#its warm

Training with the second years was the right move, as luck would have it. So far, you have mostly been training with Maki, as she also uses cursed weapons, just like you.

Maki was a strong-spirited girl with a ‘take no shit, give no shits’ attitude. Headstrong and fierce, she was exactly the kind of role model you needed right now. And she wasn’t all rage and rudeness, she was nice enough to you in her own ways.

This mostly included critiquing your form and commenting ‘not bad’ when you actually managed to land blows. You’d thought about training with either of the other two, Inumaki had been the first to offer actually, but Maki butted in saying she would make a better mentor for you.

You promised Inumaki that you would train with him soon though, as he would be able to challenge you in ways that Maki couldn’t. Panda had offered a bit as well, but felt he was less suited to someone like you. He and Inumaki trained with Fushiguro and Nobara in turn, the three of you growing stronger day by day.

Today you were running generic errands around the campus. Nothing exciting really, and you find yourself in front of a few vending machines in one of the various buildings scattered around. “These options suck.” Nobara complains, punching in a number.

“We were hoping to find you first years today. Guess my intuition was right to look for you here.” A smooth, silky woman’s voice cuts through the air, getting the three of you to turn in sync.

“What are you doing here, Zen’in?” Fushiguro asks with some curiosity in his tone. The girl he is addressing must be a relative of Maki then, if they have the same last name. Cousin? Sister, perhaps?

They were very similar looking, although this girl had a much different air about her. 

“Don’t call me that, Fushiguro, you make me sound like her. Call me Mai.” She purs with a wink, and you inwardly cringe. There’s something sly about this girl. You don’t like her.

Mai isn’t alone, at a guess the boy standing next to her is also from the sister school. He’s positively huge, in stature and physique. Could’ve been carved from marble for all you know.

“So, these are the pinch hitters filling in for Okkotsu and the third years?” He asks, a stern look on his face. You’re not quite sure what vibes you’re getting from this guy, but he’s definitely intimidating enough.

Mai speaks next. “We came here with the principal because we were worried about you. Your classmate died, right?” Is she… trying to be nice? No, there’s some ulterior motive here, you’re sure of it.

“Was that rough? Or,” She tilts her head innocently. “Did you think nothing of it?”

At those words, you visibly see your classmates stiffen. They’re definitely thinking the same thing as you now. This girl is trouble.

“What are you trying to say?”

“It’s okay! Some things are hard to say outloud, so I’ll say it for you; calling him a vessel was just a polite way of calling him what he truly was. A disgusting halfbreed, half human, half curse. Having such a vile creature besides you brazenly calling himself a jujutsu sorcerer must have made you sick. Aren’t you feeling better now that he’s dead?”

You can’t take this, your hand shaking as you clutch the handle of your little sword in rage. 

“Don’t talk about him like that.” You spit, trying not to lose your cool. Mai only tilts her head at you, feigning innocence. Nobara is practically vibrating with rage, but her hand on your shoulder is enough to keep you grounded.

“Ah, don’t talk about such pointless topics Mai.” The boy next to her speaks up before tensions can rise any further, and he steps forwards towards the three of you.

“I’m only here to see if these guys are worthy to replace Okkotsu. Fushiguro was it?” 

The next words from Todo were probably the last thing you expected a jujutsu sorcerer to ask a future opponent.

“What kind of woman is your type?!”

Your mouth opens, and then closes again, as you realise you have no idea what to say about why this guy is asking such a question. Your classmates look equally as confused.

“Depending on your answer, I’ll beat you half to death right here- by the way,” He rips off his shirt (you’re beyond questioning this guy now) and readies himself into a fighting stance. “My type is a tall woman with a big ass!”

“Why do I have to talk about my type in women with a guy I just met?”

“He’s right. That’s a tall hurdle for an antisocial guy.” Nobara unhelpfully affirms. 

“You be quiet.” He snaps in return. “This is confusing enough already. You’ll just make it more complicated.” 

“Kyoto student, Todo Aoi. There. Introduction over. Now we’re friends. Hurry up and answer, if you prefer men that’s fine too.” Wow, we love an inclusive king. Just what is this guy playing at? He really wanted to know?

Todo goes on to explain some questionable stuff about people’s fetishes linking back to their personalities, and you really wish you could be anywhere else as he describes some straight bullshit. It probably makes sense to him.

“Now come on! Answer the question!”

Fushiguro takes a small glance back at both you and Nobara. You can tell what he’s thinking. She’s unarmed and you’re not exactly a first class fighter. He wants to avoid confrontation.

“I don’t have a particular preference. As long as she has unshakeable character,” You do a double-take as you see his eyes drift over to you for just a second. “That’s enough for me.”

What a sweet answer. You weren’t really sure what you were expecting, but why… Why did he look at you of all people when he spoke? “Not a bad answer! If you’d have said something like ‘big boobs’ I would have killed you.” Nobara chimes in, in a very matter-of-fact tone, which makes you chuckle.

“It was a nice response.” You send a reassuring smile his way. Would that answer have been enough to appease Todo?

“I knew it…” Todo’s face falls as a single tear rolls down his cheek.

“You’re boring, Fushiguro.” 

Bamn. He launched at your classmate with frightening power, leaving him barely any time to at least try and block. 

“Fushiguro!” You and Nobara both call out, and you make a dash for him. Nobara isn’t so lucky, as Mai wraps herself around the shorter girl, all the while making mocking remarks about your classmate.

Fushiguro is sent flying across the courtyard, as Todo slowly walks towards him. You draw your little sword as you run, stopping just as he pulls himself to his knees. 

You rest a hand on his shoulder as he glances up at you for a moment before turning back to Todo. Said third year is currently monologuing about how he had hoped for an interesting rival, but everyone is the same. 

“Do you have fruit for brains? You can’t determine who he is with a question like that!” You call out, but Todo doesn’t really take any notice.

“I’ve heard you don’t use cursed techniques.” Fushiguro states, hopping up to stand level (as level as you can be to a person who is a foot taller than you, anyway) with Todo.

“Hm? Oh, that rumor's false. I only used them against the special-grade.” Fushiguro must know something you don’t, as his expression twists at that. A face like that cannot mean good news though.

“Really? That’s good to know.” He forms a shape with his hands, and you realise what he’s doing. A small army of winged frogs appears around you, he must have a plan in mind. “Y/n, leave.”

You side-eye him. “I’m not letting this meat head kill you. Let me try.” He shrugs, and the two of you ready a stance. 

“You’re really going to involve your classmate in your personal battles? Weak, shallow and cowardly. You disappoint me, Fushiguro.” 

Before you can even process the words, Todo has the one-up over you, and it seems he plans on eliminating you cleanly to focus better on your friend. Lightning fast movements are all you see before you feel the front of your uniform bunched up, and you are tossed god knows where at mach speed.

The ground explodes around you, rubble and concrete rain down as your vision turns white. There’s a delightfully high pitched ringing in your ears, and pain washes over you. If this was what he had planned for you, then god help Fushiguro.

With a groan you clamber back to your feet just in time to see Todo having tossed your friend into a wooden building, and all you can think to do is run after them to make sure no-one dies.

You rush towards them, and the only thing you can think to do is throw your sword as hard as you can at Todo to get his attention away from Fushiguro. He whips around, clearly frustrated, and slams down on the concrete.

This creates a shockwave that sprawls through the ground, taking you down once more. Before you can quite get to your feet, a powerful sensation washes over you as you are frozen in place.

“Don’t move.”

 Todo and Fushiguro have stopped moving too, and you realise as someone steps into view that Inumaki has used his cursed technique on you all to stop you in your tracks. Thank the heavens.

Panda jumps in to yell and scold Todo, who has decided it was time for him to go home. As you were the closest to him, Inumaki offers you a hand to help you up, which you take with a pained groan. 

“That guy sucks.. fucking hell, Fushiguro!” Your complaining is cut short at the sight of your friend on the floor. He hasn’t stood up yet and you let go of Inumaki’s hand to stumble over to the other boy, crouching down besides him.

“What the hell is that guy’s problem..?!” The whole top half of his face is covered in blood, and despite warning from Panda you pull your sleeve over your hand to gently wipe some off, being careful not to agitate his wounds further.

“I’m fine.” He mutters stoically, and you know better than to push. You’re not that close yet, as much as he doesn’t seem to mind your company you don’t want to scare him away.

You’re just settling into this life, it’d suck if you pushed your first friend away by giving him bad signals.

Panda pats you on the head and you both stand up, although for Fushiguro it isn’t without effort. “I should take you to Shoko. You two should go on ahead, I’ll take care of this stray.”

“But what about Nobara, shouldn’t we-” Panda laughs, and you almost feel insulted.

“Mustard leaf.” Inumaki echoes you, and you raise an eyebrow.

“Maki is with her. She’ll be fine. Now go on, get out of here you two. Maybe change your clothes, Y/n, you’re covered in rubble.” You look down and sure enough, your tracksuit is in pretty rough shape. No major damage or holes, but it’s filthy. 

“Ah, good call. Uh, Inumaki, wanna come with?”

“Salmon.”

-

After a short walk in mostly silence, you arrive at the dorm building, and step forward into your room. Inumaki follows as you invite him and you sigh.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. I just wish I understood what you were saying. I feel a bit lost, yaknow?” Inumaki shoots you a sympathetic look, and once you turn your back to dig through your drawers he discretely pick up a pad and pencil from your desk.

“I’m just gonna change in here, be out in a min.” You inform him and step into the bathroom to change into a better tracksuit. The other one lands in the washing basket with a splat, accepting its fate of being left there for a week.

Once you come out, looking much better in clean clothes, Inumaki hands you a piece of paper. It’s a drawing of… Shoko? In the infirmary? Is he trying to drop a hint or what?

“You…. want to go see Shoko?”

This feels unnecessarily awkward, and part of you wonders why he wasn’t just writing what he thought on the paper, and then it dawned on you that that way of thinking was pretty damn insensitive. 

He shakes his head and gestures towards you, which makes you look down at yourself for a moment before the realisation hits you. “Oh, you think I should go and see Shoko.”

“Mustard leaf." You’re a bit lost with that one but that’s okay. You get the idea that he means well. Come to think of it, he’d seemed vaguely attached to you this past week whilst you’d been training with Maki, and if you put two and two together ‘mustard leaf’ must’ve meant something along the lines of showing concern.

How sweet.

You motion for him to follow you out of the room and together you walk in a stale silence, not really knowing where to take the conversation from here.

“Those kyoto students are kinda weird, aren’t they?” You settle for gossip, it’s never failed you in the past.

When you worked at the cafe, the best way you found to talk to customers was to drop a tiny bit of gossip, and it hooked most people in like a charm. And you couldn’t deny it, even you liked a bit of a rumor here and there. 

“Bonito flakes.” He mutters, distaste evident in his tone. Intonation was going to be your friend here, to really be able to hold a conversation with the cursed speech user. It was pretty easy to infer what he meant as you continued chatting about the kyoto students.

“-and not to be rude, but why did he rip his shirt off?? Looked like he was trying to make himself Fushiguro’s type.” Inumaki laughs, and you immediately decide you liked the sound. He reminded you a lot of an old friend you once had at the cafe, making you think of a simpler time.

You really missed that old life.

“Hello, Y/n, I figured you’d be stopping by.” Shoko greets the two of you tiredly, making no effort to hide her boredness. There’s something strange in her eyes as she looks down at you for a moment though, something you can’t quite describe.

“Uh, everything okay?” She raises an eyebrow, and turns back to her desk. 

“Yeah, fine. I’m just tired, god knows why so many of you get into fights all the time. Makes my life so much harder…” She whittles off into absent chitchat and you decide to just drop it. Didn’t really matter anyway.

After bidding thanks to Shoko, you take Inumaki and leave, wondering if he’d want to part ways with you now or not. Not that it mattered to you, some alone time would have been appreciated.

Inumaki seems to want to stick with you though, as he tugs gently on your sleeve whilst pointing outside. “Is this the part where you force me to finally train with you?” You side-eye him with a sigh, and he nods with an enthusiastic glimmer in his eye.

“Fine, I guess I have nothing better to do today.” You follow him outside to one of the fields, taking in the lovely view of the sky as you did. The sun was just beginning to go down, casting rays of gold and orange light as far as the eye could see. 

Summer really was on its way now, you think, turning your attention back to Inumaki. He’s too busy looking at the sunset to notice your gaze. It’s probably for the best, you didn’t want to look like any more of a weirdo than you already did.

The two of you began sparring for a little bit, mostly focusing on physical form and movement rather than technique. You could save that for the next day when you weren’t so tired.

“You want to make this interesting?” You call out after a few rounds, and he tilted his head slightly, lowering his guard.

“Next round - no holds barred. Cursed techniques are on the table, but only once. So you gotta choose your moment carefully, okay?” He nods, a mischievous glint in his eye. You;ve clearly interested him with your proposal.

He stops you though to take out that notepad from earlier, and on it he writes a single word.

‘Prize?’

“Huh, winner gets a prize? Alright, I’ll try and think of something. You should too, although it’s unlikely I’ll lose.” Sometimes it’s fun to be an arrogant prick, not that you actually thought you had a chance against Inunaki, but there was something refreshing about messing around with a friend.

He nods to signify that he’s thought of something and you begin once more. From inside, Maki and Nobara are watching the two of you with amusement. 

Maki hoped you’d get along with the other second years, out of the first years you’d definitely seemed the most affected by the death of Yuji. To see you happy warmed her heart, not that she’d admit that to you just yet.

Nobara on the other hand was pissed, why were you having such a good time with someone other than her? And a boy no less… was she not good enough for you? Ah, but you looked so happy as you dodged and attacked with full force, who was she to interrupt? She’d just have to steal you away tomorrow.

Back to the playing field, and it wasn’t clear who was currently winning. Inumaki wasn’t much of a full on fighter, much better at avoiding your attacks rather than countering them. You were strong but your precision was still a bit off, although it was clear that your cursed energy was growing day by day.

You furrowed your brow, taking a moment to look for an opening. You hadn’t actually thought of anything if you did win, but the bragging rights were enough for you. At this point in time you’d resorted to using your small sword but still in its sheath, so it wouldn’t do any actual harm.

Lady luck was definitely on your side as opportunity arose, in an attempt to evade one of your attacks Inumaki had left a perfect gap to throw the sheath down as a distraction, and you hooked your leg around his to send him sprawling in the grass.

You crouched down beside him with a very cheerful expression, offering him a hand to get back up. “Looks like I win, hm?” 

“Salmon…” He muttered, his gaze lowered, and for a moment you believed that you’d actually gone too far and hurt your upperclassman. You had no time to react as he launched himself at you though, and this time you would find yourself in the grass.

The grass was dry and prickly, but all you could focus on was those piercing violet eyes that were fixed intently on your own. Your mouth opened but no sound came out, had he been holding back this whole time?

And then you finally got to see the one thing that you’d been thinking about since you’d met. Inumaki reached up and undid the fastening on his collar, letting it fall down as he spoke.

“Stay down.”

An overwhelming power crashed over you, not at all dissimilar to the one you’d felt when he’d stopped the fight between Todo and Fushiguro earlier, but unlike then you could see all of his pretty face.

You understood now why he kept it covered - those markings on his cheeks were a dead giveaway of what his abilities were. Definitely a sight you’d like to see again, not that you’d ever tell him that outright.

On the flip side, Inumaki is positively beaming internally. He really was very fond of you, but wasn’t entirely sure if you’d feel the same. As well as the other second years, he’d noticed you before but wasn’t sure when would be the right time to introduce himself.

And now he was mere inches away from you, one hand still on his collar, the other holding your arm in place as you struggled to break away from his cursed technique. 

All good things must come to an end though, as it wore off in time and you half-heartedly rolled your eyes at him. Inumaki stood up after doing up his collar and offered you a hand, which you took after some slight hesitation.

There was no doubt your face was a delightful shade of red, and your eyes struggled to meet his. “That was playing dirty…” You complain, and he gave you an indignant nudge.

“Bonito flakes!” The sun had almost completely set by this point, so you fell into pace with him as you made your way back to the dorm rooms.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. I guess I still owe you a prize though, any ideas what you want? I’m broke as hell though so if lunch is on me then you’ll have to wait ‘til next week.” 

The walk back to your dorm was quicker than you’d have liked, and you hovered at your doorway for his answer. He thought for a minute before pulling something out of his pocket. You mistook it for the notepad at first, but then realised it was his phone.

He pushed the device into your hands, and it was already on the ‘new contact’ screen. Crafty bastard. 

“Wow, bit forward, no? You might give me the wrong idea.” You chuckle but save yourself in his phone anyway, handing it back to him. You didn’t miss the way his hands stayed on yours for just a moment too long, although you pretended not to notice.

“We can pick back up tomorrow, goodnight for now.” And with one last smile, you slipped into your room, closing the door with a gentle thud. Finally alone, you could breathe normally for once, feeling the tension in your shoulders finally melt away.

As much as you want to deny it, you couldn’t deny the way your heart fluttered just a little bit too much thinking about how intense that had all been. Inumaki really was a shameless flirt, huh?

You try not to pay it any mind as you change into some light pyjamas, flopping into your bed to scroll through some crappy videos, trying to take your mind off of it all. 

-

Just a few feet outside of your door, Inumaki very happily pocketed his phone, planning on heading back to his own dorm, when a voice cut through the peaceful silence sharply.

“Inumaki, what are you doing here this late?” He turns to see Fushiguro frowning at him from his own doorway. Great. 

Inumaki didn’t hate Fushiguro, but both would be lying if either said that they respected the other. Fushiguro had always been too uptight for Inumaki, although at least they had common ground when it came to respecting Yuta. 

“Bonito flakes.” He said, dismissively, evidently not in the mood to converse with the gloomier boy, but Fushiguro had other plans.

“Hey- you were with Y/n, right?” He puts a hand on his shoulder, although it is immediately shaken off by Inumaki, who turns to stare at him with a mixture of confusion and distaste. 

‘So what if I was? Why do you care?’ He thought irately, but all that he could say was “Salmon.” Sometimes, his cursed speech was very annoying.

Fushiguro’s frown deepened. “I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at, but I saw the two of you out there. She is in mourning, have some respect for god’s sake. I’ve got my eye on you.” 

Whilst Fushiguro could be angry at you for messing around whilst the death of your best friend was so recent, the logical part of his brain simply refused to make that connection, chalking it up to you needing a distraction. The three of you first years had also resolved to get stronger together as well, so he understood why you’d want to train so much.

Inumaki just rolled his eyes and turned away, very much not in the mood for a conversation like that. If Fushiguro was jealous, well, he didn’t give a shit quite frankly. It was his business, this was between you and him, not Fushiguro. He needed to mind his own business.

The younger boy let him go, watching his figure recede until he was out of view. He had half a mind to check on you, but he’d settle that score tomorrow. You probably needed to sleep for the time being. Still…

Once he was back in his room, he spotted his phone on his desk, and he couldn’t help himself. 

-

You were just on the cusp of falling asleep when your phone buzzed a few times, indicating that somebody had messaged you. In your groggy state you fumbled to grab it from the nightstand, and you were surprised to see Fushiguro’s name off all people.

There was another text from someone else too, but you were already opening the one from your classmate.

<[are you alright? i saw you training with inumaki earlier] It read. You roll your eyes, did you seem that weak to him? You must do, after all he had taken far worse hits than you had and still come out better than you.

[i’m cool, i totally wiped the floor with him.]> [anwyays you should be resting after the whole todo thing earlier :p]> You send two messages in return before switching to the other message. It was from an unsaved contact, but piecing it together you realise it was just Inumaki wishing you a goodnight. You’d save his contact in the morning, you can already feel your eyes trying to shut on you.

Tossing your phone back on the nightstand, you close your eyes and fall back asleep straight away. Your phone buzzes again, but you were already sound asleep, so you wouldn’t read any until tomorrow.

Today was good. You hoped you could have more days like today.

-

oh yeah three uploads in three days i'm a writing machine bro. anyways it's 30 fucking degrees where i am which is far too hot for me so i'm making it summertime in the fic hashtag projection.

next chapter will have some conflict oOoOo how scary, uhh anyway sorry the texting is a bit janky it was the easiest thing for me to do at the time.

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