Nobara ends up updating her 'files' concerning her Quirk Registry. With a member of the Hero Commissions lingering behind her, the person in the desk handling the papers simply lowered their head and ignoring the fact that Nobara had to be called by her homeroom teacher to update the details of her so-called Quirk. They had originally decided that if no one was going to bring it up, then they will not do anything about it. It was better that way but Aizawa remembered. He remembered and called Nobara's new home number—a fairly average-sized apartment she shares with Fushiguro and Nitta—and grumbled aomething along the lines of her Quirk Registry. Speaking of Nitta, Nobara... Nobara does not see her as much.

Because of Nobara and Fushiguro's status as 'injured' and 'students', they cannot do anything about Curses unless it is after school hours or during their free days but their Nitta-san is out and about, constantly investigating Curses and the whereabouts of Itadori. The Hero Commissions suggested for Nobara and Fushiguro to stay out of trouble for a while, meaning they cannot be seen wandering around in the middle of the might to hunt for Curses. Of course, they had complained and tried to do otherwise but even Nitta had said so, sighing and telling them that they should rest for a while, especially after the incident with the Villains. And though Nobara and Fushiguro both have separate rooms, Nobara finds herself seeking her classmate—the one that had been with her since the first day of getting trapped here. So she kicks Fushiguro to the ground, watching him roll down his bed with a thud, caught by the futon she haphazardly prepared. He sits up and glares at her. "What."

She shrugs. She sits on the edge of the bed. Her nerves relax a little and so does Fushiguro when he catches her holding her own hand, trying to stop the shaking of it. "This is only for tonight," he says sternly, despite knowing that it is going to be the contrary, "I've been living through your snoring for too many months, Kugisaki."

Affronted, Nobara tries to kick him again but Fushiguro has long since settled in the futon already while she tries to become comfortable with the bed. She closes her eyes but struggles to keep them that way. She shuffles to face Fushiguro's direction. "I don't like the Hero Commissions," she confesses and when Fushiguro does not reply, she just continues: "There's something weird about them, like, I get that they're trying to drive us out but aren't they overworking Nitta-cha—san—" Her lips purse, her joking nickname for the older woman dying down her throat. "They're obviously overworking her and that Hawks-guy! He's sticking too close to Nitta-san! And he called us aliens! Aliens, 'shiguro!"

She hears a faint grunt. "Technically, we are aliens."

Nobara rolls her eyes and scoffs. "Shut up, Godzilla."

"Godzilla isn't an alien—" Fushiguro sits up a little and squints at her in disbelief. "Are you even Japanese? How do you not know that?"

"Shut up! I grew up with Precure, okay!"

Nobara feels herself sink into the sheets further, fully relaxing under the weight of her blankets and Fushiguro's presence. She clenches her fists in annoyance: that Shigaraki Tomura, All Might, the other students getting involved over some grudge, Aizawa Shōta risking his life for them—they were dragged into this. She sighs shakily. After the Sports Festival, after their speech and their call for Itadori, Nobara will definitely leave this school with Fushiguro because then, Itadori will come running to them, he obviously will. And then, they will have nothing to do with this school, nothing to do with these Pro-Heroes. She reaches to the pocket of her pajamas, pulling something out. She stares at the button of her original uniform, the one she likes better, the one she likes the most. The more she stares at it, the more it seems like the dark spirals of the golden button are glowing.

She tightens her grasp around it and before she knows it, her thoughts drag her to the next day, barely getting any sleep with how much her thoughts ran around. Fushiguro, clearly, was the same. Nobara makes up an excuse, saying that it must be the new apartment that made it hard for her to sleep.

Unsurprisingly, Nobara and Fushiguro immediately receive stares the moment they enter the class. She finds herself most uncomfortable with Bakugō's stare—silent and eerie for once, completely dfferent from his usual self and Nobara has no idea how to react to that. Everyone is silent and this only makes Nobara even more uncomfortable than usual. Fushiguro, unsurprisingly, is unbothered by this and goes to his seat, immitating her usual habit of pretending to sleep so that no one will bother him. She tries to do this too but is stopped when she spots Īda walking up to Fushiguro before he can go with his plan. The taller boy's back is ramrod straight and when he suddenly bows his head to Fushiguro, Nobara almost expects his head to slam down Fushiguro's desk. Fushiguro looks like he had expected this too with the way he flinches. "I was informed by Midoriya that you struggled in the fight because your bird had to accompany me, Fushiguro-kun! And for that, I sincerely apologize!" He exclaims. "I hesitated in going out to seek reinforcements, not knowing better but now I—"

"It's okay," Fushiguro interrupts him with a wave of his hand. His eyebrows furrow when he notices that everyone's attention is on him. He sighs, running his fingers through his dark hair. "The other Pro-Heroes came before things went bad." Nobara cringes. Technically, their definition of 'bad' is different from the others', especially these students', definition of it but Īda seems to not pick up on this and nods in understanding. Īda opens his mouth again but this time, it is not to address Fushiguro but the whole class. His stiff arms stretch again in his typical Īda way and shouts: "It's time for this morning's homeroom period! Take your seats everyone!" Nobara sweatdrops, seeing as Īda is the only one who is not in his seat.

It does not take much time until Aizawa comes in the classroom, bandages still wrapped around certain parts of his body, not enough to look critical, but just enough for the rest of the class to shriek in surprise. Nobara has seen worse injuries—Itadori's 'corpse' had his heart pulled out from his chest and Nobara cannot get rid of that image from her head—but, pursing her lips, Nobara unconsciously looks away, not wanting to see the man they know nothing of and had mocked for being involved with Pro-Heroes and even being a Pro-Hero himself, walk in with injuries that came from their lack of ability. He had risked his life for them, not only their classmates but also Fushiguro and Nobara who spat on their ideals.

Nobara still dislikes Pro-Heroes, deeply dislikes the system. But at the end, all of them are hypocrites. At the end, she and Fushiguro just think of themselves as 'better' than these people, their world 'better' than these because at least they are not liars, at least they are not pretending to be people they are not because while the Jujutsu Society is terribly cruel(much, much, more cruel than this word), they are not liars but still—Nobara glances at Fushiguro then ar Aizawa Shōta who struggles to walk to his desk despite the whole day he had spent healing. She resists clicking her tongue in guilt and shame. This world, despite being flawed and riddled with an abusive society, is safer than their own. They are liars and disgusting and they could be better but their world is worse. Much, much worse. At least, despite failing miserably, this world tries to protect their children while Nobara—she laughs in her head—she was raised knowing that children can die as much as adults can in this line of work. It's normal, everyone tells her, it's a tragedy but it's normal. And Nobara genuinely believed that once upon a time until Itadori crumbled and decayed.

Aizawa faces all of them, a part of his face wrapped in bandages and gauzes. Nobara cringes. It must hurt for him to speak. Ignoring the class' worried inquiries, Aizawa starts the class: "Don't concern yourselves over me. After all, the battle hasn't truly ended for you." This captures everyone's attention, the class breaking into panicked murmurs about another Villain group but with a shared glance with Fushiguro, they nod, knowing what is about to come. "UA's Sports Festival is approaching!"

...

Every single person in Japan will be watching the Sports Festival and if they are lucky, Itadori will be watching too. Nobara and Fushiguro have two chances to shout at the screen, when the cameras will be focusing on no one but them—first is when Nobara gives the mandatory speech as the student who achieved the first rank in the Entrance Exams, and second is when one of them wins the entire tournament. And they will. It is not an 'if' matter or even a 'possibility' but an actual fact that is set in stone. Nobara and Fushiguro will win or be nothing at all. And besides, they do not have problems with the Pro-Heroes that will try to recruit them considering that the Hero Commissions had already promised them that they do not have to worry about that since they will be sending the Pro-Hero to them instead. Nobara genuinely hopes that it will not be Hawks. Anyone but Hawks.

That man been terribly annoying during the single day break. He had chattered endlessly about the difference between their worlds, if 'their dimension has two moons like the ones from the movies' or if 'their biology is drastically different', which, in a way, is. Nobara has not tried to see the effects of their Cursed Energy to this world's people as nobody can use the Reverse Curse Technique among them and there is also the fact that they are not 'evolved' humans, or whatever the original term for Quirk users were. But Nobara definitely, definitely, definitely does not want to be called an alien. Hawks, however, does not care one bit and continues to pester them about Cursed Energy and how one can actually have it. Fushiguro, surprisingly, had the patience to answer some of his questions until Nitta saved them from the Pro-Hero. Even Nitta seemed to be utterly done with Hawks.

"Hey, hey! It's not everyday that you get to have juniors from another planet, you know!" Hawks guffawed to which Nitta replied, as if she has gone through this conversation with the man for more than a hundred times: "We're from another dimension, Takami-san."

Nobara rolls her shoulders, feeling them crack underneath her skin. She winces and Fushiguro sends her an odd look. They begin walking out of their classroom as lunch begins. "Do you already have a speech for the Sports Festival? You know, as the representative and all," asks Fushiguro, raising an eyebrow when they spot Midoriya and his other friends walking a few steps in front of them. Nobara catches him running his eyes down on Midoriya's frame, inspecting any sign of injury from the other day. As soft as always, she thinks.

Narrowing her gaze, Nobara shrugs. "I already know what I'm going to say," she sighs. Unconsciously, her fingers reach up to her play with her hair. She bites her lower lip, discomfort filling her. She slaps both sides of her cheeks to gather herself, earning a startled glance from Fushiguro. "It's nothing—" She flicks her wrist. "The past few days—it's—it's been a hassle. So many things happened at the same time and it's only been our first week in UA. Imagine what would happened if we stayed for a whole year."

"We're leaving after the Sports Festival, anyway. Or at least, around that time. We won't be staying long. Probably... one more month?"

There will be a two week gap between this week and the Sports Festival, allowing the participants to train to the best of their abilities. Not only is the Sports Festival a friendly competition between the students but also the beginning of a their classmates' futures. Here, they will be able to showcase their talents and grab the Pro-Heroes that are not only going to sponsor their Internship but also introduce them to the real world of Pro-Heroes, fighting Villains, protecting civilians. This is the beginning of their future and half-hearted Fushiguro and Nobara, two little sorcerers who took the opportunity for screentime, are going to ruin all of that. Who were the students that were supposed to be in their position? Who are the students that they are going to take from in the future? Who will be the Top Student if not them? Whose files sre they spitting on? If Nobara did not try for UA, then Bakugō's resume would have had been better.

Aren't they just... playing with these children's futures?—Nobara huffs loudly and yelps when Fushiguro finally gets enough of her antics and tries to kick her down the hallway. The three students in front of them look at them in surprise. Nobara grimaces at Midoriya's curious expression. "Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san," he scratches the side of his cheek, "We didn't know that you two were behind us."

Nobara straightens her back, almost mimicking Midoriya's anxious habit but stops herself before she fingers the edge of her locks. Her hand moves to the back of her neck instead, the heat and the discomfort coming back again. (She wants to chop her hair again but Itadori.) "Right," she has no idea what to say further but Īda seems to have lots to say because his mouth prattles on before the other students: "Would you like to eat lunch with us?"

Just as Nobara tries to reject him, Fushiguro interrupts. "Sure."

Wh—Nobara snaps her head to Fushiguro in surprise and so do the other three students, even Īda who had been the one who tried to invite the both of them. With a soft sigh, Fushiguro gestures to the trio, ignoring Nobara's incredulous look. Nobara somehow ends up lagging behind, silent even as Midoriya gets mysteriously dragged away by All Might himself along with a comment from Īda about their Quirk similarities. Nobara gets assigned to find a chair for them after Fushiguro saying that he will get her food for her. Again, they both ignore the curiosity basically pouring from Īda and Uraraka's eyes.

It takes a few monutes before they return and the first thing Uraraka asks almost makes Nobara choke on her food. "Are Kugisaki-san and Fushiguro-kun dating?" This time, Nobara almost completely coughs on her food, reaching for her water. Uraraka, embarrassed, lowers her head immediately, apologizing.

Fushiguro sighs. Again. "Nobara and I are childhood friends. It's been a dream of ours to become a Duo and—" There is a brief pause, almost unable to be caught but as Nobara drinks her water, their eyes meet. "We're more like siblings."

Nobara wonders where their lies begin and where it ends. Even as they return to their classroom after small chatters about the upcoming Sports Festival (the brief mentioning of Uraraka's goal and why she wants to become a Pro-Hero; Nobara's first instinct is to be startled but even in this place, the world is a kind place and there are many Jujutsu sorcerers who risk their lives for money too and—and sometimes, Nobara holds the payment for another Curse and she wonders if it is worth it to lean into the guillotine but she remembers Gojō-sensei's words, that all sorcerers have a screw loose and Nobara revels in bringing forth destruction and there is nothing she likes more), Nobara thinks of Fushiguro's words. Siblings. Siblings. Siblings. Siblings—where do their lies begin? Where do their lies end? When they are alone, Fushiguro still calls her 'Kugisaki' but in the company of their classmates, their given names are heavy on each other's tongues, familiar, at ease, but where? Where do their lies end? Where do their lies begin?

She likes to think that their bond is much deeper than friendship. They have been sharing rooms for more than half a year and they have been more intimate than friends: their nudges, their shared looks becoming unspoken conversations, and Nobara likes this. This lie-not-lie of theirs. Sometimes, she feels that they are still in the USJ and their hands reach for each other in reassurance and sometimes, she feels Fushiguro's hair under her fingertips, trimming them and joking about shaving his hair, and other times, most times, Nobara looks down at Fushiguro's sleeping form, wonders how this world would be if she had been alone instead. And there is nothing she fears more than that right now. She hates admitting that, and thus, she never openly says it out loud.

"We're more like siblings."

Nobara wonders and wonders. She cannot wait to tell this to Itadori, that their Fushiguro actually said something so cheesy and she honestly cannot wait to do that. And to cut her hair. No, she is going to kick Itadori on his crotch first. That, and then cut her hair, then tell him how much Fushiguro-kyun was so sweet and so cheesy and how much he cried in the absence of Itadori, and then Itadori would laugh as Fushiguro tries to chop their heads off and then—Nobara blinksand she is back in the classroom of the Hero Department and there is a teacher in front of her. (The dread returns.) She blinks and Itadori is not there, her dreams are absent but—she glances to the other side of the classroom. Fushiguro is there. As if sensing her piercing look, Fushiguro meets her gaze and raises his eyebrow in question. She shakes her head and grins.

Her mood lightens.

Or so it did.

Uraraka stops at the entrance of their room as Nobara begins to pack up her bags and wait for Fushiguro to do the same. She wants to ask why Fushiguro humored Uraraka and Īda, why he answered some of their questions about their past in Hiroshima, vague and simple enough to be forgotten and common enough to be dubbed as a 'normal childhood'—how did you two meet? Met each other in the playground and just clicked, which is true to their cover story about being orphans and meeting in one of the play areas. Though, to spice up their backstory, Hawks suggested that they had beated each other up and bonded through their fists and the power of friendship. Nitta had never looked so unimpressed but it does work and it explains why the Hero Commission took a pair and did not take them individually instead. Why do you want to be heroes? According to their backstory, they were 'groomed' to be Pro-Heroes but any child wants to that, right? So Nobara leaned to her hand and smiled, a lie falling out. "Because it's always been our dream," she said.

Once Fushiguro is done, they make their way to the entrance with Uraraka still blocking the path. Or that is until they spot the crowd hovering around their class. "Is this loitering," it does not come out as a question when Nobara tilts her head to Fushiguro's direction. "They're crowding the exits. What are they even here for?" Nobara is already having a better day and she really has no plan on someone ruining it now.

Bakugō scoffs. "They're obviously scoping out the competition, Pachinko Head—" Nobara scowls but does not have the chance to respond when the blond continues. "They want to see the group who came out of a Villain ambush. They're checking us out before the big battles—it's pointless to try so why don't you just fuck off, you bunch of mobs?!"

"Don't go calling people you don't know a 'mob' right off the bat!" Īda quickly scolds.

Nobara rolls her eyes. She tugs on Fushiguro's sleeve, silently telling him that they should leave before this becomes an even bigger mess. They have no plans to get involved in some student drama and Nobara already has a good, good day. "I came to see what you kids are made of, true, but I didn't think you were this arrogant. Are all the kids enrolled at the Hero Department this way?" Nobara perks up, the voice vaguely familiar. She steps right behind Bakugō. The boy clicks his tongue at her. "I'm a bit disillusioned. So that's it, huh? There's lots of kids who wind up in General Education Department or other Departments because they failed the Heroics one. Did you know that?—" Ah. This guy is... "—And based on the results of the Sports Festival, people can be even come under review to be transferred to Heroics and the reverse is also the possible outcome. Scoping out the competition?" He scoffs.

And it clicks: the boy they have been avoiding during lunch time and the kid they kind of picked up in the internet café.

"If nothing else, a GenEd kid like me is thinking: hey, why don't I try pulling the rug out from those Heroics kid while they're on their high horses?" Shinsō Hitoshi. "Consider it a Declaration of War."

And the boy who turned Nobara's good day into a bad one. And Nobara is really, really annoyed. They mentioned something about arrogant kids who think they're a big deal because they survived a Villain Attack right? And from the whispers of the other Heroics Students from Class 1-B, they're jealous? Jealous because her classmates got a front row seat in a Villain Attack that gravely injured even All Might? That broke more than a set of ribs from Fushiguro? Ah, ah, ah, ah—

She scoffs loudly and purposely walks in front of Bakugō, even bumping on his arm roughly. She pulls her hammer out from the belt attached around her waist, hearing her given name get called out by Fushiguro, but she zones out, letting a faint burst of Cursed Energy envelop her hammer. She whips her arm to the wall and slams her hammer to it. The students watch her wearily. She meets Shinsō's gaze. He obviously recognizes her but the way he glances at her hair makes him unsure. She crosses her arms. "Just because that Bakugō is arrogant, doesn't mean the whole class is and honestly," annoyance drips from her voice, "He has every right to get arrogant. Who got second place, anyway?—"

"Oi, you little shi—"

She points her thumb to her back, pointing at Bakugō. "This guy. The Entrance Exam scouted out the flashy Quirks because it's the easiest to pick out the strongest that way but that doesn't mean it's the most effective," she sighs, flipping her hair back, "So the Sports Festival is the only way to let out your complaints. If you manage to 'pull out the rug' from us 'Heroic kids' then that means we never deserved it in the first place so go on. Work hard.Train. Because right now, all I can see are barks and no bites. This 'arrogant kid' you're spitting on? He's been biting since Day One."

Honestly, Nobara does not like Bakugō and she wants nothing more than to beat him to the ground but Nobara has seen the way he used his Quirk and the way he battles, a bit rough around the edges but he clearly worked hard. And Nobara is a firm believer of the fact that people can only be arrogant if they have the talent to back it up and Nobara is so sick of being ashamed of mocking All Might when he saved their sorry asses and Aizawa—she turns to her own classmates and points to them. "That applies to you too!" And in a burst of energy, she realizes: standing out? Avoiding that? They already have an unbendable backstory and even Fushiguro is coming out of his shell and Nobara is so, so tired of laying low when this is not who she is. Nobara is meant to stand out and she is going to make sure everyone talks about her, especially now that no one can question her existence in this world. She will make sure everyone knows her and the Sports Festival can see her face until it reaches Itadori.

"I'm Kugisaki Nobara, your year's Class Representative," Nobara announces and if she hears another one of Fushiguro's sigh, she ignores it as she always does, "And this is a Declaration of War."

And that little shit—Itadori Yūji, better hear her too.

Fushiguro facepalms.

...

The room is not as dark as he likes to think it is but he does prefer a little more light. One of the few sources of light comes from the bulb at the ceiling, the TV screen, and the door by the hallway cranked open but aside from that, the room is terribly dark. He shuffles on the couch, uncomfortable but still rather satisfied. He scratches the scar under his eye, watching the news fly by. Something about a bunch of students getting attacked by a 'Villain' in the middle of a school field trip? He has no idea what UA is supposed to be but he supposes he can ask one of the guys. He stretches his limbs.

The past few months have been rough but at least there are no marks left from the poking he received when he first came in. He likes to think that he really, really did come a long way. He grins though it quickly fades when a voice mumbles at the back of his head, "Oi, oi—look at the screen, maggot." He jumps and a part of him refuses to listen. He closes his eyes immediately. "Nope," the loneliness is eating him up, truth to be told, and he unfortunately finds himself humoring the Curse more often than not. Said voice, however, because of this, screeches at his head. "If you don't want to see your damned groupie than keep your eyes shut then, boy!"

That comment has his eyes opening in almost in an instant, his body moving before he even knows it, scrambling to the small TV screen. He squints. "Huh? Where?" He reaches for the remote and heightens the volume of the news.

"—reported to have two injured students from the Class 1-A of UA, with no further casualties aside from massive renovations in the famous Unforeseen Simulation Joint, USJ. Reports have it that the Class Representative had quickly sped to the teachers in order to seek for reinforcements but thanks to All Might's early and speedy response, the Villain was defeated in almost an instant and thus, ensuring that, with the exception of the two students, none were harmed," says the woman on the screen and then, he sees it—at the very, very back are blurred figures, a brunette tagging along a stretcher with a dark-haired boy but—he frowns.

"Nah, nah," he waves his hand around, "That's not them. Kugisaki's had short hair since she was—she was in elementary school! She said that herself already. I know you don't care about my friends, Sukuna, but, you know, Kugisaki's trademark is her hair—"

"Shut it."

He shrugs his shoulders and gets up from the ground, going back to the couch and sighing. He tugs on his shirt, missing the feeling of his uniform. Sadly, it got very, very badly tattered within his first few weeks of getting tied up into a chair, interrogated. But look at him now! He laughs to himself, earning an eye roll from Sukuna, proud at his development. He lets his head loll to the side, catching the sight of a Buddha statue present in every room in the building. To say that Sukuna hates it is an understatement and because of how often he has been seeing it, he'a getting annoyed too, honestly. "How ironic," Sukuna grunts.

He sits up and immediately turns to the door when it creaks, a blond-haired man's head poking out. "You've been hanging out here for too long. Was supposed to be under an hour," he remarks, "Anyway, time's up."

"Already?"

"You know the rules, Itadori."

...

a monk for three days