-what the hell are you tryna pull, you asshole?” Sakura shouts instead when he gives up on trying to make them move.
“Wait, I’m testing something out,” Satoru claims. Seemingly out of options, Sakura turns his gaze onto Suguru. Suguru, who’s long been conditioned to go along mindlessly with whatever ridiculous idea the other boy has cooked up, just shrugs. Or at least, he shrugs as much as his shoulders are able to move under the weight of Satoru leaning entirely on him.
Honestly, he’s surprised Suo hasn’t put a stop to this yet. The other boy seems like the type to be protective of those he cares for…
Unless.
Unless this is playing right into the same mysterious goal of his that instigated the “ideal type” question just now. Now thoroughly concerned, he glances to the side to look at the expression on Suo’s face.
It’s just the same plain old smile from before. Suguru can’t read shit off of it. What the hell, where did this boy even come from? More importantly, what the hell does he want?
Satoru suddenly shifts to grip the back of Suguru’s collar. Lifting the back of his uniform slightly like he’s a mother cat carrying a kitten by its nape, he situates Suguru’s face next to his own until their cheeks are pressed together. Suguru, having gone along with this limply, instantly becomes aware of the heat that seeps in from where Satoru’s skin is touching this.
Sakura positively explodes with steam.
“Okay,” Satoru begins confidently, drawing away from Suguru. Suguru finds he immediately misses the other boy’s contact, and then proceeds to wonder why in the world he would ever feel that way.
“So. It’s not us that’s setting off his romance sensor,” Satoru continues, gesturing with one hand as he explains. Suguru raises an eyebrow at him doubtfully, throwing a meaningful glance in the direction of Sakura, who is currently trying his best to cosplay a steam locomotive.
Satoru sticks his tongue out at him—which doubles the amount of steam currently coming off of Sakura’s face—and continues, “It’s not us. It’s our habits and mannerisms. When we first met him, he wasn’t blushing at all. He only started blushing after we began physically interacting with each other. That means it’s just that our actions happen to appear romantic, but we as a pair aren’t romantic in any way.”
Suo steps forward with the same smile that spells doom. Carefully, he tugs Nirei by the sleeve and politely loops an arm around the shorter boy’s shoulders—Suguru doesn’t know how the act can ever be described as polite , but the way Suo did it sure as hell can’t be described any other way.
Nirei doesn’t seem startled by this at all but instead goes along with it willingly, even though he probably has no idea what’s going on either. Suo proceeds to pull Nirei closer and lean into Sakura’s personal space, something Sakura sputters at. Shutting his one visible eye in a smile, Suo presses their cheeks together.
Sakura doesn’t react. Not much more than he already was, at least. His blush barely gets deeper than it was when Suo was already leaning in and he is nowhere near as flustered as he was when Satoru pulled that stunt just moments before.
“There,” Suo says, releasing Nirei. “Proof that it’s not just your actions, it’s you two, specifically.”
Satoru begins to argue indignantly, but the sound of it fades into the background in Suguru’s mind. He’s panicking now, really honest-to-god panicking. Is Sakura right? Are he and Satoru really acting like a couple?
He prays that maybe this is just all a shitty prank the Furin trio have decided to play on the two new-in-town students, but the more Suguru glances frantically at Sakura’s red face, Suo’s unassuming smile and Nirei’s innocent expression, the more he’s forced to accept that the reality he desperately hopes to be false really isn’t.
“Ah,” Nirei suddenly startles, drawing everyone’s attention and snapping Suguru out of his thoughts. Suguru notices he’s looking at his phone, his screen lit up to show a chat with new messages. “Hiragi-san’s asking us if everything’s okay with our patrol. We should probably get back to school.”
“We’ll take our leave first then,” Suo smiles, bowing slightly as he turns to leave. Suguru swears his eye curves minusculely more when it sweeps over to him, as if sharing some secret.
Sakura has long turned towards presumably the direction of their school and is currently speed-walking away from Suguru and Satoru as quickly as possible. The blushing tips of his ears can be spotted from a mile away like a flashing ambulance light.
Nirei, frantically typing out what is likely to be a reply, gives them a warm if not slightly hurried farewell, “Bye-bye! I really hope we’ll see you two again.”
Just like that, the two of them are left on the empty street with nothing but a pile of unconscious thugs.
“We should probably get back too,” Suguru offers in the vaguely uncomfortable silence.
Satoru just shrugs in response and spins on his heel to walk back towards the front of the main street. Suguru rolls his eyes at Satoru’s lack of verbal response but follows after him anyway.
They walk without talking for a while, neither of them planning to prod the elephant in the room. Suguru from a deep-rooted sense of anxiety and Satoru probably from apathy, or at least that’s what Suguru assumed. The other boy has the temperament of a butterfly, fluttering from thought to thought like flowers, unable to pick one and stick to it for longer than a minute.
It’s why he’s caught off guard when Satoru breaks the silence to hesitantly start, “What they said earlier…”
His voice trails off, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain. He’s partially turned back towards Suguru, only half of his face visible from Suguru’s perspective. The expression on his face gives Suguru pause.
He looks…lost. Confused and bewildered and—scared, even. It pulls at something in Suguru, the incessant tug of a dangling string. Where the other end of the string is attached to, he doesn’t know, but all he knows in this moment is that Satoru is making that face, and he doesn’t like it.
“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” he says, even though it feels like cutting his own chest open. It doesn’t matter, after all, not in the face of this boy before him. Not much else does when it comes to Satoru.
“No!” Satoru yelps, startling Suguru. They both stop on the sidewalk, the air between them thrumming with a sort of unrest. It crackles silently in the absence of verbalised words between them, arcs of electricity racing across Suguru’s skin and jumpstarting his heart.
“I want to talk about it,” Satoru continues, a touch breathlessly. Like he’s standing at the dizzying height of a mountain peak, his breath shallow both from the majesty of the world at his feet and the air that’s thinner than a blade. It’s almost interesting to watch the expressions that flash across Satoru’s face. His eyebrows scrunch then smooth out; his cheeks dust with rose-red; his mouth twists like he doesn’t know what to say; his eyes dart about but eventually always return to Suguru.
“They said that we seem romantic,” Satoru gets out after a while of deliberation. Unfazed, Suguru stands opposite him and watches his snowy eyelashes as he waits for him to continue.
“Are we…” Satoru pauses here, forehead furrowing, before restarting his question. “Are we already dating?”
The directness of his question sends Suguru’s heart into a flurry, and the accompanying heat that surges up to coat Suguru’s neck and face paints his skin in splotches of maroon. It must show, for Satoru takes one glance at him and snorts.
Suguru’s response is instinctive—he swipes one foot out in a low arc to trip the other boy. Satoru doesn’t even need to look down to dodge it, neatly stepping to the side and just out of reach. It’s natural, the way they dissolve into a petty grapple where Suguru tousles Satoru’s hair roughly and elicits a yelp while Satoru poorly attempts to put Suguru into a headlock. Without him noticing, Suguru’s heart rate returns to normal.
They continue their fight all the way to the train station and onto the actual train, drawing disapproving glances from fellow passengers. It’s natural. It’s easy. It’s all of a sudden so romantic that the impact of that realisation slams into Suguru’s chest like a whirlwind in the middle of their fight and causes him to take a faceful of Satoru’s headbutt.
“Yeah, I think we might already be dating,” he says afterwards, when they’re sitting side-by-side on the train and Suguru’s long paid Satoru back for that headbutt by nearly knocking Satoru’s teeth out with the side of his head.
Satoru’s pouting, still dramatically rubbing his jaw which Suguru knows definitely doesn’t hurt because he didn’t hit him that hard, but he perks up at this statement.
“Okay,” he grins, but seems at a loss for what else to say.
Suguru can’t help but laugh. He holds out his hand, palm facing upwards. Satoru looks at it with as much wonder as he would behold the newest brand of candy at the convenience store, blue eyes wide behind his shades. He grabs Suguru’s hand instantly, slipping their fingers together awkwardly. He somehow manages to knock Suguru’s fingers with his knuckle in the process, and grips a little too tightly for comfort, but Suguru wouldn’t let go for the world.