Chapter Text
Well, this was an odd sight.
Coming to a stop at the bottom of the dorm stairs, she adjusted the strap of her weapons holster as she assessed the situation. Two students sat perched on the stairs, one being an unfamiliar girl who she assumed to be one of the new first years and the other Megumi. Both looked particularly…downtrodden, which was saying something in Megumi’s case.
Satoru must have put them through some hell test or something, she thought before putting on a stern face. “What is this, a funeral?”
Megumi’s eyes lazily drifted towards her, and she noticed how…tired he looked, a pit of concern settling in her gut. “Zen’in-senpai…”
Now things were weird.
Huffing, she demanded, “Don’t call me by my last name—”
“Maki! Maki!”
It was at that point that she realized that she was no longer flanked by her two classmates like before. Twisting around, she saw the two hiding behind a tree for some odd reason, but before she could ask, Panda whisper-shouted, “He really did die!”
What.
“It happened yesterday! A first year boy!”
What.
“Tuna mayo!”
Oh fu—
Gritting her teeth as the situation she just stepped into dawned on her, she growled, “You…are…a little…late!” Before fully losing her cool. “Now I just sound like a cold-hearted demon!”
“Well, you pretty much are!” Panda countered.
“Tuna mayo!”
Which—
Yes! That is true!
But she had standards!
Before she could tear into them more, the first year girl spoke up. “Who are those people?”
Megumi, in a flat voice replied, “Those are our upperclassmen—”
“They’re loud is what they are.”
All attention snapped to the third first year, one that she had not noticed before. But it did not take a genius to know who that one was if the gossip was true—
Stepping out from behind the beam he was leaning against, the pink haired student sauntered down the stairs with a flat look on his face. Several bandages littered his bare arms, exposed due to his oddly designed uniform, with poorly applied butterfly stitches decorating his cheek. Clearly someone had not taken Shoko up on getting healed.
Still, the wounds did not bother her. She had seen worse, had been dealt worse.
No, what bothered her was the dead look in the teen’s eyes as he assessed them.
A look that someone their age should not bear just yet.
Deciding to break the awkward silence, Megumi began to speak. “This is—”
“Don’t care,” came the third’s blunt reply. “They want something. What is it?”
“Salmon…” Inumaki muttered quietly behind her, which seemed to finally spark a bit of life in those eerily dead eyes.
“…did he just call me a fish?” Then he did a double take. “Wait, is that a fucking panda?”
Maki let out a snort. “If you had let Megumi introduce us, you would know by now…” Holding out her hand, she introduced, “Zen’in Maki. Do not call me by my last name.”
The pink haired teen stared at the hand for a minute before taking it. “Itadori Sukuna.” Her hand tightened slightly at the name, and a bit of a smirk slipped out. “Yes, I was born with this name, and no, I don’t give a shit about that dead Ryoumen guy.”
“So it’s true then?” She asked, deciding to just be blunt about it. “You swallowed the cursed relics of Ryoumen Sukuna?”
“Got a problem with it?”
“I think you’re insane for that,” she answered honestly before a grin spread across her face. “But we’re Jujutsu Sorcerers. Being a bit mad comes with the job territory.”
Dropping his hand, she switched back to business. “And you were right earlier. We came here because we wanted something.”
Panda stepped forward at this point. “Sorry about this…especially during a sad time!” He began, pressing his hands together as if to ask forgiveness. “But we want you guys to participate in the Kyoto-sister school Goodwill Event.”
After some proper introductions and explaining, Nobara jumped to her feet. “Individual and team events against other Jujutsu Sorcerers!”
“Yup!” Maki replied with a grin.
Sukuna managed to match her grin, shifting in a way that made him seem anxious. “It would be nice to get a chance to show off for a bit.” Rolling his shoulders, head flopping to the side to look at Megumi and Nobara, he drawled, “I don’t exactly have an appreciative audience.”
Nobara’s whole face twitched. “I could show you being appreciative when I put a nail through your—!”
“Kelp,” Toge chimed in, cutting off whatever threat Nobara was making.
Panda laughed. “Inumaki’s right. Save it for the individual rounds. Right now, we can focus on getting you three into top shape for the Event.”
Gaze immediately snapping to Maki, Sukuna drawled, “If we’re gonna be practicing, I call dibs on her.”
Maki tensed, eyes narrowed. “I hope you don’t think you would be getting off easy—”
He chuckled, rolling his head to the side as he eyed her up and down. “Please, as if I would bother with someone who was weak. I want a challenge, and I think you would be the best fit.”
Her body relaxed, though only slightly. “Well, if it's a challenge you want, we can certainly test your skills right now.”
His grin took on a feral edge, something that felt more alive than he had been up to that point. “Fuck yes!”
“Of course you want to fight this early in the morning…” Nobara muttered, staring at Sukuna as if he were gum on her shoe.
Megumi sighed. “We might as well get started training…” His eyes seemed to drift before settling on Nobara, each sharing this look. “We have to get stronger.”
The girl stiffened a bit, but she did not back down, nodding to Megumi as if giving a silent promise.
Maki had an idea about what they were thinking about.
And it was none of her business.
“Well alright then,” she said, turning away from the first years. “Let’s head to the training field to get started. We don’t have a lot of time to get you three into decent shape.”
”Oi!” Sukuna barked out. “I’m more than capable of taking down whatever is thrown at me.”
She tilted her head back, looking at him as she continued to walk. “Let me be the judge of that.”
She did not have to look back again to know that they were dutifully following her.
Nothing pushed a person more than having something to prove.
___________________
Sukuna caught the training pole with ease. “Y’know, fighting with sticks isn’t really my style.” Twirling the pole with ease through his fingers, he eyed her with a smirk as he said, “I tend to be a bit more of a hands on kind of guy.”
The bland look Maki gave him suggested she did not care for his response. “It’s important for a Jujutsu Sorcerer to be well rounded. You can’t always brute force yourself out of a situation.”
“It’s worked out alright for me so far.”
She matched his smirk with her own, her eyes challenging. “But if you're nervous about fighting someone with more weapons experience…”
He stopped twirling the pole, fingers gripping it tightly. “I don’t get nervous.” Then, shifting his feet to what she thought was a fairly decent fighting stance, he added, “And I have plenty of experience for you…”
Sliding her foot back to fall into her own stance, fingers adjusting along the pole in her grip, her smirk shifted to a grin. “Let me be the judge of that—”
He didn’t wait for her to finish. With a flash of speed she could barely keep up with, he was on her, swinging a blow towards her lower torso as if wielding a bat. She had no choice but to shift onto the defensive, twisting out of the strike zone, knocking his pole away with her own as she tried to slide out of reach. A wide grin stretched across his face when she deflected, never taking his eyes off of her as he finished his swing…
…and then she watched the swing continue, his stance whipping back around as he aimed at her head with just as much power as before.
She deflected his blow once more, the loud crack of their weapons colliding echoing through the air. Gritting her teeth as she tried to better adjust her stance, she called out, “I thought you didn’t like fighting with weapons!”
He lunged for her again, keeping the offensive. “I don’t!” Crack. “Doesn’t mean I can’t!” Crack.
Oh, it was on.
Ducking under another swing, she carried her momentum, spinning around to strike at his back. She watched as he dodged with far more grace than what she expected from a brute fighter, managing to follow up with his own swing soon after. Both poles hit with another echoing crack, weapons straining against the force they both used, and he cackled at the sound. “You’re strong.”
She grinned. “Just a bit.”
He struck again, both weapons pressing against the other as they pushed to see who broke first. His eyes trailed her up and down. “Oh, this is gonna be fun...”
“Not going to be that much fun when I knock you to the ground,” she countered.
Barking out a laugh, he crowed, “And I’m not supposed to enjoy a muscular chick standing over me?” Suddenly, he was pressing much harder, forcing her to shift back as he loomed over her. “You would make my day, sweetheart…”
She broke the hold, twisting out of reach and sending him stumbling forward. “Let’s just see about that.”
__________________
Panda grimaced, or as much of a grimace as a panda could manage as they watched the spar unfold. “Something tells me that those two are going to be at it for a while…”
Inumaki nodded. “Salmon.”
Nobara still looked minorly confused over Inumaki’s speech, but Megumi just accepted it as he spoke. “Sukuna would honestly be a good match up for her sparring wise. He has past training, up until…”
Snorting, Nobara quipped, “Until he was kicked out of his dojo for being a psycho?”
“…something like that.”
Panda and Inumaki exchanged concerned looks. “Psycho?…”
The two first years shrugged as Megumi quietly commented, “He gets too into fighting…doesn’t know when to stop. At least, that’s what Yuuji…”
He trailed off, his eyes going unfocused as he watched the spar amp up, Sukuna and Maki finding a rhythm as the echoing clacks of training poles colliding echoed across the field. Yuuji would have been hyped up to see this: in the two weeks they had with him, when it came to hand to hand, Yuuji was the only one of them that could properly spar with Sukuna.
Nobara made a disgruntled sound. “Maki might want to end this sooner rather than later.”
“Maki’s one of the best,” Panda offered, trying to not acknowledge the obvious dip in mood. “She can handle herself—“
“It’s less of a matter of handling herself,” Megumi explained, focusing back in on the spar. “And more of a matter of whether or not Sukuna can stop himself.”
Quietly, almost as if she did not mean to say it, Nobara mumbled, “…will we be able to keep him in line without Yuuji?”
And that. That thought made Megumi’s blood run cold.
A figure looming over him, backlit by moonlight, four eyes glowing red. His attempt to end things cut short by another, by the splash of warm blood on his cheek—
He shook his head. “We should install limits until Gojo gets here.”
“Tuna?” Inumaki asked quietly.
Nobara gave him a look like he was crazy. “You want to try and limit Sukuna? Do you not remember the fight he had with our idiot of a teacher?”
“Gojo-sensei does have a problem of not holding himself back sometimes,” Panda replied, only for Nobara to huff.
“Gojo wasn’t the issue.” Pointing an accusing finger out at Sukuna, she snapped, “That crazy bastard took the fight too far, and Gojo had to put him in a crater.”
“…what?!” “Caviar?!”
Throwing her hands up in the air, she added, “And all the psycho did was crawl out of the crater like Stitch on crack and laugh. Hellspawn! Literal hellspawn! He only stopped because—”
Her words swiftly died, along with her mood as she slumped.
Looking very worried, Panda asked, “How did he stop? Like a song or something? Can we go get—”
“He stopped because Yuuji punched him in the face,” Megumi cut in quietly.
His mind flashed to the image of pure and utter horror on Sukuna’s face as Yuuji slumped back into Megumi’s arms, as he pulled back his hand soaked in—
“He only ever stopped for Yuuji.”
A loud, resonating crack echoed through the field, and they watched as one of the training poles went flying through the air, only to clatter to the ground and roll to a stop a few feet in front of them. On the training field, they could see Maki, the end of the pole pressed up against the underside of Sukuna’s neck—
Even at a distance, they could see the unhinged grin on his face.
Panda shot to his feet. “Let’s call a break you two!”
Maki’s head snapped to them, calling out, “Huh?! We only just got started!” as Panda jogged over intent to steer Maki aside and likely talk about what was just discussed. The grin on Sukuna’s face swiftly melted as Maki took her attention off of him, his hands flexing at his sides.
Not for the first time, Megumi wondered if keeping his mouth shut was the right choice.
__________________
Nobara found herself collapsing face first on the dorm couch. “You are all brutal, what the hell was that…”
She could hear Panda chuckling in amusement at her antics as he dropped to sit in an opposite chair. “You did tell us not to hold back—”
Slamming her hands on the couch and pushing her torso up to glare at him, she snarled, “Obviously I didn’t think it was going to be like that!” Her face twisting up into a pout, she flopped back down with a groan, cheek pressed against the cushion. “Even my aches have aches now…”
“You’ll get used to it.” Nobara twisted her face to see Maki standing over her, making a waving motion at her legs. “Move, you’re in my spot.”
With only a few grumbles, she did as told, shifting to force herself to sit upright. Megumi and Inumaki had wandered in as well at this point, each drinking a glass of water. In all of his moody, emotionally-constipated glory, Megumi had a spare glass which he handed to her. Brightening, she eagerly snatched and chugged it as he moved to sit at her other side.
“Still, regardless of how tired you are feeling now,” Panda continued as Inumaki took up the chair beside him. “You all did rather wonderfully for first years. We’ll have you whipped up into fighting shape in no time for the Event!”
Maki made a hum under her breath. “Honestly, if we play our cards right when strategizing, we might stand a chance in both rounds.” Lounging against the arm of the couch, she mused, “We are going to have to take a look at your cursed techniques in the next few days to get a good idea—”
“We are not testing Sukuna’s technique.”
All eyes snapped to Megumi who glared at the floor. “He can fight just fine without it—”
“You want us to handicap ourselves?” Maki asked in disbelief. “Hell, I’ve known the guy only for a few hours, but even he would likely tell you off for suggesting—”
“Maki,” Panda began hesitantly. “Remember what I told you? He can’t really control himself yet. It would be a major risk…”
“He seemed fine earlier.”
“He’s better with fighting hand to hand,” Megumi began, trying to keep his tone even. “But he struggles to not go out of line when provoked.”
Now that made Maki wince. “…provoked?”
Nobara straightened. “What’s that face for?”
Sharing glances with the other second years, Maki let out a tired sigh. “The Kyoto school is known for rather…intense smack talk.”
”We were planning to tell you once we were closer to the date to give you more time,” Panda continued. “But it’s not exactly a secret what happened with your friend.”
Sitting his glass down a little more firmly than he should have, Megumi stiffly asked, “They would make comments about Yuuji’s death.”
Nobara felt sick to her stomach, her grip tightening on her own glass. “Classless assholes…” Her gaze twisted to Megumi’s who met her own, and he seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. “…Sukuna would kill someone for that.”
Inumaki shifted uncomfortably. “Spicy tuna…”
Panda scratched his head. “Yeah, injuring other students is allowed to a degree, but hospitalizing them would likely end with disciplinary action—”
“No Panda,” Megumi cut in, head hung low and eyes dark. “Sukuna would kill someone for disrespecting Yuuji.”
Nodding, Nobara chimed in with a far too calm tone, “I might too.”
Megumi said nothing, but he hummed in agreement as well.
Maki looked between the two. “…this guy must have been something.”
“He was a moron!” Nobara declared sharply. “A stupid, stupid moron who did stupid, stupid things like eating food past its expiration date and losing his room keys and buying stupid little gifts, and…and…”
Megumi shifted towards her. “And running back into a building with a special grade as a grade four sorcerer to save his friend and twin brother.”
Her lip wavered. “A moron.”
“Who’s a moron?”
At that point, Sukuna came wandering in, towel on his head as he dried his still wet hair as he clearly had just left the shower. The sweatpants and t-shirt he wore were old and well worn, his feet bare. He glanced around the room at all the tight face expressions, muttering, “What the hell did I just walk into?…”
She sniffled. “We were talking about your moron of a brother.”
At that, Sukuna rolled his eyes. “The fuck would you be talking about that idiot for?”
Something in his tone made her bristle, the nonchalance in his stance despite it not even being twenty four hours since— “They asked about him. Wanted to know what he was like.”
Scrubbing the towel through his hair and letting it fall around his shoulders, Sukuna snipped, “Why?”
Her hands tightened into fists. “Why wouldn’t people want to know about him?”
He had the audacity to shrug. “They’ll form their own opinions when they meet him.”
“…what?!” Rising to her feet, cheeks growing warm from irritation, she snapped, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Now he looked genuinely confused and a little irritated himself. “What do you think it’s supposed to mean? Don’t go setting their opinions on the idiot before he’s able to ruin his own reputation—”
She nearly launched herself at him. “How the fuck is he supposed to ruin his own reputation—?!”
“Guys, settle down,” Panda tried to interject, rising to stand between them and laying a hand on Sukuna’s shoulder.
Sukuna forcefully shook the hand off. “The idiot will roll through the door and be a dumbass as usual! The fuck you think I meant?”
Her brain felt like she stepped into the twilight zone. “When he—How in the hell is a dead guy going to walk in here?!”
Something flashed across Sukuna’s face. Something…heartbroken and angry and just twisted up and confused. Something very much not like the usual Sukuna who hid his emotions behind a snarky wall of flirtiness and irritation. Settling somewhere between anger and confusion, Sukuna snapped, “Yuuji isn’t dead, you stupid bitch—”
She couldn’t help herself.
She slapped him.
He stared at her, stunned, clearly not quite understanding what was happening. She didn’t know what was happening either. Panda stood a few steps away, looking like he wanted to intervene but didn’t know how. She bet that if she looked at the other three they would look the same. Hell, she likely looked the same but more pissed.
And god, she could feel tears on her face. “Fuck you, Sukuna,” she found herself weakly saying, a sob breaking out. God, why did she have to cry now? She was such an ugly crier. “Fuck you for even trying to say that.”
“…since when are you pissed about me calling you a bitch—”
She tried to hit him again, but this time he caught her wrist. Now she could hear Maki and Megumi jumping up behind her, wanting to step in, but she didn’t care. Stepping closer into his space, she practically spat, “How in the hell can you even joke about this after what happened, after us seeing him—?!”
“Yuuji will be back.”
The words were…quiet, the tone mumbled, like a child trying to explain themselves for doing something bad. It was weird enough to shake her from her rage, to really look at Sukuna, to see his face which was clearly frustrated and confused. As if…
“Yuuji will be back,” he repeated, like a vow.
As if he didn’t know Yuuji was dead.
He dropped her wrist at this point, seeming to shake himself from his stupor. Glancing around at the whole group staring at him, he ducked his head, gritting his teeth. “Yuuji wouldn’t die before me.”
And then he fled.
After a solid minute of no one saying anything, Inumaki quietly asked, “Tuna mayo…?”
Panda shrugged. “I have no clue what that was about.”
Nobara felt all the fight drain out of her. Clutching weakly at her arms, she muttered, “Someone should go check on the asshole…” Her heart squeezed painfully, realizing that usually that was Yuuji’s job, but now… “Fushiguro, can you—”
When she turned around, she realized that Megumi was gone, likely having slipped out before even Sukuna fled. The jerk…
A hand settled on her shoulder. Glancing to her side, Maki quietly asked, “Let me try talking to Sukuna, okay?”
She frowned. “He doesn’t open up to most anyone, especially strangers—”
“Well, maybe he’ll open up to someone who understands.” Patting Nobara’s shoulder with a firm hand since that the decision had been made, Maki swiftly made her way out of the room towards the boys’ dorms.
Not having the energy to argue, she let herself step back and drop on the couch with her eyes closed and a tired groan.
Now, Panda decided to chime in asking, “Uh, should someone go check on Fushiguro too?…”
Her eyes popped back open.
Stupid, stupid boys.
________________
There was a knock at his door.
He wasn’t used to that. Usually, the only person who ever came to see him when he was in a mood was Yuuji, and Yuuji rarely knocked. Even when he did, it was more like a fist rattling the frame rather than this polite rapping on the wood. That, and Yuuji wasn’t here right now, so…
Shoving up off the bed when the knocking renewed, he mentally braced himself. For all he knew, it was Nobara again, ready to resume their shouting match. While he usually would enjoy ruffling her feathers, he was not quite in the mood right now to deal with her bullshit.
Yanking the door open, he irritably asked, “What do you want—huh?”
Staring up at him, Maki propped a hand on her hip, a sardonic smirk on her face. “Not who you were expecting?”
“Definitely not.” Letting go of the door, he shifted to lean against the frame, crossing his arms as he eyed her. “And definitely more preferable…”
“Well, I—”
“Look,” he cut her off, holding up a hand to stop whatever regurgitated stereotypical line of concern she might have for him. “Usually, I would love to have a scary hot chick show up outside of my door…however, I’m not exactly in the mood today.” Stepping back, he moved to close the door, half heartedly adding, “Maybe another time—”
Maki stuck her foot in the door.
Blinking in surprise followed by irritation, he looked up from the foot to her, snapping, “Look, I am not in the mood—”
“I’m a twin, too.”
Sukuna’s irritation swiftly died into…something else. “…ah.”
“Yes. Ah.” Pushing on the door a bit, she asked him, “Are you going to let me in now?”
Realizing she wasn’t going to give up, he caved, stepping back from the door and turning his back on her. “Do whatever you want.”
As he flopped back down on his bed, he could hear his door click shut, Maki near silently walking through the room, her gaze shifting around. “Wouldn’t have taken you for a minimalist…”
He shrugged, rolling so that he could stare at the ceiling. “Not really a minimalist and more like I haven’t really bothered to decorate.”
“Do you not think you’ll be here long?”
His head snapped to her. “What are you, a shrink?”
She held her hands up. “Fine, I’ll drop it.” Grabbing the chair from his desk and dragging it over, she dropped down in the seat. “Now. Tell me about Yuuji.”
He sat up. “This isn’t making you sound less like a shrink—”
“My twin sister’s name is Mai,” she offered in a blasé tone. “She’s a bitch who is good with guns, likes girls more than she will admit, and hates me with such a burning passion that she wishes I had never been born.”
“…well, fuck.”
Maki shrugged. “It’s been two years since the incident. I’m over it.”
He shifted to sit up on the bed. “Said just like a person who is definitely not over it.”
All he got was another shrug.
After a heavy silence hung in the air for a minute, he let out a disgruntled sigh. “Yuuji is a dumbass who punches hard, likes guys more than he will admit, and has every right to hate me and wish I had never been born.”
Maki grinned. “Ah, twin drama.”
He fake toasted the air. “Twin drama.”
Leaning forward, she propped her elbow on her knee, resting her chin in hand. “Since you said should hate you, I’m assuming Yuuji is the grossly forgiving type?”
“The grossest.”
She laughed, her grin slowly softening into a simple smile as she dropped her head back, staring up at the ceiling. Then, in a far too casual tone, she remarked, “You know, we may not be on the best of terms…but I like to think that I would know if my sister were dead.”
Ah, so now she was going in for the kill. Eyeing her, Sukuna quietly asked, “Does this mean you believe me? About Yuuji.”
She shrugged. “Frankly, I don’t care.”
Barking out his own laugh, Sukuna drawled, “Wow, you really are cold.”
”It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” she elaborated. “I haven’t met Yuuji. I don’t have a right to comment about him. But what I can say is that you sulking about the situation and picking fights isn’t going to help anyone.”
“And I take it you know what I should be doing instead?”
Her head tilted back down to meet his gaze head on. “Give yourself a goal. Something else to think about.” Shifting forward, she stated, “The Kyoto Event is in two months. Keep your eyes on that.”
He shrugged. “Fine. Might as well.”
“Good.” Rising to stand, she ordered, “I expect you on the training field at 6 a.m. sharp tomorrow.”
Letting out a loud, dramatic groan as he flopped back on the bed, he half shouted, “What is with you sorcerers and training at the ass crack of dawn!”
“And here I thought you’d be excited to spar me again—”
“Don’t twist it, sweetheart,” he cut in. “I’ll still be there to kick your sweet ass, I just might be moody about it.”
Grinning fiercely, she replied, “We’ll just see who kicks whose ass.”
Sukuna matched her grin. “Sounds like a date.”
She shook her head, making her way to leave the room. “In your dreams.”
As she opened the door, he called out in a honeyed tone, “Oh, I’m sure you will be giving me the sweetest of dreams tonight!”
She made sure to slam the door shut, ignoring the amused and heavy chuckles behind her.
If Nobara had a say, she would never have been caught dead in the boys’ dorms. Unfortunately for her, Megumi happened to be the type to sulk in his room when upset. Just her luck.
Hand raised to pound on his door, she froze as voices grew louder and the room next door opened up. She watched Maki emerge just as she could hear Sukuna calling out, “Oh, I’m sure you will be giving me the sweetest of dreams tonight!”
Based on the way Maki slammed the door after her, she had similar sentiments towards Sukuna’s words.
Both girls made eye contact at this point, Maki’s eyes pointedly darting from Nobara to her hand and then the door. It took only a moment for her to understand. “Is Megumi sulking again?”
A woman after her own heart. “Yes,” Nobara grumbled, looking back towards the door. “I figured since you bit the bullet with Sukuna, I would deal with this one...which I am already regretting.”
”Yeah, good luck with that,” she fired back. “It’s like talking to an emotionally constipated wall with him—“
At that, Megumi’s door swung open, Nobara never having to knock. She swiftly dropped her hand as he scowled at them both. “You know I can hear you two—“
Sukuna’s door suddenly flung open as well. “And I can hear all three of you!” He barked out before gripping the top of the frame doing that cringey lean forward that guys on social media do for thirst traps. “And can I just say, it’s getting annoying if none of you are going to start making out, especially if I’m not invited—“
“Ew!” Nobara shrieked. “As if any of us would touch your slimey ass!”
“Excuse you,” Sukuna drawled, letting go of the frame to point a finger accusingly at her. “My ass is perfect, doll, and you would be lucky to get to touch it—”
“I’m leaving,” Maki declared as Nobara let out another horrified shriek, heading off down the hall without another glance.
Looking quite done with the conversation, Megumi also announced, “I’m leaving too—”
Only for Nobara to grab his door before he could shut it. “It’s your turn!”
He looked bewildered, firmly holding the door in place. “My turn for what?”
She pushed harder, getting the door to open just a smidge more. “Sukuna already talked with Maki! Now it’s your turn to talk feelings!”
He blinked. Then he started to more forcefully try and shut the door, putting his full weight into it. “No.”
She braced her shoulder against the door, shoving back just as hard as she grit her teeth and declared, “Yes you are! Even if I have to break down this door with my hammer!”
Megumi’s face twisted into something complicated before he finally caved. Pulling back from the door, he grumpily declared, “You have five minutes.”
“Add two minutes, and we could turn this into seven minutes in Heaven—”
Nobara had her hammer out in an instant, brandishing it at Sukuna who didn’t even flinch. “You don’t get to even think about that kind of shit after you called me flat!” she shouted indignantly.
“Oi!” He countered as if she just insulted his honor. “I said you had nice thighs!”
The sound she made was not quite human before loudly shouting, “Fuck off!” Then, she snagged Megumi by the collar and shoved him into his room, slamming and locking the door behind them. “Stupid, pervy asshole—”
“You know he does that because he thinks it’s funny to see us react.”
She whirled on Megumi, crossing her arms and scowling at him. “I’m not an idiot, Fushiguro.”
He shrugged. “Never said you were.” Then, his face twisted up in a grimace, looking around the room warily. “…did we have to have this talk in my personal space?”
“Do you want to go back out in the hall with that gutter trash?”
“…I see your point.”
She gave him a smug smirk, but it didn't have the usual bite to it. Not that he expected that. The day had been long, with all of them pushing beyond their limits. Usually the day after a mission as intensive as yesterday’s would call for rest, but given the circumstances…
He wondered how long it would take to feel at ease again.
Nobara’s smirk had faded by now, shifting to observing his room. He never liked others in his space, having been possessive of his privacy, but he was too emotionally drained to put up much of a fight about the intrusion. But as she wandered, mouth opening with likely some kind of scathing remark, he could tell the exact moment she noticed it. Her eyes locked on the bed, her face twisting into something solemn, vulnerable.
”…you kept that stupid thing?”
He huffed walking over towards the bed to absently snatch up the plush wolf. His fingers threaded through the fur as he countered, “Didn’t you keep that stupid keychain?”
She huffed back at him. Stalking over, she stared at the wolf, face twisting up into some kind of frustrated emotion. “You know, we were late to dinner because of that thing. He saw it and had to win it for you.” Snorting, she added, “Unfortunately, he’s absolutely shit at the game. Spent so much money trying to win it.”
Megumi couldn’t help but laugh, though it sounded a little unhinged. “Of course he would drop all that money on a cheap prize.” He still clung to the toy, fingers digging in. “That stupid idiot…”
Nobara seemed hesitant for a moment, then she remarked, “You know, I never imagined getting this attached to someone I’ve only known for two weeks…” She sniffed, clearly trying to hold back more tears. “Imagine…imagine having known him your whole life.”
Megumi closed his eyes. “Sukuna.”
”Yeah. Sukuna.”
Taking a deep breath, Megumi opened his eyes to meet Nobara’s own. “I would probably be just as far in denial as he is.”
She gave him a critical eye. “So. We’re going to give him some slack for being a delusional nut job?”
”For now.” Megumi dropped his gaze to the wolf. “For Yuuji.”
Nobara scoffed. “Ugh, that idiot would want us to be nice to the asshole.” Shaking her head, she snapped, “Fine, but I’m not going to put up with his perviness.”
”That’s reasonable,” he replied with a chuckle. “Yuuji would have called him out himself if he could.”
She grew silent for a beat, then gave into the urge to reach out and pet the wolf’s head. ”…I miss him.”
Megumi swallowed heavily, closing his eyes once more. “Yeah.”
He dropped to sit on his bed, hugging the wolf tightly to his chest. Nobara, without asking, dropped to sit next to him, letting her head tilt onto his shoulder. He sighed.
“Yeah, I miss him, too.”