#otcooa

You'd never asked for any of this. All your life, you'd only wanted to blend in with your surroundings. To stay in your own lane, and keep your head down. By some cruel twist of fate. you'd managed to do exactly the opposite of that, and you still didn't know why. 

It started out small. Your dreams became more vivid. twisted images filling your head at night, and you'd wake up in cold sweats. Whispers, voices, glimpses out of the corner of your eye of things you couldn't quite see, your own paranoia growing each day. 

Finally, one overcast day after work, you saw it. 

Small, rat-like and gruesome, it babbled nonsense at you, desperately flinging itself at your ankle and trying to latch on. You recoiled in disgust, kicking the thing to the side and hurriedly walking away. 

The nightmares had stopped appearing now, but your newfound buddies didn't. Each was grotesque and weird in its own way, and you tried your best to ignore them. It wasn't easy, especially when your own manager seemed to have one wrapped around her neck. 

"I've been a bit short of breath recently y'know? Think I ought to see a doctor, aha."

You stared in response, a simple nod sufficient as you eyed the winged gremlin. Evidently you were going mad as no one else seemed to be aware of their existence. 

-

On one sleepless night, whilst an eerie-looking one sat tapping at your window. You tried looking them up online, but to no avail. The only result you found was some rumour on an archived reddit post about 'sorcerers' or something stupid along those lines. Apparently these people fought the gross monsters, but the replies under it declared that the original poster was probably insane and lonely.

Great.

-

Unfortunately for you, that wasn't the end of your strange encounters. 

You'd been on the way to a late night shopping trip, headphones on, minding your own business when one of them fucking jumped at you. 

Your headphones clattered to the ground somewhere, and you stumbled backwards, cursing. Before you could get back to your feet it had grabbed you and was desperately trying to scratch your leg with its sharp little claws. 

Kicking at it did literally nothing, and you tried throwing your keys at it, but that didn't work either. 

With no other choice, you leaned forwards and grabbed it, fueled by a burst of anger at having your evening interrupted, and yanked it off your leg, throwing it to the side. 

You jumped in surprise as a bright white light suddenly flashed as you tossed the stupid creature, almost like someone had set off a flash bang. 

Wasting no time, you jumped to your feet and looked around wildly, to see what the cause of the flash had been, but you couldn't see anyone. 

You didn't even remember to grab your headphones, you just bolted, deciding that the shops could wait another day. 

A few moments after you'd gone, a lone figure lazily approached the area, picking up your headphones and looking towards where you'd been with interest. 

“How curious…”

-

It was about a week between that and your next incident. You were already mad because you couldn't find your headphones anywhere, and you didn't like walking around without them.

Today happened to be the first day you'd meet him. 

Your workplace was nothing extraordinary, a cosy cafe tucked in a corner of the city, and your role there was equally as uninteresting. 

Serving customers during the daytime, cleaning up in the evening and locking the shop up. Pretty simple. 

It was 4:15, and the last customer had just gone home, so you began your usual cleaning activities, when you heard the door to the shop clatter open. 

Turning around with a quizzical expression, you were met with a… strange-looking man. Very tall, with impressively white hair, and a blindfold. Totally normal appearance. Totally. 

“Uh… Sorry, we stopped serving at 4. Can I help you?” 

He beamed at you and leaned causally against the booth you'd been cleaning. “Y/n, right?”

He nodded, and gestured out the window, where one of those weird monster things was lurking. “You're getting well acquainted with curses, it seems. I saw your little stunt the other night and wow, I haven't seen something like that in a good while.”

You frowned, wondering how you'd missed him. “Alright stranger, I won't deny it. Do you know what they are?? Those weird… things. I'd be lying if I said I didn’t want answers.”

He stared at you for a few moments (or at least you presumed he did, you couldn't actually see his eyes due to the aforementioned blindfold) before bursting into laughter. 

"Oh man, you really don't know anything? I'm kinda impressed."

You gripped your brush in annoyance and sighed. "If you aren't going to tell me anything then move. I've still got work to do." 

You went to shove past him, but stumbled slightly as soon as you got closer to him. Shaking it off as adrenaline, you turn away to begin your sweeping.. 

"Hey hey, hold on there. You want to know about those things right?" 

"Whatever."

"Well, they're known as curses. Made up of negative energy, they're nothing but trouble. You've been seeing them for a while now, right Y/n?" 

You stiffened as he uttered your name, but you kept sweeping. 

"It’s pretty creepy that you know who I am but I'll ignore that, and focus on these... curses. Why can I see them now, and why won't they leave me alone?" 

He laughs again, and you're starting to think that the weird stranger is also a bit deranged. 

"I have no idea! Isn't that funny? Doesn’t it make you want to learn more? Really lean into that supernatural?." 

You rolled your eyes. "You sound awfully sketchy. Don’t get all cryptic on me. Now move, I'm still working here.”

You continued working, and for some reason didn't kick the stranger out yet. Sure, he was unhinged, but he did provide information. It didn't really make a lot of sense, but it was a start at least. 

He seemed to observe silently as you worked, and eventually closing time was approaching. 

You finished your last bit off, and stepped over to the door. “Cmon. Out. We're closing.” He followed you outside and you locked the doors, adjusting your bag and then turning to walk away. 

You weren't expecting him to follow you, but that's what he did. So you continued walking, doing your best to ignore him. 

You'd arrived at your apartment block now, standing before the steel gates ready to punch in the code to let yourself in. 

"Won't you hear me out at least for a minute? If you keep ignoring me, you'll be in the dark forever about these curses.”

You shook your head as the door swung open, and you quickly stepped inside, turning to face him one more time. 

"Not really. See ya."

And with a loud noise, it clattered shut, leaving the weird man out there alone. 

He chuckled to himself and swivelled around, taking long strides as he pulled out his phone, switching to his call contacts, his figure gradually receding until he had completely vanished from your view. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, you stepped away from the peephole and began walking to your apartment. Hopefully that was the last you'd see of the weird stranger... 

-

The next few days seemed to go by without incident, and it was a slow lunchtime at your workplace when your next meeting happened. 

“Y/n, do you know that guy?” Your boss asked whilst you were refilling drinks. You glanced over and almost dropped them at the sight of the strange man again. 

“For fuck’s sake– Yeah, he's uh, a friend of my parents.” You lied, and your manager laughed. 

“Oh I see, I thought… nevermind. Don't leave him waiting too long, alright?” 

You nodded and pinched the bridge of your nose after your boss left, and after dropping off the drinks you approached him. 

“Visiting in the daytime are we now? You must not have much of a life.”

“Are you this rude to all of your customers?” He asked, still with that irritatingly polite smile. You sighed and shook your head, pulling out your notepad for orders. 

“Sorry. Long day. What can I get for you, strange man who won't stop following me around?”

As he listed something generic from your drinks menu, you realised that he wasn't wearing his blindfold today, instead he donned a pair of circular completely blacked out sunglasses. Strange. It just added to his weird vibe overall. You had to admit though, he did look nicer with his hair down. Almost normal.

Almost.

“Sure. It'll be with you in a few minutes.” You did your best customer service smile and went over to the counter to ring the order in for your boss to make. It was just the two of you today, as there weren't many customers around. 

The second you'd finished ringing in the order, you heard an irritating snapping noise. ‘I swear to god what is it now–!”

Turning around another customer had walked in, and he was snapping his fingers at you to… get your attention? Great. You hated customers like these, but walked over anyway. 

“‘Bout damn time. I've been waiting for my drink for way too long, where the hell is it?” You cringed as you smelt a vague alcohol scent as he talked. 

“They won't be too much longer sir, the drink you chose has many steps involved as I explained when you ordered it, but it shouldn't be more than a few minutes now. I can check on the progress if you'd li–”

You never got a chance to finish your sentence as the offending customer had grabbed you by the sleeve, yanking you down to the table. 

“Do you have any idea who I am, idiot? When I say I want my drink, you will get me my drink. Understand?” You glared at him and tried to pull yourself back, although it had little effect. 

“Sir, your drink will be ready when it is ready. Kindly get off, and I will go and check on the status of your drink.” You had the urge to smack him or something, but you kind of needed this job. 

“You’ll get me my drink if–” 

“--If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now, sir. You seem to be bothering the lovely staff here.” You felt the grip on your shirt release and someone tugged you gently back, having effortlessly pried the man away from you. To your surprise it was the strange man, whom you’d admittedly forgotten about.

The offending customer sputtered, but he was somehow being restrained by your overly tall saviour. 

“Tick tock, we’re waiting.” He continued, gripping his arm even tighter until you thought it might snap, and the customer grimaced in obvious pain.

“Alright alright, I’m going, nutcase! Fucking… stupid place…!” He mumbled, and half stumbled out of his chair, sauntering towards the door and walking out, slamming it behind him.

You breathed a sigh of relief, and carefully unhooked his arm from around your shoulders. You had no idea when it had gotten there, but it wasn’t too important.

With a horrified expression your manager rushed out from behind the bar, and grabbed your shoulders. “Are you okay?? I called the police, but I couldn’t do anything more, I’m so sorry!” She then turned to the strange man. “And thank you, uhh…?”

“Gojo Satoru.” 

“Well, feel free to stop by anytime. You’re always welcome for saving my best employee.” She gushed, and you sighed. This was not what you wanted. The other customers were looking over at your small group, and you took a step away uncomfortably.

“Yeah, thanks… Can I just get back to work? I’d rather not dwell on it.” You still hated the attention, so the sooner you got back to normal, the better. 

As you slipped away towards the other customers to reassure them, you couldn’t help the feeling of being observed the whole time. Eventually though the shift came to an end. 

The man, who you’d come to know as Gojo, didn’t stick around for super long after the event. Your manager (much to your chagrin) had taken quite the shine to him, and seemed rather disappointed when he left.

“He was so cool to help you like that Y/n! And so dreamy… you don’t see many men that look like that these days, ehehe.” You rolled your eyes as your manager gushed about your new, creepy, older friend. 

Now that you think about it, how old was that guy? Mid twenties you reckoned. Bit too old to be following 18 year olds around you mused. Still, it seemed he had information on your ‘situation’ so you allowed him to stay.

For now, anyway.

-

Genuinely, what divine figure had you pissed off? You sighed, it was almost closing time at your workplace about a week since the last visit  and you were mopping the floor, only to see that stupid guy again, Gojo. 

"Hiya Y/n! Busy day?" 

He spoke to you the same way your old teachers had done. Friendly and polite, which would have been nice except you still genuinely had no idea who he was or how he knew you. 

"We're closed. Shoo."

He laughed and walked over, taking a seat on the counter and swinging his legs almost like a child would. 

"What do you want today then?" You asked, continuing to mop around him. 

"You already know what I'm asking. You'd do so well as a sorcerer!! Trust me, as an excellent teacher I promise you'll grow to new heights - what do you say?" 

"Fuck off. I already dropped out of one school, I'm not going to another. I ought to call the cops for harassment or something..."

"Woah woah. no need for that! All I'm asking is that you give it a chance. Those things are dangerous, especially now that you can see them. Don't you want to be able to protect yourself?" 

You shrugged, throwing the mop back into the bucket with more force than intended. 

"I'm not fussed. I was fine before I could see them, I'll probably be fine so far. Move, I need to clean the counter." 

He jumped off and watched in silence as you put the mop away, giving the counter a final wipe down and walking towards the little cupboard in the corner. 

As you passed him, you threw a rag in his general direction, which surprisingly he caught with ease. “If you’re gonna yap at me again, at least help me close up.” 

He chuckled. If only you’d known who he truly was, none of his peers would ever dream of asking him to clean up (except perhaps Nanami) and even if they asked, it’s not like he would. Not for anyone else anyway.

There was just something about you that drew him in. And it wasn’t just your weirdly astronomical levels of cursed energy that day, no, there was something about you. How peculiar indeed.

He dragged the cloth across one of the tables idly, polishing it lazily. Whatever, at least he was half-helping. 

“I really do think you should hear me out.”

You scoff, not this again. “No thanks. Whatever you suggest will be weird like you. I don’t want anything to do with this… cursed energy, or whatever you called it.” You turn around to address him further, only to find him already right in front of you, staring down.

A shocked yelp escapes your mouth as you drop your mop, taking a step backwards and almost tumbling over the mop bucket in the process. Much to your horror, he closes the gap to stand directly in front of you once more.

“You really ought to take me more seriously, y’know?”

“Geez, what’s wrong with you?! Now you really are being a creep - ever heard of personal space?” You cross your arms defensively - he looks so cold up close, and as he leans down that feeling increases tenfold.

Peering at you from behind those pitch black glasses you finally catch a glimpse of his eyes. They’re cold, a piercing blue that’s so pigmented it can’t even be put into words.

They are frightening and yet hauntingly beautiful all at once. You can’t look away, you’ve never seen anything like it, you are fixed in place as he speaks.

His voice is lower, still confident yet colder somehow. “These creatures you see, they are cursed spirits, and sooner or later they are going to notice you. But not just you… you’ve seen the one on your manager’s neck, right?”

“...Stop it.”

“It’s real, Y/n. You aren’t safe out here. Come back with me - please. Your energy is so visceral, so unnatural, sooner or later you are going to be noticed by the wrong people.” He places his hands on your shoulders, straightening out with a smile that doesn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“So then, what’ll it be?” You outright shudder, his grip on you feels sinister, pressuring even. He doesn’t relent, squeezing you for an answer (quite literally).

“Fine! God, you’re… you’re something else, just…” You bat his hands away from you and right yourself, fixing him with a look. “Let me finish up, and I guess I’ll sort some stuff at home.”

He beams. There’s no trace of his coldness from moments prior. The switchup is pretty damn unnerving if you thought about it. God, this guy… 

“I’ll have a car ready within a couple hours. No time to waste then! Hurry up and get closed up for us.” 

-

As you stand in your apartment, you wonder how your boss was going to react. She’d always been so kind to you, it was nice considering you didn’t really have many people left in this world to be close to. Just before closing the cafe for seemingly the last time, you left a letter on the counter.

In it, you explained briefly that you’d been given an opportunity you ‘couldn’t refuse’ and that you had to move away. You also thanked her deeply for her kindness whilst you were there, and how you would miss her. 

It made you sad, but ah well. Truthfully you were still really unnerved by the weird cursed creature things you were seeing around, especially since you’d been attacked by a few now. Even if they were only small, it was still creepy.

Looking around at your apartment, you picked up one last item to toss into your suitcase before zipping it up and donning your jacket and scarf once more. It’s January now, so it’s still a bit cold. 

Downstairs you see a sleek black car now parked up outside, in it a far too excited Gojo. He hops out to help you put your suitcase in the back, and excitedly ushers you in.

“Alright! I’ll explain everything on the way there. You’ll fit right in - aren’t you excited?”

“Not really but whatever makes you happy.”

“Aw don’t be like that Y/n, it hurts to see my pupils disinterested.” You raise your eyebrow at that.

“Your pupils?” 

As the car smoothly takes off thanks to the driver in the front, Gojo smacks his forehead as if he’s forgetting something stupid. Which, knowing him, is probably true.

“Ah right. I got so excited I forgot to tell you- I’m your teacher! Aren’t you lucky, hm?”

“Kill me now.”

-

Thus far what you’d gathered was some key information for your new life. Gojo was allegedly ‘the strongest’ thanks to his immense power as a jujutsu sorcerer, which is why he was your teacher and also working as a sorcerer.

Turns out the government knows all about this stuff and just keeps it all very hush hush, which you guess is fair. Who knows how humanity would react if they found out all this was real- you still haven’t quite accepted it yourself really.

That white flash bang thing you did on your first time being attacked by one of those little cursed spirits was apparently your cursed energy being channelled into an attack. Gojo explained that not only did that catch his eye, but apparently your innate technique was weirdly powerful for someone who had gone unnoticed before.

Basically, everyone has a certain amount of this cursed energy that they can use at any given time. Some people can draw upon other sources but even those will run dry at some point - but not you. Yours was expanding, infinitely it seemed. Everyday the amount went up ever so slightly, and after it hit a certain point you could finally start seeing those cursed spirits and even channel it into attack.

You weren’t trained at all though, so it mostly sat dormant just accumulating in the background. This raw power is what drew Gojo to recruit you in the first place - he knew that if left unchecked, your power would fall into the wrong hands and you could be used as the greatest weapon for any sorcerer or spirit, for better or for worse. 

He doesn’t tell you that outright though. Other than what he mentioned, no, warned in the shop, he simply tells you that the school saw potential in you. Whatever, he literally backed you into a corner and it’s not like you had much to lose anyway.

After barely finishing school, you got that job at the cafe and just barely kept your head above water. You’d cut your parents off immediately after high school, so for the time being life had been kind of lonely.

Maybe this change would be good for you. Oh how wrong you’d been. 

“Oh look, we've arrived! Doesn’t time just fly?” He laughs at himself (dumbass) and then steps out of the car. You’re halfway through unbuckling your seatbelt when you see your door open.

Is he… holding it open for you? Surprisingly gentlemanly for such a guy. Huh.

“Oh, thanks.” 

“Anytime. Now, at the minute there’s only one student alongside you for now. Although I guess you’re less of a student and more of… a case study. Yeah.” Wow. What a lovely thing to be labelled. You ignore that and walk with him, listening for more information about the college.

If you’re going to be staying here for a while then you may as well get to know more about the place, right?

-

Dear god there were a lot of steps. You were not in horrible shape fitness-wise but LORD that’s too many steps for a normal person. 

You try to hide your huffing as you get to the top. Gojo hasn’t struggled at all, lucky bastard. Makes sense though, if he is as good as he says. You’ve yet to see evidence of that but you’ll find out, you suppose.

“Megumi-chan, you have a new friend! Come out and say hii!” As you enter the dorm building (at least, that’s what you assumed), your new teacher calls out and starts banging on one of the doors.

Why have you come face to face with the broodiest, most emo ass young man you’d ever met? If you googled ‘angst’ you were sure this guy would be the top result. 

“Hello.” That’s a normal greeting right? Yeah. You try to reassure yourself that you definitely aren’t, in fact, tanking the first interaction here. Great job buddy. Now wrap it up and go home.

“Megumi, this is L/n Y/n. Our first new first year!!! Yayy! Isn’t she cute?” Holup what’s that supposed to mean. This guy is like, probably a good 8 years older than you. Have you ever seen Gojo and Eps-

“She’s gonna take the room next to you. I figured you could do with a friend!”

“There are lots of empty rooms. Why next to me?” What a ray of sunshine. You try not to feel offended, you were considering giving him a chance but if he wants nothing to do with you then that ship has long since sailed. Fushiguro’s face is twisted into a mix of a grimace and a scowl, which is impressive. Who knew one guy could look so… that.

“I don’t have to take the room next to you, I’m sure I can find-”

“-Nonsense! Megumi, help her get settled. I have some stuff to take care of but I’ll be back in a few hours. Get to know each other and the place, and don’t have too much fun without me.” He reaches over to ruffle Fushiguro’s hair, only to have his hand smacked away, and then left with a wave.

Well this is awkward. “You don’t have to help, it’s cool.” You begin to shuffle backwards with your suitcase, but to your surprise he steps out from behind the door. He’s pretty average height, and his dark clothes match his gloomy personality. Exactly what you expected really.

He steps forward and picks up your suitcase for you, taking it before you can protest. “Pick a room. Quickly.” You roll your eyes. Drama queen much?

“Fine, this one will do. If it’s not too close to yours.” You point to the door opposite his, hoping he would approve of your selection. It might not hurt to keep Fushiguro on side, seeing as your only other option for a friend is Gojo, and you don’t really want to be besties with your teacher. He doesn’t seem to care either way to your choice and marches into the room, setting the suitcase down on the bed.

He doesn’t leave straight away though, to your surprise, and you just sort of hover. Looking around, the room is pretty nice, though nothing fancy. A single bed against the wall, accompanied by a desk, chair, drawers and a small rug. Not too shabby.

“So…” You began, trying and then failing to make small talk. It wasn’t your fault, this guy seemed quite unfriendly, and yet here he was just standing there. He raises his eyebrow slightly, as if expectant for you to continue.

“Fushiguro, right? Gojo mentioned you on the way over here. You’re a trainee sorcerer here?” He nods, and you begin unpacking as he leans against the desk to continue talking to you. It’s actually not as awkward as you first felt, dare you say almost nice?

“Me?”

“Yeah. What are you actually doing here? I can read that you’ve got a weird amount of cursed energy, but you don’t really seem to know anything about jujutsu at all. So what’s up with that?” He’s very direct, almost to the point of being rude. You suppose he’s just curious.

“Maan I don’t know. That Gojo just turned up in my life one day pestering me to be here. I didn’t even know what jujutsu was until like a month ago. To be honest, I.. don’t really know what I’m doing here.”

You fidget with your hands, the realisation dawning on you that you still understand barely anything about this place, or these people, or cursed energy, the list could go on forever. It’s a bit embarrassing to be honest, and you now wish he’d have just left when you started to unpack so that you could have avoided such an awkward conversation.

Would he judge you? Does he think you’re stupid? Or crazy? God, you don’t like being in the limelight like this. ‘Say something, emo boy, say anything-!’

“Oh. Okay.”

That’s… that’s it? This guy… well, apathy is better than being judged, you suppose. Your shoulders drop with relief that he really doesn’t seem to care.

“..Anyway I won’t take up anymore of your time. I’ll just finish unpacking, it was nice to make your acquaintance, Fushiguro.” You try for a smile but it doesn’t really work so you give him an awkward thumbs up and turn back to your packing.

“Sure.” He mumbles, and with that he’s gone. As the door clicks shut you breathe a sigh of relief, and after tossing the rest of your clothes into the drawers you settle onto the bed to lay down. You just needed a moment to process, to take everything in. 

A lot had happened today, making you more tired than you initially thought, and as the sun’s rays dipped below the horizon, you found your eyelids growing heavy. Soon enough you were fast asleep, ending your first official day at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College. 

Unluckily for you, you’d just sealed yourself in for a fate worse than death, but you’d have no way of knowing until it was too late. - thanks for reading!

“Let’s split up, it’ll be quicker if we do. Itadori can start from the bottom floors, Y/n can do the middle and I’ll start from the top. I want to get this over with as soon as possible so that we can leave and get sushi afterwards.”

Nobara immediately rushes through taking the lead, and she and Yuji squabble the whole time. You’d laugh but right now you were feeling a bit nervous, clutching your sword like your life depended on it. 

Well, it kind of did. If you hit something again with raw force you may end up breaking a bone, like when you threw that punch a while back. Your knuckles probably wouldn’t forgive you if you broke them again.

Nobara did have a point though, this building was huge. Covering more ground was the right thing to do, so you heed her advice and walk up several flights of stairs to start at floor 4. 

You can do this. You had already fought cursed spirits before and just about come out on top, so you would definitely be okay now… right? You only really survived last time because Yuji swapped out though. 

You do your best to steel your nerves and press onwards, glancing around at the eerie scenery. This building had clearly seen better days. Had it been a warehouse maybe?

Regardless of what the building had once been, you knew that it was now a monument to despair, to pain and anger. All locations haunted by cursed spirits were, and the air around you seemed to get colder with each step, reminding you just where you were.

You scanned each floor carefully, looking around corners and in rooms, but there was no sign of a cursed spirit just yet. That cursed energy was definitely getting stronger though. 

No doubt about it, you’d have to go upwards and meet Nobara. Hopefully Yuji would have the same idea as you, and you’d be able to take the curse down with ease.

-

Meanwhile, Nobara was cursing at the spirit in front of her, watching in anger as it slowly began crushing the boy it was holding as a hostage.

With a snarl she began to set her weapons down, wondering what the hell she was doing. ‘God, I’m such an idiot!’ She thought, but deep down she just wanted the young boy to be okay. 

She could only watch anxiously and pray the curse released his grip.

At the same time, on the other side of the wall, you had somehow managed to run into Yuji, but also a dead-end. “Oh, Y/n! The cursed energy is really strong here, you clocked it too right?”

You nod, bringing a hand to your chin as you furrow your brow. “Yeah, but how are we going to get through? I couldn’t find a way around. This place is like a maze.”

Yuji stretches his arms back and then steps forward. “I think I have an idea! Stand back though.” And before you could voice any sort of protest, Yuji had punched straight through a brick wall.

Just what do they feed guys these days?! 

“Oh, I missed it?” He felt around for a moment before carrying through with the motion and slamming the rest of himself through the wall, colliding with a cursed spirit as he did so.

Taking ‘slaughter demon’ from his side, he slices the spirit’s hand off and knocks the young boy free. You dive forwards to catch him, cradling him gently to shield him from further harm.

‘Poor kid, that spirit must have been using him as a shield. How cruel…’ You glare in the direction of the spirit, but it seems to have grown wise to Yuji’s fighting tactics and is now trying to make a break for it.

“Quick- the hand! Pass me the hand!” Nobara calls out to you, and it is then that you realise that she had been on this side the whole time. She takes a straw poppet from her bag and places it over the hand, using a cursed technique to inflict damage to the spirit and exorcise it from afar.

You watch with relief as the cursed energy dissipates, and you look down at the young boy. He’d passed out from fear or shock (unsurprisingly) and then back up at Nobara. She was a lot cooler than you originally thought, pulling out moves like that.

“Is everyone okay?” Yuji asks, looking between the two of you. His gaze lingers on you for just a beat longer, something burning in his gaze, before he blinks and it’s gone. Could you have been imagining it? It was so fast, but it was so… intense.

He definitely didn’t look at Nobara that way, maybe you’d done something wrong? You’d ask him about it afterwards, for now you needed to get this boy to safety. That was your priority for now.

“We’re fine, but we should get this kid out of here. God knows what he was doing in this place.” Nobara states, and you hum in agreement.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” Yuji ends up carrying the young boy on his back as your little group traversed back downstairs and outside where Gojo and Fushiguro were waiting for you. You supposed it made sense for him to stay behind this time - your teacher already knew his capabilities, this was more of a test for Nobara than anything. As you walked, Nobara and Yuji continued their normal bickering about anything and everything, and it made you chuckle. Though your group was only small, your dynamics were all very fun. You were going to like having Nobara around.

-

After you’d all walked the young boy home, you’d all decided some food was in order. Your teacher ended up taking you all to a sushi bar, where you sat huddled at the counter.

It was the type where you just grabbed the plates as they came down, so after filling your plate with the most delicious-looking food, you wasted no time in tucking in.

“Wow, Y/n, you must have been hungry!” Yuji comments, and Nobara elbows him. You’re wedged between Yuji and Fushiguro at the minute, as Nobara flat out refused to sit next to Fushiguro. She really didn’t like his vibe, and after what happened earlier, she and Yuji seemed to be getting along just a tiny bit better.

“Idiot! You never say that to a woman! Ignore him Y/n, he’s a dumbass.” She huffs, and once again their arguing starts up again.

You pay them no mind and finish your food in comfortable silence, only stopping once you had realised your drink was empty. 

“Where’s the drinks machine again? I forgot.” You ask, and your teacher stands up with a bright smile. 

“C’mon, I’ll show you. Behave you lot-” He swats at Yuji and Nobara on the way by, and you follow after him, with a chuckle hidden by a cough. The drinks machine is just on the other side of this cute little diner/restaurant, but it’s just enough distance to get you away from the row.

“So,” Gojo begins as you tap cherry flavour on the machine. “How are you holding up?” Though you can’t see his eyes, you know they’re fixated on you. Though you’re not the shortest person in the world, anyone would feel small next to him, and in this moment, you do.

“Eh, I’m not dead yet so that’s something. Still miss the cafe a bit though.” There’s almost a shift in the air, you think, at the mention of your old life, and your teacher pauses, tilting his head just a smidge.

“Still thinking about that old place, huh?”

You nod. Your drink is done, but you don’t grab it just yet. You get the feeling he has questions for you, but now is not the time. “Of course. I don’t think I’ll ever truly adjust to this life, but…”

Your voice trails off as you gaze over to where your new friends are all sat. Fushiguro is on his phone, languidly scrolling as Yuji tries to get him to take his side in the argument he is currently having with Nobara. Your friends. All three of them. It’s enough to warm even your heart.

“I don’t mind it as much as I thought I would.” You turn back to find that Gojo was still looking (down) at you, a hint of amusement on his face.

“I’m glad to hear that, Y/n. Oh-” He reaches his hand out to touch your face gently, taking you by complete surprise, and brushes his thumb across your cheek.

It takes every fibre in you not to turn a lovely shade of red, or bite his hand off, and you can only pull your face into what you hope is confusion rather than embarrassment. 

“You had sauce on your face. Wasn’t going to tell you, but that’d be pretty mean even for me. Alright, let’s go back,” He takes his drink and pats you on the shoulder, which snaps you out of your own little world and you echo his movements, taking your drink with a muttered thanks.

Your ears have turned fiercely red, but this time from the shame of walking around with sauce on your face like a child. Ah well, these things happen, you think as you slip back into your seat ready to join in on the daft argument.

As you walked away, you failed to see your teacher covertly swipe his thumb across his tongue, and then act like nothing had happened as he returns to his seat as well. 

-

On the walk back, Nobara is prodding Yuji for answers on how he could break through solid concrete like it was paper, to which the aforementioned boy was desperately trying to defend himself.

“Hey, back me up here Fushiguro!” Yuji pleads, but he seemed far too invested in his phone to even register what Yuji was saying.

“You should know by now that he really doesn’t give a damn.” You try to console Yuji, but it doesn’t really help as he instead tries to get you to agree with him instead. Since Fushiguro seems so disinterested, the three of you pretend to walk away without him, causing him to look up with some level of surprise and jog to catch up.

He glares at you all as he does, but you’re surprised to see him fall into stride with you. You thought for sure he’d go and walk next to Gojo, but you weren’t going to complain. He was growing on you after all.

“Oh, I think we have some stuff left in the storage lockers.” You voice aloud, and Nobara whips her head around in surprise.

“Ah! How could I forget my haul? Itadori, go and fetch my things for me.”

“Why me?!”

You laugh as she’s quick to boss Yuji around once more, and your group takes a small detour to go grab your things from the lockers. 

“We wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for my cursed energy!” “Well we wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for my raw strength! Right. Fushiguro?” Yuji looks for some support from his friend, but when the brooding boy stays silent, Yuji turns around with a quizzical expression.

“Huh? What’s the matter, Fushiguro?” “Nothing.” A curt answer as you expect, and your eyes widen slightly before settling into a devious grin. You nudge him with a laugh.

“Are you sad ‘cos you didn’t get to join in?” You jab, and his frown only deepens. Nobara laughs and calls him a child, which causes Yuji to burst into peals of contagious laughter. All of this banter had lead you to the lockers, and you watch Nobara take out her monstrous pile of luggage, forcing Yuji to carry just about all of it. She only kept one tiny bag to carry for herself, no doubt some sort of expensive jewellery or something. You rummage in your locker for a minute before triumphantly pulling out just one bag.

With some smart thinking, you’d managed to condense it down into just one shopping bag, although that did make it a bit heavy. Just as you shut the locker, returning the key to have it redispense your coin, you felt the weight in your other hand disappear.

You turn, confused, as Fushiguro has… taken your shopping? “Oh, thanks.” You smile, and it’s genuine. He really isn’t as bad as he seemed sometimes. 

But he doesn’t say anything back, just stares at you and then turns to rejoin the group so that you can all walk together. He walks just in front of you, so you fall into comfortable silence, just listening to the conversation behind you.

Yuji was pretty annoyed at that move. After being forced to carry all of Nobara’s ‘crap’ as he put it, he had no hands free to help you with your things, which is what he’d wanted to do before Fushiguro beat him to it.

It wasn’t that you seemed like you’d desperately wanted help, no, quite the opposite, you seemed that much more laid back and humble than the other two, but something about you just… drew him in. Like a bee to a beautiful flower. Earlier, he’d been so glad that you’d found him instead of Nobara first, he just wished you could’ve spent more time with him then. Ah well, another time perhaps. There would be opportunities. After all, it was only early days for him yet.

He really was starting to like you, a lot more than he initially anticipated. - sorry for the very very delayed chapter, stuff came up, yadda yadda. im back baby WOO im gonna go put this on wattpad and ao3 right now. chapter 5 out soon i pray