Chapter Twelve.
Red & Blue.
2005.
"You two do realize that sitting around all day isn't considered training?" Suguru sighs, staring at his two classmates as they lie under their own respective trees, the crown of the trees they were relaxing under currently providing them shade from the heat.
"It's hot!" Satoru complains, feeling like he was going to knock out at any moment.
"Yeah, what he said!" Asami says, for once agreeing with the boy.
"You think I don't realize that?" Suguru glares at them, wiping off the small drops of sweat that were trickling down the sides of his forehead. For the past hour, the two had been actively avoiding doing any type of work, their disdain for each other always getting in the way of making any progress. At this rate Asami would master cursed energy manipulation by the time she was a senior citizen.
Shaking his head, Suguru tries to think of something that would get them both on their feet and actually doing something productive. With a light bulb going off in his head, he runs off to God knows where, leaving Asami and Satoru by themselves.
"Where do you think he went?" Asami asks, forgetting who exactly she was talking to.
"Tch, does it look like I know," Satoru says while rolling his eyes.
Sitting up from her lying position, she scowls at him, "You're such an asshole."
He scoffs in response, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've all heard it all before from you," he yawns, stretching his arms out as he changes his position on the grass.
"Well maybe one day it'll actually get through that thick skull of yours," she angrily pouts, scanning the area for any sign of Suguru, "I don't think he's coming back…"
Preparing to take a nap, Satoru shrugs, beginning to get annoyed at her constant nagging,"Then, let's call it a—"
"Huh?" Asami tilts her head in confusion, watching Suguru walk towards the field with a handful of blown up balloons, scattering them all around her with a smile on his face, "What's all this for?"
"These balloons are going to serve as your practice."
She raises a brow, confused as to what he means by that.
"Your job is to make these balloons both bigger and smaller without popping or deflating them," he instructs, "If you can do that then you should be all set for cursed energy manipulation."
Remaining silent, she appears to be skeptical about the method, but decides to go at it anyway, thinking that it was better to work with Suguru than Satoru. Getting up onto her feet, she takes a deep breath while mentally focusing on the pink balloon in front of her, deciding that she was going to make it bigger.
"Remember that your cursed energy needs to flow," Suguru whispers, Asami immediately shushing him, feeling herself become in control. She was going to get this balloon to grow, that she was sure of. She just needed to focus.
Slowly imbuing the balloon with her cursed energy, Asami senses the balloon becoming bigger, already preparing to celebrate until...
"ROOONC shshshsh!" the sound of Satoru's loud snore causes her to jolt in surprise, the balloon loudly popping in the air. Jumping in surprise as well, Satoru wakes up from his 5 minute nap, hastily looking around to see where the sound came from.
Groaning in frustration, she angrily turns to him, preparing to tell him off until he beats her to it.
"What the hell was that?!" he fixes his hair, glaring at who he now believes is the culprit for his literal rude awakening.
"No, no, no! You don't get to be mad considering you're the one who feels the need to snore like some pig!" Asami yells, wanting nothing more than to lunge at him. Clearly offended, Asami laughs at the expression he makes, knowing she's won this round.
"Whatever," he mumbles, turning to his side and preparing to go back to sleep. That was until he heard the sound of another balloon pop, and then another, and another, and another…..
By that point he was convinced it was going to be endless, immediately getting up and marching to Asami and Suguru, "No way you're going to be failing at this for the next hour," he mutters, now in a grumpy mood.
"Well if it wasn't for you snoring, I wouldn't have lost my focus," Asami retorts, now attempting to shrink the balloons, her efforts also a pitiful failure.
Smiling to himself, Suguru knows his plan has worked. Not only has he gotten them both on their feet, but he also got Satoru annoyed enough that now he just had to help. Mentally patting himself on the back, he quietly watches the scene in front of him, finding himself completely entertained.
"Give me that," Satoru snatches the orange balloon in her hand, "Watch and learn," he harshly says, quickly inflating the balloon in his hands, almost making it seem like child's play. Probably because to him, it indeed was child's play.
Asami frowns, secretly beginning to feel incompetent, "You know, most people learn things by actually having stuff explained to them, not just shown."
Sighing, Satoru dreads the next upcoming weeks, unsure if he has the patience for this kind of stuff, "I don't know how to explain it, I just do it," he shrugs. It wasn't like he was lying, manipulating cursed energy was just something that came natural to him.
"Yeah, well I need the explaining part of it," Asami mumbles, annoyed at the fact that she was being reminded that Satoru was some kind of protégé.
This time her statement makes him laugh as he cockily smiles, "Can't blame you, I am Gojo Satoru after all."
She rolls her eyes, "And? What's that supposed to mean?" she scoffs, not exactly a fan of his smug behavior.
"Means I'm built different, it also means weak people like you will never …" he makes a childish thinking face, placing a finger to his chin, "How can I say it…." he purposely hums, "… be as strong as me. It means you'll always be weak," he teasingly sings, a smirk now on his face.
"Who said I want to be anything like you? If being as strong as you means being an asshole to everyone else then no thank you," Asami scowls, feeling her blood boil. God, how she hated him! She hated how self-absorbed he always was, and how he viewed everyone else as inferior to him. It was just so aggravating!
"You know, I don't know if it's because you're from some big family or because you think you have some extraordinary power that you can just walk around thinking you're the most special person on Earth—"
"I am," he rudely interrupts.
She glares at him before continuing, "You're not! But guess what, to me you'll always be nothing more than a self-absorbed idiot!" she huffs, crossing her arms like a child.
"HA, am I supposed to care what someone like you thinks about someone like me?" he says, clearly belittling her.
"You guys—" Suguru tries to stop their petty argument before it could escalate any further, but his efforts are of no use as they instead yell right over him.
"You're right, you're not," Asami fakes a laugh, the two now getting closer to one another out of spite, "But let me tell you, I will definitely be laughing when reality hits you one of these days."
Narrowing his eyes at her, all can he do is smirk, "Careful with your words now," he chuckles, "Moment a guy like me is gone, weak people like you are the first to go."
Tightening her fist, the inflated balloons around them suddenly pop, Asami now seething with resentment.
"Someone's mad," Satoru quietly sings into her ear, and Asami immediately steps away in pure frustration.
"I'm out of here!"
She glares at Suguru before storming off in anger, preparing to go to Masamichi's office and demand he stop these training sessions because NO WAY was she going to deal with this for the next couple of months.
Massaging his temple, Suguru glares at his best friend, "You know, I can't really blame her for—"
"Hating me?" Satoru completes the sentence for him, but Suguru shakes his head in dismissal.
"Disliking you," he corrects, believing that the word hate was often easily thrown around, "and finding you annoying of course," he adds.
"Yeah well I don't like her as well so the feeling is mutual," Satoru mutters, sitting down on the dry grass once again, but instead of lying down, he opts for leaning against the trunk of a tree.
Suguru laughs, "I don't understand why. Asami's a really sweet person and it's been proven that she has the potential to be a special grade, if not already one. I mean you were the one who said it yourself, she has a powerful cursed technique, so don't go using that "she's weak" excuse on me," Suguru says, carefully studying his friend's reaction to the words.
"I just don't like her, okay?" Satoru nonchalantly shrugs, "I mean it's nothing personal, but people like her are just annoying to me."
Shaking his head, Suguru doesn't fall for the uncaring act, "I think if you actually got to know her then you two would actually get along the most. I mean she even likes Digimon…"
The word "Digimon" grabs Satoru's attention as his eyes peek over his sunglasses, but when he sees the teasing smile on Suguru's face, he flicks him off, "Tch, fuck you," he whispers under his breath.
"As if a pretty girl like her would like something like Digimon," Suguru laughs, unable to understand his friend's obsession for the franchise, "But I actually mean it when I say that you two would get along if you actually got to know one another."
Remaining silent, Satoru plays with his fingernails, picking at his cuticles while pretending to ignore the curse manipulation user. In the past couple of months, he'd already heard several different variations of this exact lecture, everything always going in one ear and immediately out the other.
"You know, I think Masamichi was being serious about getting you kicked out," Suguru brings up their sensei's ultimatum.
Satoru bitterly scoffs, "Yeah and whose fault is that? You know, her and I wouldn't even be in this stupid situation if it weren't for you meddling in."
"Because me and Shoko are tired of having to separately hang out with the two of you," Suguru says, a peeved look forming on his face, "And the only reason we have to do that is because when it's all four of us, you two can't shut up for a single second."
"That's not true," Satoru mumbles, knowing he was lying. Nervously laughing, he remembers what had happened the last time they all went to the movies…
"This is the end for me," the primary side character of the movie groans in pain, having been fatally stabbed in battle, now being held by the main protagonist as their death nears.
"Y-You can't leave, w-we need you," the main character cries like there's no tomorrow, maybe because there really wasn't going to be, the setting of the movie being an apocalypse.
Frowning, Asami feels tears well up in the corners of her eyes, clearly invested in the movie, "No…" she quietly whispers to herself, believing that no one could hear her. But of course a certain someone, who was only a mere two seats away from her, did.
Peeking at her, Satoru rolls his eyes, "I cannot believe you're about to cry over a loser character like that," he harshly whispers. Asami tilts her own head to face him when she hears him, her welling tears now completely gone.
Shoko and Suguru, who were in between them, let out a collective sigh.
"And if I am? What the hell are you going to do about it?" she tries to keep her voice at a low, but it was very hard to do, especially when she was being berated by an idiot like Satoru.
"Call you a cry-baby, just like —"
"SHHH!" the whole theatre shushes them, Shoko and Suguru beginning to feel second hand embarrassment.
"Can you guys do this somewhere else?" Shoko murmurs, this being the third time this week that they were fighting.
"Yeah well tell him to shut it!" Asami sneers, regretting telling Shoko that it was okay to have him tag along. But what Asami didn't know was that Satoru was currently in his seat regretting telling Suguru that it was okay for her to come, the two of them having been bamboozled by their own friends into thinking they were the original choice to be invited.
"Tell her I can do whatever I want," Satoru plays along with the childish game of using their friends as a bridge for communication.
With a dead look in his eyes, Suguru continues to stare at the screen in front of him, "She can hear you Satoru," he monotonously says, pausing for a small second, "THE WHOLE DAMN THEATRE CAN!" he finally explodes, tired of his friends' foolish antics. And so when he sees a bright light get flashed onto him and his group of friends, he can't say he's surprised when they're escorted out of the theatre.
Trying to contain the rest of his anger, he clenches his jaw in an effort to calm down, "I cannot believe you two couldn't keep it shut for just 2 freaking hours," he mutters under his breath, but Asami and Satoru manage to hear him.
"You were the one who screamed out loud…." Satoru quietly mumbles, acting like a complete child.
"Yeah…" Asami follows up with.
The two immediately shrink when they see fire appear in Suguru's eyes, "Haha we're just kidding…" Satoru awkwardly laughs, realizing that maybe today they crossed a line.
"We're sorry Suguru," Asami says, and for a small second Suguru feels his anger subside, believing the apology to be sincere. That is until…
"Hey! Don't go apologizing for me!" Satoru furrows his brows, the two returning to their regular scheduled program of bickering till the sun goes down.
Suguru groans in annoyance while Shoko follows him as he begins to walk back to the bus station, leaving his Satoru and Asami to argue with themselves.
"Okay so maybe it's a little annoying…" Satoru gives Suguru an awkward smile, scratching his head in the process.
"A little?"
"Okay, a lot…"
"Exactly, look Satoru all I'm asking of you is to try, especially considering it's your future career on the line…." Suguru says and Satoru begrudgingly rolls his eyes in response, "Just for one day, and if it still doesn't work out then I'll go to Masamichi myself and convince him to cancel this whole thing."
Staying silent, Satoru thinks about what there was to gain out of this….
Oh right, nothing!
Sighing, he notices Suguru's anxious expression, the teen truly on his last leg when it comes to his constantly bickering classmates. Feeling … sort of … bad, Satoru grudgingly nods his head, "Fine, but like you said, if it doesn't work out then I expect you to go straight to Masamichi."
And with a grin appearing on his best friend's face, Suguru eagerly agrees, feeling like half of the weight that was on his shoulders had fallen off … now just to get rid of the other half.
"But with the way Asami stormed off, I'm not expecting her to make an appearance tomorrow," Satoru says, and Suguru raises his hand, as if to say it wasn't a problem.
"I think Shoko will take care of it…"
"Stupid lanky idiot!" Asami stomps her way across campus, having muttered all types of curses while on her way to Masamichi's office, "Moment a guy like me is gone, weak people like you are the first to go," she childishly mocks his voice, in that moment wanting nothing more than to slap the smug look off his face.
Finally finding Masamichi's office, Asami prepares to storm right in, ready to give her sensei a piece of her mind. But when she actually does, she instead finds an unoccupied desk. Knowing she was alone, she lets out a dramatic (not to mention bratty) shriek, not wanting to deal with Satoru for another 24 hours.
Completely dropping her tensed shoulders in frustration, she slams the sliding door of his office, leaving in anger. It's once she does, that a certain buff figure comes out of hiding, a flip phone pressed against their ear.
"She's gone now," the person says to whoever they were talking to.
"Thanks Masamichi-sensei!" Shoko laughs, luckily catching Suguru's text in time. Because of that, she was able to warn Masamichi of the red-headed figure that was angrily coming his way.
"As long as those two stop bickering within the next three months then I don't care what you and Suguru have to do," he says, thankful that he didn't have to deal with Asami's repetitive complaints today.
"Gotcha, see you tomorrow Sensei!" Shoko closes her flip-phone, preparing to talk to a fuming Asami.
Angrily climbing up the stairs to her dorm room, Asami angrily jams the key into her door's keyhole, growing more upset as she struggles to turn the key, her frustration probably causing it to jam. Of course she wasn't going to take responsibility, so instead she blames the assumed age of the wooden door.
"Ugly old door," she mutters, tempted to just kick it down.
"Need help?" a familiar voice from behind says, and Asami turns to find a smiling Shoko, an unlit cigarette in between her fingers.
Sighing, Asami pulls out the key, but rather than give it to Shoko, she slides down her door, feeling completely exhausted.
"Rough day?" Shoko takes a seat next to her, silently offering her a cigarette of her own.
Asami shakes her head no, "Thank you though," she says, already accustomed to her next door neighbor's habits.
Lighting the cigarette, Shoko places the toxic thing in between her lips, taking a hit before continuing with their conversation, "Let me guess …. Satoru?"
"Tch, when isn't it because of him…"
Shoko softly chuckles, "You know, he's not as bad as you make him out to be, it just takes him some time to get used to people."
Asami rolls her brown eyes, "It's been like what? Three months since I've arrived, and there's been no change in our mutual animosity for one another…"
"If it makes you feel better, he was mean to me as well when I first met him. Wasn't till he saw that my cursed technique was up to par with his standards that he began to be a little nicer to me. Now we're pretty close friends," Shoko explains, but Asami only scowls, her classmate's statement only further irritating her rather than making her "feel better".
"See and that's what I don't get and what I don't like. Why is that I'm the one who has to reach his level so he can treat me as his equal? That's a bunch of bullshit," she spits, "Not only that but he expects me to kiss the ground he walks on or something, all because he has some overpowered cursed technique. Hasn't anyone taught him the whole treat others how you want to be treated?" she rambles, feeling her heart race, "God, I hate him," she mutters.
And it's at those words that Shoko intervenes, "No you don't. You just find him annoying, and I can't blame you," she laughs, "But Satoru is indeed the strongest person around here, and well I genuinely think he can help you learn about your cursed technique. Especially because of his Six Eyes."
Asami remains silent, not exactly having a counterargument.
"Look, I know he's a self-absorbed idiot, but I think you should give these one on one lessons a shot. Just genuinely try for one day, and if you still don't like it then I'll go to Masamichi and convince him to cancel everything..." Shoko practically repeats the exact same words that Suguru had said to Satoru, adding an extra part at the end.
"...Suguru and I will even stand by on the side for the first couple of days."
Letting out a loud frustrated exhale, Asami runs a hand through her red-colored hair, convinced that with any more added stress and her hair would soon start falling out.
'I do need to start working on my cursed techniques … but in order to do that I have to master cursed energy manipulation….' she thinks to herself, frustrated that she didn't have many options. Sadly, Satoru is the only one who can actually "see" her cursed technique and knows what exactly it is, so in a sense she … needed…. him.
"Fine," she mutters, "But I expect the same effort from that idiot!"
Shoko laughs, feeling a little mischievous, "Yeah don't worry," she reassures Asami, "We have it all under control."
Asami tilts her head in confusion, "We?"
The Next Day…
"Okay, you guys! Shoko and I will be watching you two from right over there!" Suguru enthusiastically points at a tree with shade, "If you two need anything, you guys let us know and remember … no fighting!"
Simultaneously sighing, Asami and Suguru remain in awkward silence, remembering the promises they made to their friends on "putting genuine effort." How ironic, now that they couldn't bicker and argue, neither one of them had anything to say.
"So…" Asami starts off, putting her pride to the side just this once, "Where do we um," she gulps, "Begin?"
Debating whether or not to break his promise, Satoru's mouth twists when he realizes that he'd feel guilty, "Let's…" he pauses, unsure himself on where to begin, "Let's get you manipulating cursed energy out of the way," he ultimately says, counting the inflated balloons around them.
Meanwhile, at the tree, Shoko and Suguru discuss their predictions among themselves.
"How long do you think it'll take before they start arguing?" Shoko asks, pessimistic about things.
Suguru, who was more on the optimistic side, answers with, "Hopefully …. Till the end of the hour," he says, causing Shoko to laugh. Optimistic he was, but never an idiot.
"Okay first try to expand the balloon," Satoru instructs the girl, carefully watching her as she begins her first attempt at inflating the balloon. And for a couple of seconds she does, but it of course eventually pops right in her face.
"Stop being so nervous," Satoru says, not exactly saying it meanly, but it wasn't in a kind manner either.
Accustomed to his rude behavior, Asami prepares to throw a jab in, voice raising in the process, "I can't—" she suddenly puts a halt to her next couple of words, noticing the expressions on her classmates' faces, "I can't help it," she innocently whispers, surprising both herself and Satoru.
Staring at her in shocked silence, Satoru realizes that this was their first ever "civil" exchange with each other, feeling himself at a slight loss for words. And perhaps it was because he was staring at her too long, but soon the faintest of blushes appears on the apples of her cheeks, and as a result it causes him to feel slightly flustered.
Noticing her mouth beginning to move, he fears that she's about to comment on his staring, so instead he awkwardly coughs himself out of the situation, "Um," cough, cough, "We should um continue."
"R-Right," she embarrassingly stutters, the two now completely avoiding eye contact.
Back at the tree, Shoko has her mouth agape, "No way!" She tries to keep her voice down, Suguru now having the biggest smirk plastered onto his face.
"Oh yeah," he chuckles, "Shoko, I think we're going to be witnessing quite the love story from this point on…"
Continuing to pop and deflate the balloons, Asami lets out a groan of frustration, feeling extremely close to giving up. Aware of her frustration, Satoru tries to think of a way to make the concept of controlling cursed energy easier for her.
'Wait…' he stops mid thought, 'Why am I actually putting effort into this…'
"Ugh!" Asami's voice brings him back to reality, having popped yet another balloon, "I can't do this!" she yells in irritation.
"Asami, you need to think of it as riding a bike," he says, "You need balance on all parts of your body, and my Six Eyes is showing me that you're only focusing it on your hands."
She frowns, "Isn't that the point? I mean isn't that the only way the balloon will inflate… I don't get what the rest of my body has to do with the balloon in my hands…" she shyly says, beginning to feel disappointed with herself.
'So these are the problems of weak people…' he thinks to himself, unsure of what to say to make her feel … not better, but more hopeful. Because wanting to make her feel better would be ridiculous on his part. Extremely ridiculous … right?
Shaking off his thoughts, he finally responds to her, "Because it's not evenly flowing Asami, think of it all as one connecting pipe. Right now some of your pieces are bigger than the standard size and others are smaller, and they all need to be even in order to fit with one another so that water can flow," he says, and Asami surprisingly understands his analogy.
"What's causing your balloon to pop and deflate is the fact that you're not evenly flowing your cursed energy, it's causing you to lose control and have random bursts, like what happened with you shocking Suguru," he adds, Asami making an "o" face.
"So then how do I make it flow smoothly?"
"By controlling your emotions," he answers, "Masamichi made you watch all those movies for that simple reason, remember?"
She nods, "Yeah but…"
"No buts," he interrupts her, "Asami you've been perfectly trained to master controlling cursed energy, the only person stopping you from inflating that balloon is you," he says.
Looking down at her feet, he fears that he may have hurt her feelings, that is until he sees the determined look on her face which told him otherwise. Passing her a red balloon, she silently stares at the round flimsy thing, wanting nothing more than to succeed.
"Inhale," she breathes in, concentrating on evenly flowing her cursed energy by focusing in on controlling her emotions, "Exhale," she feels the balloon expand, making sure not to get excited just yet.
"YOU GOT IT!" Satoru loudly yells in an attempt to catch her off guard, but …
The balloon still doesn't pop.
Feeling adequate in its size, she opens her eyes, a shining bright smile appearing on her face as she stares at the now humongous balloon in her hands, "Oh my god…" she whispers under her breath.
"Nice," Satoru doesn't realize that he's smiling as well, observing the balloons in Asami's surprisingly tiny hands. 'Ha, her fingers are so short and chubby, cute...' he thinks to himself.
"Hey, they're not that short…"
Or so he thought.
Eyes widening, he looks down at a fully blushing Asami, "My um bad, I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine..." she awkwardly laughs, looking at the time on her flip phone, "Um, looks like the hour is over," she mentions, wanting to get out of here and hide behind a bush, for she knew her face was burning red.
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Satoru says in panic, remembering that they had a two person audience watching them.
Nodding, Asami gives him along with their friends a quick wave goodbye, trying to put her careless facade back on, "Yeah see you tomorrow then asshole."
Taking offense, he's about to say something in return until he sees that she's long gone, practically running to the dorm building, Shoko following closely behind her. Feeling a hand get placed onto his shoulder, he's not surprised to see Suguru beside him.
"Aren't you a good teacher," Satoru hears the teasing tone behind Suguru's comment, rolling his eyes as a result.
"All I did was remind her of what she already knew," Satoru tries to act as nonchalant as he could, carelessly shrugging as well.
His facade makes Suguru laugh, "Told you that you could get along with one another…" he nudges Satoru's shoulder, "My forecast tells me you might be getting your first kiss soon…"
Satoru immediately scowls at his best friend, pushing his hand off, "Hey, don't get ahead of yourself now," his voice cracks mid way through the scolding, making him squirm in embarrassment.
Suguru begins to crack up, "Ha, she even has your voice cracking!"
"Shut it!" he frowns, "Us getting along for one day, no one hour, doesn't mean shit!"
"I'm just teasing you Satoru," Suguru raises his hands in defense, "Since when can you not handle a joke?"
Narrowing his eyes at Suguru, the six eyes user begins to walk away, not wanting his classmate to see his beet-red face, "Since now," he yells.
Shaking his head in amusement, Suguru yells something in return, watching his flustered friend walk away, "So I take it you're training with her tomorrow?"
And though Satoru doesn't respond to his question, Suguru knows that he'll be seeing his best friend at this same exact spot tomorrow.
Frantically twisting the key to her dorm room, Asami wants to do nothing more than shove her face into her pillow and scream, embarrassed by the fact that her face had gotten so red. Stupid heat! If it wasn't for how hot it was, she wouldn't have felt so flustered!
"Ugh," she harshly kicks her door, "Stupid door!" she yells, unable to open it for the second day in a row.
"Asami you dropped this!" she hears Shoko behind her, panting for breath.
Turning around, Shoko's eyes widen at just how red Asami's face is, unsure if it was because of her interaction with Satoru, how much she ran, or if it was a mixture of both.
"O-Oh thank you," Asami hesitantly grabs the card in Shoko's hand.
"You're like …. Really red…" Shoko chuckles, "I have an ice cold water bottle in my mini fridge, would you like it?"
Continuing to feel her heart race and knowing her door wasn't going to open anytime soon, Asami nods, entering Shoko's dorm room. Handing her the water bottle, Asami quickly feels her body temperature lower as she gulps down the icy drink, her cheeks becoming less red as a result. God, was this embarrassing.
"Hey, it didn't go as bad as you thought it would," Shoko attempts to spark up conversation, Suguru and her making a deal to share any information they manage to get out of the two of them. More specifically, it was Suguru's job to get information from Satoru, and Shoko's job to get information from Asami. It was especially convenient that they lived in the same dorm halls of their assigned "cases".
But Asami was quite a hard nut to crack as all she did was remain silent, continuing to sip on her cold water.
Shoko tries again, "You finally got the balloon technique down," and from there it seems that the actual topic of training and progress is what gets Asami talking, as this time she actually responds.
"Oh I know," she says, "I was beginning to get frustrated."
"Yeah, good thing Satoru was there to help you."
Asami shrugs, "Yeah I guess..." she feigns a laugh, "Well thanks for the water!" she says, before beginning to head out the door, her erratic behavior from earlier now making her feel awkward.
'Damn, what do I say to make her stay?' Shoko tries to think quickly on her feet, but by the time she manages to think of something, Asami's already out the door.
Shoko snaps her fingers as a result, "Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought…"
3 Weeks Later…
"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God…" Asami excitedly jumps up and down, managing to imbue her knives with her cursed energy, while perfectly throwing them onto the marked targets of the tree in front of her.
"Nice!" Satoru yells from the shaded area he was sitting at, Asami's progress in controlling and manipulating cursed energy now reaching expertise levels, "Now rather than focusing on one tree, let's start focusing on multiple ones. From there we'll start working on moving objects."
She nods, beginning to practice while Satoru silently watches her from where he sits. It'd been three weeks since he started helping her train and though he couldn't take all the credit for her progress, he definitely liked to think he played a big role in it.
Though they still butted heads outside of training, it wasn't as … intense … as it used to be, nor as frequent. Especially because when it came to training, the two surprisingly took it completely seriously, any arguments they had a minute prior to the clock hitting 12 being put on pause until training was over.
Of course that didn't mean the occasional banter didn't seep through, but compared to what it used to be like, progress had definitely been made. Well enough that Suguru and Shoko no longer felt the need to stay and supervise the two of them.
'1 target down. 2 targets down. 3 targets down. 4 targets down. 5 targets down.' Satoru counts the knives as they're thrown one by one, each single one perfectly hitting the X marks.
"There you go, you got—" Satoru closes his mouth shut when he realizes what he was doing, 'Cheering her on?!' he mentally facepalms himself, thankful that he stopped mid sentence as his two other classmates were now making their way onto the field.
"Aren't you getting better," Suguru says to Asami, hands in his pockets as he observes her throwing three knives simultaneously.
Catching her breath, she smiles and waves at her friends, wiping the sweat off her forehead before making her way to them, "Yeah well all those training sessions with different sorcerers have to count for something, right?
Shoko shakes her head, "I still can't believe Masamichi has you training so vigorously," she says, "8 hour training days? I don't know how you're standing on both feet," she laughs.
"Well, she is a late bloomer and being considered for Special Grade status, meaning she has to be in tip top shape for the higher ups." Suguru says, understanding that Asami's efforts would pay off in the end, "But hey, remember to give some credit to Satoru here," he winks at Asami while playfully wrapping an arm around Satoru, who had just barely made his way over to them.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Asami rolls her eyes, "He's not too bad of a trainer."
Scoffing, Satoru narrows his eyes at her, "I'm an amazing trainer and you know it."
"Blah, blah, blah." Asami makes a talking motion with her hands, the two preparing to go at it.
"Hey—"
"That's enough you two," Suguru nervously laughs, "Anyways, we came here to invite you two to go with us to a recently opened cafe in Shibuya tonight. We've been hearing all kinds of reviews on it, and want to see it for ourselves, so what do you say?"
Satoru shrugs, down for whatever, while Asami hesitates to respond, thinking about her current hectic schedule.
"Do you guys mind if I meet you over there? I'm going to want to shower and stuff after practice," she tells them, and they nod, understanding that since her practice ended at a much later time, she wasn't going to get to leave with them.
"Okay, so 8:30 sound good?"
Everyone nods, looking forward to this "amazing" cafe.
8:30PM
Looking around their table, Shoko, Suguru, and Satoru understand why this newly built cafe was being raved about, it's grandiose theme of "Alice in Wonderland" definitely an eyecatcher. From the beautiful carousel themed tables to the hand painted walls, everything was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention the small details found in things like the menu and utensils which were engraved with playing card symbols and decorated with images of the characters from the book.
"All of this makes me want to go to Disneyland," Suguru chuckles, running a finger down the plastic menu, thinking of what he should order for himself.
"We should all go sometime," Shoko says, eyeing the "Velvety Queen of Hearts Cake" while also debating whether to get a latte with it or not.
"I could always sneak us in," Satoru adds, as these days his teleportation techniques' range was improving. Soon, he'd be able to easily do both short and long distance teleportation, "I mean—"
"Hello, my name is Suki, and I will be your waiter for —" the teenage girl freezes when she sees the white haired boy in front of her, a pink blush appearing on her cheeks.
Tilting his head in confusion, Satoru observes the flustered girl's appearance, 'She's cute,' he thinks to himself.
Gulping, she continues with her original sentence, "I'll be your waiter for today," she feigns a polite smile, internally scolding herself for her embarrassing behavior. Taking their orders, she picks up their menus, fingers just a little shaky as a result of her nervousness.
Staring at the girl, Shoko nudges Suguru from the side, as if telling him to get a look at her. Laughing to himself, he decides to make conversation with the girl.
"Aren't you a little too young to be working here?" he asks her, a coy smile on his face as rests his head on his hand.
Awkwardly laughing, she nods, "I'm just a part time worker here…"
"Means you're in high school just like us, right?"
She nods again, "I'm in my third year," she says, surprising the three of them as that meant she was older than them by exactly two years. Noticing their expressions, she softly chuckles, "I'm assuming you're all first years? If it makes you feel better, you guys look a lot older than you are."
"What school do you attend?" Satoru asks her, his curiosity now piqued.
"Waseda Shibuya," she answers, a little too eager for her liking. And because of his seated position, she accidently makes direct eye contact with him, noticing the boy's not only unique but very intense eye color, "Woah," she lets out accidentally.
Feeling smug, Satoru takes off his sunglasses, making Suguru roll his eyes.
Face immediately reddening, Suki gulps, "Well um…" she avoids eye contact with the group of three, "I'll be right back with your orders," she runs off while almost tripping on her way to the kitchen causing Shoko and Suguru to snicker to themselves.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone have such an obvious crush in my life," Shoko says.
Satoru shrugs, putting his sunglasses back on, "She's cute…" he pauses, "But she's not my type."
His friends smirk, a certain red haired girl coming to their minds, "So then, what is your type?" Suguru slyly asks.
Placing a finger to his chin, Satoru pretends to be in deep thought, "Hmmmm…" he hums, "Someone like …. Inoue Waka!" he flashes them his flip phone's wallpaper, a cheesy smile on his face.
Sighing, his two classmates shake their heads. Honestly, they thought that by now Satoru and Asami would've made some kind of romantic progress, especially now that they would be left alone for training but nope! The two simply didn't like each other in any way.
Yeah, maybe they now had some certain level of respect for eachother, but even then it was the lowest of the low kind. Asami was still calling Satoru, "Gojou-san" , and Satoru was still … Satoru. The bickering had just been minimized to a point where all four could actually go out and not get kicked out due to "disruptive behavior." Hell, they weren't even sure if the two stubborn teens considered each other to be friends.
"Asami's still not here…" Satoru surprisingly says, causing his friends' ears to perk up.
"Yeah …" Shoko and Suguru side eye each other, "Do you want her to be here already?"
Satoru furrows his brows, confused by the question, "Well she did say she'd come here after practice, and we're about to get our food so…"
"Yeah, but—"
Satoru interrupts Suguru before he could continue, "Oh look food is ready!" his eyes light up, ready to munch on dessert.
9:00PM
"Whew, I'm full!" Satoru taps his stomach, feeling completely bloated. Agreeing with his statement, Shoko and Satoru frown, feeling as if they had food babies in their stomach.
"I think we ate too fast," Shoko groans, lazily wiping the red velvet stains off the corners of her lips.
Nodding his head, Suguru stretches his arms over his head, remembering that they still had a bus to catch as well as walk their way back onto campus, mentally cursing the hidden outskirt location of the school. Flagging Suki down, he informs her that they were done and ready to pay.
Handing him their bill, Suki nervously fidgets with her fingers, debating on whether to go through with what her coworker back in the kitchen had told her to do, saying "Who knows when you'll see the dude again," after rambling to her about the cute boy she was waitiering to.
Taking in a deep breath, Suki musters up the courage to ask for his number, "Hey," she grabs his attention, the boy turning to face her, "So I um think y-you're really c-cute and I was hoping that I could maybe get your n—"
"Oh my God!" A voice from behind interrupts, "I've been calling you," a finger points towards Shoko, "For like the last thirty minutes! I was basically lost in Tokyo!" Everyone turns to face a peeved looking Asami.
Shoko, who quickly checks her phone, comically goes pale when she sees "Asami (8)" on the screen. Nervously scratching her neck, she gives Asami a goofy smile, "My bad, my service is really bad around here."
The red headed teen rolls her eyes, "That's everyone's excuse these days," she walks past the waitress and pulls out the seat next to Satoru, angrily sitting down on the chair as she takes off her jacket.
"And you guys already ate," she sighs in annoyance. Finally, looking at the waitress named Suki, she smiles, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," she chuckles, unaware of what she had interrupted, "Ew you got lavender blackberry? YUCK!" Asami stares at the crumbs on Satoru's plates.
With his attention now fully on Asami, Satoru glares at her, "It's better than Red Velvet!"
Shoko frowns, "Hey!"
Suguru, noticing Suki's reddening cheeks, kicks Asami and Satoru's legs under the table, making a deliberate fake coughing sound.
"Oh right, what was it that you were saying?" Satoru turns back to Suki, remembering that she had called him cute.
Remaining in shocked silence, Suki glances at Satoru and then at Asami, weirdly going back and forth between the two of them, almost as if she was trying to put two puzzle pieces together, "I-it's nothing, I didn't realize you had a girlfriend," she tries to laugh off her embarrassment.
And it's at her statement that the two go, "HUH?!"
Shoko and Suguru stare at the scene in front of them in amusement, realizing that things had just gotten interesting, "I'm telling you, this is free entertainment," he quietly whispers to her, Shoko laughing in agreeance.
"We're not dating," Asami reassures the dirty blond-haired girl, "We're just…." she pauses, feeling a lump in her throat. What the hell were they? These days, the answer wasn't as clear to Asami as it once was. Could she consider him a friend? 'Hmm…' she thinks to herself, wondering if the self-absorbed idiot actually considered her a friend.
Holding their breaths, Shoko and Suguru stare at Asami in anticipation, the two wanting to scream, "Just say it!"
Meanwhile, Satoru only looks at Asami with curiosity, unsure of what he himself would answer. Asami wasn't exactly a friend per se, but he definitely didn't consider her someone he completely disliked anymore. And trust, that was an accomplishment in itself. If anything, he now saw her as someone who had potential to be strong, meaning becoming friends certainly wasn't something ...impossible … anymore.
With everyone now staring at her, Asami gulps, ultimately saying… .
"...Classmates. We're just classmates," she says, deciding that it was better to play it safe than sorry. Because like hell was she going to let herself get embarrassed by answering with the word "friends" only to have Satoru rudely call her out.
Sighing in relief, Suki feels her confidence build back up, "I was hoping to get your number then," she smiles at Satoru.
Shrugging in response, he pulls out his phone and hands it to her, the gesture seeming a little rude in Asami's eyes. It's for that reason that she calls him out on it.
"Don't just hand her your phone you idiot, you're supposed to put it in for her," she frowns, making the older girl in front of her blush.
"Tch, then why don't you put it in," he grabs his purple flip phone from Suki's hands and passes it to Asamii, manners now completely out the window.
"I will!" she harshly turns to Suki, "What's your number!" she accidentally screams as a result of her annoyance. The whole restaurant turns to look at her, wondering what the hell was going on at their table.
Nervously laughing, Suki hesitantly says her number out loud, beginning to understand why the girl used "classmates" instead of "friends."
Paying the bill, the four shamans bid farewell to the ordinary girl, Suki yelling out a "Call me!" before going back inside the cafe restaurant.
Walking alongside each other, Suguru tries to look for any signs of jealousy on Asami, but sadly the girl clearly didn't care for anything except for the fact that she didn't get to eat cake, mumbling incoherent things about red velvet being the supreme flavor.
"So Satoru, are you actually going to call her?" Shoko asks, curious to know what was going through the mind of her classmate.
"Maybe," he nonchalantly shrugs, "like I said, she is cute and who knows what adventures dating an older person will bring…"
Suguru rolls his eyes, "Talking big don't you think? Especially for someone who hasn't had their first kiss."
Ears perking up, Asami breaks into a hysterical fit of laughter, "You haven't had your first kiss?!"
Satoru growls at his best friend, preparing to punch him in the face for giving the red headed girl ammunition for teasing, "So what if I hadn't my first kiss? Why are you acting like I can't have one whenever I want? I mean clearly girls have no problem throwing themselves at me," he dramatically points to the girls at the end of the street who had been fawning at him for the last couple of minutes. The group of girls break into fits of giggles as a result, heart eyes appearing on their faces.
"You're right, you can, but you're too much of a chicken to do it," Suguru smirks, knowing he's hit a nerve. Satoru makes a mental note to kill Suguru in his sleep later tonight, the teenage boy knowing exactly what he was doing.
Continuing to laugh, Asami clutches onto her stomach, still unable to believe that the cocky idiot had yet to have his first kiss. "Even I've had my first kiss, and I was a part of a traveling circus!" she mentions in between laughs, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Oh shut it," Satoru scoffs, crossing his arms in annoyance, "I bet you'd let even a frog kiss you."
Asami immediately stops laughing, a satisfied smirk then appearing on Satoru's face, "Or let me guess, a clown must've given you your first kiss, right?" he adds, and Asami flicks him off as a result.
Narrowing her eyes at him, a mischievous glint appears in her eyes as she begins to walk closer to him, "Hey what are you—"
She begins to dramatically pucker her lips, "Are you scared of this?" she pouts while him, Satoru now stepping back out of blatant confusion.
Laughing their asses off, Suguru and Shoko watch the hilarious scene in front of them, "Come on, let her take your first kiss," Suguru playfully urges, knowing Satoru was too much of a chicken to do it.
"Very fucking funny," he huffs, now walking ahead of the three, "I'm out of here!' he yells while storming off, originally not wanting to teleport back to campus out of guilt of leaving his classmates, but fuck that! They could walk all the way back for all he cared!
"Someone's mad," Shoko chuckles, crossing the street with her friends.
"He'll get over it," Suguru shrugs, ready to go back to his dorm and sleep.
Climbing up the stairs to their dorm hall, Shoko and Asami feel their eyes get droopy as the feeling of sleep begins to call out to them. Sadly, they had missed their bus meaning they actually did have to walk all the way back to campus, their poor wobbly legs feeling as if they were going to snap at any moment.
Placing her key into the door, Asami sighs when it refuses to open, "They really need to fix my door," she dramatically cries out, kicking it in the process.
"You can sleep in my room if you want," Shoko offers, "I think I have an unused futon under my bed," she says, and Asami nods, not wanting to spend the next hour attempting to open her door.
Entering her room, Shoko passes Asami an extra set of pajamas and helps her set up the futon while she changes into them, making small conversation in the process, "So, what'd you think of that waitress?"
Asami's about to ask "Who?" until the image of the girl appears in her mind, "Oh that girl," she says, trying to remember her name, "Saki, right? Or was it Suki?"
"Suki," Shoko confirms for her.
Asami shrugs, beginning to put her hair in a loose ponytail, "Seems like a nice girl, Gojou-san's just a rude asshole so I don't see it ending well."
Shoko laughs, "What makes you say that?" she asks, curious to know Asami's reasoning behind the statement.
"Just a gut feeling I guess," she says, hopping into the padded futon.
"You sure you aren't jealous?" Shoko asks out of absolutely nowhere, Asami furrowing her brows in genuine confusion, bewildered by the sudden question.
"Of?"
"The waitress and Satoru," she responds as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Laughing, Asami becomes even more confused when she doesn't hear Shoko laugh along with her, convinced that this had to be some joke, "Why would I be jealous….."
"Well cause you know…"
Asami awkwardly looks around, feeling as if she were on some prank show, "Know what?"
"I mean don't you and Satoru have a thing going on…"
Eyes popping out of their sockets, Asami practically chokes on her own spit, "What the—" she looks at Shoko, not a single hint of a smile on her face. 'Where the hell did she get that from?!' Asami thinks to herself, trying to think of what possible moments she could have witnessed that led to such a bizarre conclusion.
"I thought it was pretty obvious that we don't necessarily like each other?" Asami says, thinking that maybe Shoko had gone crazy.
"Mm…" the brown-haired girl hums, "My bad, you're right," she laughs, shaking her head as if to say the statement was farfetch and silly, "Goodnight then," she turns around, pretending to go to sleep.
"Goodnight," Asami hesitantly says in return, finding herself staring at the ceiling, continuing to think about what could've led Shoko to say something as crazy as that. And like a dog with a bone, Asami can't let go of the thought, softly nudging at a "sleeping" Shoko.
Smirking to herself, Shoko quickly turns around, pretending to act groggy, "What happened?"
"Why'd you say that?" Asami asks, "Like what makes you think me and him could have a thing going on?"
"Just your guys' dynamic, I mean whenever I see you two training, you two seem to mesh well believe it or not," she answers, "Plus I think Satoru deep deep down has always had a tiny crush on you," she adds, making Asami scoff to herself. Satoru having a crush on her? No freaking way. The boy constantly made it clear that she was "not his type" and a "nuisance". Yeah, they got along during training but that's because their future careers were being put on the line.
"Yeah right," she mutters in response.
"I don't know," Shoko shrugs, "I just think you two would look cute together, that's all."
"Hm I see," Asami mumbles, still a bit unsatisfied with her answer. Not wanting to push it any further, she says goodnight for a second time, quietly thinking to herself about Shoko's so called "answer".
'Our dynamic…..' she scowls at the ceiling, what the hell was Shoko talking about? Their dynamic was horrible! 'You two would look cute together…' she shakes her head, no they would not! Not to be cocky or anything, but she was way out of his league! Plus, just like she wasn't his type, he most definitely wasn't hers!
"Hmph," Asami harshly turns her head, unable to deny that there was definitely something different about their relationship these days as it no longer fell under the category of pure hatred for one another. Something which was, for some very odd reason, a little … scary … to her. She just wasn't sure why…
Turning the key to his dorm room, Suguru quickly takes off his shoes when he enters, ready to plop onto his bed and sleep. So when he senses a certain idiot's cursed energy, he can't help but sigh to himself, having forgotten what he had revealed earlier till now.
"What do you want, Satoru?" he asks the upset figure on his bed, who was currently pretending to act nonchalant by picking at his cuticles.
"Just here to kill ya," he casually says, not bothering to look at the curse manipulation user.
Suguru lets out a chuckle, turning on the lights to his room, "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he says, plopping himself onto his study chair.
"You just had to open that big mouth of yours," Satoru huffs, "Now I won't be hearing the end of it at practice... "
Suguru laughs, "Why? Cause the girl you like now knows you haven't been kissed," he says, making Satoru sit up.
"Huh?! Girl I like?" his face twists, "Who the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't act dense, it's not a good look on you," Suguru begins to play with some random pencil he finds on his desk, acting as if what he said wasn't straight out of the ballpark, "If it makes you feel better, I think she might like you too," he adds.
"Oh you have lost it!" Satoru laughs, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"You're really going to sit here and tell me you don't like her just a tiny bit? Not even find her a bit attractive…"
Satoru remains silent, not because he was correct or anything, but because he was in too much shock. Where in the actual hell was Suguru pulling this out of?
"You my friend are de-lu-sion-al," Satoru sounds out for him, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Come on, before you started helping her train, you used to complain 24/7 about how bored you were all time. Especially because you would claim that because you're Gojo Satoru, you didn't actually need to be in school. But now? Well now I think you actually look forward to coming," Suguru explains the reasoning behind his "bold" statement, smirking at Satoru's reaction.
"Tch," he crosses his arms, "What a load of bullshit," he mutters.
"I mean, if you don't like her then why not call that waitress right now?" Suguru mentions Suki out of nowhere, Satoru honestly having forgotten that she'd given him his number thanks to Asami being too distracting in the moment.
"It's late, she's probably asleep," Satoru curves his way out the question, only making Suguru laugh. Because whether he knew it or not, Satoru was subconsciously rejecting the girl. The reason most likely being because of a certain red haired sorceress.
"Hmm, okay," Suguru gets up from the chair, knowing this conversation was going to go in circles if he didn't call it quits, "Whatever you say then. All I'm saying is I won't be surprised if you and Asami end up being a thing."
Getting off of Suguru's bed, Satoru begins to make his way out, a frown still on his face, "Yeah, you're crazy," he says while opening the door.
"Goodnight Satoruuuu," Suguru teasingly sings, "Don't dream about her too much."
Satoru flashes Suguru his middle finger before leaving his room, mumbling things like, "Liking Asami? No way," as he opens the door to his own room. Hopping into bed, he stares at the ceiling, blaming Suguru for his inability to get the red head out of his mind. Recalling how she laughed at hearing his "secret", he mentally curses her.
"Just two more months of training," he reminds himself, the forced time he has to spend with coming to an end soon. Because at this point he was convinced the sooner … the better…
The Next Day…
"Too slow," Satoru blocks Asami's incoming strike with his forearm, smirking as she predictably goes for his legs, "Gotta be quicker than that," he says, countering her kick with a swing of his own.
Bending backwards, she barely manages to dodge his swing, reminding herself that she needs to be light on her feet. Honestly, she was shocked. She expected someone as tall and lanky as Satoru to move stiffly when fighting, but if anything he liked using his long legs to his advantage.
"I'm getting tired," Asami huffs, trying to catch her breath. They'd been sparring for the last half hour, Satoru having turned off his infinity in order to give the girl a fair shot at him, the two going back and forth between offense and defense.
Beginning to sweat, Asami tries to follow the advice she'd been given by one of her hand to hand combat instructors, something about analyzing and then executing. But Satoru was just too good, in fact he was perfect, every move of his not only calculated but done without any effort. Of course she'd never tell him that, but she'd be an idiot not to acknowledge it.
"That's too bad," he grunts while going in for another kick. Managing to push his leg in time, she gets him off balance, creating an opportunity for herself to end this once and for all. Lunging at him, she goes in for the final blow, but Asami should've known better than to believe she could take him down with her own two hands.
Quickly catching his balance, Satoru grabs her incoming fist, causing her to yelp in pain. Cursing at him, she unsuccessfully attempts to give him a roundabout kick, Satoru quickly countering it with a strike of his own.
Out of moves, she feels her arms get pinned behind her back, her face now touching the rough bark of the tree she was being pushed against. Applying pressure, Asami groans in pain at Satoru's actions.
"You're definitely getting better," Satoru says from behind, Asami not even having to see his face in order to recognize that he was being as smug as ever, "I think you might be the first person around here to actually make me break a sweat," he surprisingly compliments her, maintaining the same amount of pressure on her arm, "It probably has to do with your acrobatic skills, no maybe you're—"
"You can let go of me now," Asami mutters, interrupting his self rambling, annoyed by the deadlock position she was currently in.
Smirking, he refuses to relent, "Mm I don't think I will," he teasingly whispers into her ear, running a chill down Asami's spine. Eyes widening, she can feel his breath tickle the back of her neck, reminding her that he was only inches away from her face.
"Yeah well…." she gulps, trying her best to act unfazed, knowing deep down she was panicking like a child. Then out of nowhere, she swings her head back, nearly blacking Satoru out from the impact.
Holding onto his jaw, he angrily curses, "WHAT THE FUCK!" he stares at her in actual disbelief, surprised that his jaw wasn't broken.
Nervously staring at him, she remains silent, knowing what she had done was just …. A tiny bit out of line, "Um…." she scratches her neck, "Sorry?"
And soon she finds herself being chased by a pissed off Satoru, the boy yelling something about her "paying" for what she'd done. Running around the field, she quickly turns around when she sees that he's teleported himself in front of her, the tip of his fingers managing to graze the hem of her shirt.
"It's your fault for pinning me like that!" she yells, knowing Satoru was beginning to catch up to her with every step. Continuing to play cat and mouse, it seems like the chase is never going to come to an end, nothing capable of stopping them ….
Nothing except an overgrown tree root on the ground …
Going in circles around the tree she'd been pinned to earlier, Asami tries to use the obstacle as a way to try and trick Satoru into thinking she was going to go a different direction, now running as fast as she can so that she can make the sudden turn. But because she was so focused on running, she failed to see the thick root on the ground. With her foot getting caught underneath, she falls to the ground, luckily landing on the grass.
And before she can even process what's happened, she sees a large figure well on its way to falling on top of her, Satoru having been so caught up in chasing her that he also didn't see the root. Letting out a shriek, she covers her face with her hands, preparing for the impact.
So when she in fact doesn't feel a body land on her, she slowly uncovers her face, coming face to face with Satoru, who was now hovering over her. Luckily the boy had managed to activate his infinity just in time, saving both himself and her from what could've been an even more awkward situation than the one they were already in …
Blinking slowly, the two stare at one another at a complete loss for words. Satoru's glasses having fallen from his face on the way down, the round pair of shades now lying a couple of feet away from them.
'This is weird … this is sooooo fucking weird,' Asami feels her face redden, convincing herself that it was out of anger and agitation rather than from being … nervous. Because why the hell would she feel nervous around Satoru? She despised the boy and in no way found him attractive...
So then why were fingers feeling all clammy and anxious. Why couldn't she freaking move or say something?
"I just think you two would look cute together, that's all."
'Stupid stupid Shoko', Asami frowns, cursing the sorceress for putting out such an outragous statement into the world as now Asami couldn't stop thinking about it.
'He's actually not that bad looking…' she thinks to herself while silently studying his features. Though she always knew he had uniquely colored eyes, it wasn't till this moment that she found herself in complete awe of them, their small specks of white reminding her of the clouds in the sky. Compared to her dull brown ones, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous, for Gojou Satoru had … pretty eyes.
Feeling his heart race, Satoru assumes it's from all the running he's done, refusing to believe it could be from anything else. He wonders what she could possibly be thinking about because whether she knew it or not, she now had a small smile on her face, something he knew was rare whenever she was around him. If anything, he was used to seeing a scowl on her face, eyebrows often knitted in pure annoyance. And so to see features soften was surprisingly nice.
"All I'm saying is I won't be surprised if you and Asami end up being a thing."
He hears the voice of his best friend, recalling his words from the night before. What was it that he kept saying? Oh right …
That it was a load of bullshit…
With the sun now hitting the sides of her face, Satoru notices how it shines on her hair, its vibrant red color standing out just a little more extra than usual today. If he had a unique eye color, then she most definitely had a unique hair color.
It was ironic, really. When most people think of the color red, they think passion, love, and anger. But when Gojo Satoru thought of the color red, his mind would always immediately go to his cursed technique, it's ability to produce a repulsive force truly a powerful technique. So in a sense, her hair color sorta fit her. That was because most of the time Asami was exactly that to him, a repulsive force.
Which was why right now as he stared at her, he couldn't but be confused as to why he didn't feel repulsed. In fact, in this very moment she reminded him of the color blue…
Blue being the color of his cursed technique that generates an attractive force rather than a repulsive one. 'Weird…' he thinks to himself, changing his gaze from her hair back to her face, this time focusing on the appearance of her nose.
'What a tiny nose…' he recalls her original appearance at the train station, the bruising under her eyes along with the large cast on her nose indicating that she had a recent nose job. Of course, he knew it wasn't intentional (having heard the circus story from Suguru), but he wonders what it used to look like. Not that he hated her current nose or anything, if anything right now that he was looking at it from up close, he actually found it quite cute. How tempted he was to just…
Asami suddenly feels the tip of her nose get touched, scrunching it as a result. Unbeknownst to them, a teasing gesture Satoru would find himself doing quite often in the future. Face reddening, she becomes defensive, breaking out of whatever trance she was in.
"What the hell was that for?"
He shrugs, now avoiding eye contact as he tries to act nonchalant, "For hitting me in the face with that massive head of yours," he insults her, causing her face to twist in annoyance.
"Hey!" she says, an awkward silence filling the air as they notice they were still in their same positions, finding it hard to get back into the flow of their usual banter. Pushing him off, Asami finally sits up from the ground, Satoru now scoffing at her.
"Take a picture it'll last longer," he says, a faint blush on his cheeks as he reaches for his sunglasses, "I know it's pleasing to gawk at someone like me, but—"
"ME?! Gawking at you?" she stares at him in disbelief, refusing to acknowledge the truth that deep down maybe she really had been gawking at him, "I was just staring at that huge zit you have at the center of your forehead," she huffs while crossing her arms, "No wonder you have the bangs," she mumbles.
Offended, he glares at her, "I don't get acne, unlike you I maintain a strict skinca—"
"There you two are," Asami and Satoru both jump in surprise, turning around to see both Suguru and Shoko. Suguru, with his hands in his pockets, quietly laughs to himself, the two clearly unaware of what their friends had just seen from afar.
"So what have you two been up to? Thought your training ended like half an hour ago," Shoko says, a small teasing smile on her face.
"We were just—"
"Training was—"
Talking over one another, awkwardness fills the air once again as the two immediately go silent, recalling what had just happened minutes before. Side eyeing one another, they're unsure of who should speak first. Clearing her throat, Asami ultimately decides to speak.
"We lost track of time," she fakes a chuckle, "But we were just leaving, weren't we Sa—I mean Gojou-san," she looks at Satoru, giving him a "you better nod your head and agree" type of look.
Sheepishly smiling, he agrees, "Yeah, I gotta get back to my dorm! Got lots of homework to catch up on and Asami has um—" he looks at her, waiting for her to finish his sentence.
"I need to um…" she pauses, trying to think of a decent lie, "I need to start working on my science project!" she says a little too eagerly, causing everyone to give her a confusing look.
Suguru raises a brow, "Science project? You do realize we all share the same classes and well I don't remember Tanaka-sensei assigning us a science proje—"
"I'm getting started early," she jumps in to save her own skin, "You know me," she laughs, "Always on top of things…"
"Well we should get going," Satoru says, and Asami nods.
"You guys sure? We were thinking of going for sushi right now—"
"No, it's fine!" they both simultaneously say.
"Okay then…" Shoko gives Suguru a knowing look, "We'll see you guys tomorrow then."
"Yup see you tomorrow," Asami says, waving at her friends goodbye, but not before making eye contact with Satoru a final time.
And it's at their final look to one another that deep down they know something has changed. They just weren't exactly sure what it was, nor were they planning on looking further into anything as they liked things just the way they were…
So then why was Asami also waving to him, and why was he subtly waving right back? Catching themselves in what they were doing, the two quickly throw their hands back down in embarrassment, breaking away any eye contact that they'd been holding.
"Who do you think will fall first? " Shoko asks out of nowhere, watching Satoru and Asami practically run the opposite way from one another, finding the whole situation to be amusing.
"Mm," Suguru carefully watches their shrinking figures, "I'm going to say…" he pauses, wanting to be sure of his answer, "...Satoru."
"What makes you say that?"
Suguru shrugs, "A gut feeling. Why do you think it'll be Asami?"
Shoko quietly nods, making Suguru laugh.
"Well only time will tell," he says, the two wondering how it'd all play out.
A/N: 11.8K words in three days! That's how you know I had a lot of fun writing this chapter haha! Now I know I said "Asami's Past Arc" would be around 8-10 chapters but I think it might be just a little longer as my outline for the arc has a bit of slow burn in it (but not too much) and I want things to flow as realistically as possible.
Especially because it's important to note that in this chapter, Asami and Gojou do not even like each other yet. I know in the end I sorta made it seem like they were coming to that realization, but it was more due to Shoko and Suguru planting the seeds needed in order for them to start raising questions in the future. It's why before when the waitress asked for Gojou's number, Asami wasn't jealous at all and was genuinely confused by Shoko's question later on. Same goes for Gojou with Geto's questions.
The two need to learn how to be friends first before any actual romance can kick in haha! Something the next chapter primarily focuses on.
Thank you to anyone who's left a review/fave/follow! But also big love to any silent readers, as I used to be one myself LOL! See you all next update!