Chapter Thirteen.
Ambivalence.
"She's good," a sixty four year old Gakuganji observes Asami as she demonstrates her current abilities, currently acting as the middleman for the higher ups. Touching his greying beard, he notices how precise and calculated her movements are, the girl truly a fast learner.
"She's been working hard," Masamichi, who sits beside the aging man, says while also watching Asami as she completes a backhand throw with the knife in her hands, "Her prior circus skills have made her a unique fighter."
Moving his fingers around like a marionettist, the mannequin-like puppet he controls strikes at Asami, attempting to grab her from behind. Elbowing the puppet in its face, Asami grabs its arm and pulls it over her body, effectively slamming it onto the ground.
"As much as I am impressed by her physical capabilities, what the higher ups really want to see is—"
"I know," Masamichi interrupts the old man while becoming noticeably stiff, "We're…" he pauses, "... We're still working on it," he says, glancing at a smiling Asami who has just finished bringing down all of the targets.
"I would hope so," Gakuganji narrows his eyes at the young lady, sensing her cursed energy, "To have one special grade student is a rarity in itself, to have two is cause for concern, but to have three…" he side eyes Masamichi, "Just isn't something our society can afford."
Masamichi attempts to keep a straight face, completely understanding the subtext of his statement.
"Whatever her cursed techniques are, make sure she has them controlled and mastered by the next time we meet or else…"
"She'll be executed," are the unspoken words, Gakuganji getting up from the bench and walking away, on his way to make his report to the higher ups.
Sighing, Masamichi places a hand on his temple, well aware that the higher ups were circling around his students like a pack of hyenas, waiting for one of them to mess up. Sadly, he understood why. Having three special grade sorcerers in one class was nothing but a prelude for trouble, the potential of having one of them become a curse user not exactly a far fetch idea.
And maybe it was because he prided himself as an educator, but Masamichi liked to believe that his students were different, for his students were good kids. Kids who often butted heads and argued over trivial things like who ate the last rice ball during lunch break while also spending most of their free time with one another, not because they had to, but simply because they wanted to. It was for that reason that Masamichi was confident that as long as they had each other they'd end up alright.
"So how'd I do?" an eager voice brings him back to reality. Looking up, he finds an anxious looking Asami standing in front of him, the girl having told him how nervous she was the day prior. And only a couple of yards behind her, were her three classmates who were walking towards the bench, having watched the demonstration from afar.
Collecting his thoughts, he stares at her in silence, causing Asami to become more anxious than she already was, "I know I did a couple of tiny mistakes, but I think I made up for them by—"
"You did good," he interrupts her rambling, "Amazing in fact," he feigns a small smile while getting up from the bench.
Immediately her tense posture relaxes, shoulders dropping as a childish grin forms on her face, "Really?!" she asks.
He nods, Suguru, Satoru, and Shoko now standing behind her, "We just need to get you working on your cursed techniques as soon as possible," he says, and Asami nods.
Luckily for her, that was already in next week's training plan with Satoru, so it didn't really come as a surprise. By now she had already mastered controlling her cursed energy as well as improving her fighting abilities, having gone on enough grade three missions to garner the experience. It only made sense that she now had to focus on her cursed techniques.
"But I have to say, what I'm most impressed with is how much your teamwork has improved with Satoru here," he glances at the mentioned boy, giving him an approving look, "It's for that reason that I'm giving you you two this Saturday off," he says, surprising the two students.
Asami is the first to question the man, "But sensei, I thought you said that I have to get started as soon as possible?" her head tilts in confusion.
Satoru follows up with a question of his own, "What's the catch, old man?"
Suguru quickly nudges him from behind, constantly having to remind him to be more mindful in the way he talks amongst his superiors.
Satoru then corrects himself, "I mean sensei," he nervously laughs, covering his head in preparation of getting "disciplined" and given so-called "guidance."
Deciding to ignore the boy just this once, Masamichi raises a brow at his students' questions, wondering why the two were so adamant about having practice. Honestly, he had expected them to jump in joy and thank him for the day off as he knew the two teens had been working hard, practically seeing each other every day of the week for several hours on end.
And as if capable of reading his sensei's mind, Suguru fakes a cough. Placing his gaze onto his student, Suguru purposely eyes his two classmates in front of him, motioning to Masamichi that there was something more going on between the two.
And if Masamichi had a drink in his mouth, surely he would've spat it out at that moment. Eyes widening, he creases his brows while dramatically beginning to question everything. Yeah, he had told Shoko and Suguru to do whatever they had to do to get them to stop bickering, but never could he have imagined that they'd actually end up liking each other.
Satoru and Asami hesitantly glance at each other, the two of them both equally as confused in their sensei's sudden change in expression, wondering what was running through his mind. Snickering to themselves, Suguru and Shoko subtly high five one another, mischievous in their own right.
Masamichi shakes his head, deciding that it wasn't his place to meddle into whatever thing his two students had going on. As long as the two weren't bickering as much as they used to and getting their assigned tasks done, then everything was fine by him.
"You two have been working hard, so whether you like it or not, I'm giving you guys the day off. If you want to spend it training with each other then just know that's completely your choice," he says, adamant on his decision. Though he knew Asami needed to get started as soon as possible, he also felt like it was important that she enjoy her time in the school, not wanting her to associate this place with only training.
And so with that, Masamichi walks away, leaving his first-year students to themselves.
"So…" Suguru glances at both Asami and Satoru, "You two gonna train with each other on Saturday or what?"
Glaring at his best friend, Satoru recognizes the underlying tone in his voice, knowing exactly what he was trying to implicate. Stubbornly remaining silent, Satoru knows that by trying to push for Saturday training, it would look like he actually wanted to spend his free time with her, something which was completely bizarre and out of this world!
Asami on the other hand, feels a faint blush appear on her cheeks, barely realizing what she'd been protesting against just now with Masamichi. He was giving her a free day to herself, meaning she should be ecstatic! But for some reason she wasn't … which was weird, extremely weird. Frowning, she blames the fact that she was too accustomed to her routine with Satoru for her lack of enthusiasm.
Awkwardly glancing at each other, the two come to a decision on their own, "No we're not," they both simultaneously say, making their friends silently groan to themselves, Suguru and Shoko knowing that their friends were only being stubborn out of fear of being teased. Not only that, but it was as if Asami and Satoru subconsciously knew that any alone time with each other, that wasn't in fact mandatory, would lead to something more.
But luckily, Shoko and Suguru had a backup plan in mind already.
"Great!" Shoko fakes a smile, "If you two are free this Saturday, that means you two can both go with me to a party I got invited to," she says, confusing the two of them.
"Party?" Asami knits her brows together, wondering who could possibly throw a party around here as there wasn't much of a teenage population on campus. But before she can comment anything, Satoru beats her to it.
"Who the hell is throwing a party in this lame ass place?" he rudely asks, pouting his lips in skepticism.
Shoko shrugs, "I got invited by this one dude in the city, told me I was free to bring some friends along if I wanted to," she says, recalling the encounter with the young boy her age.
Taking another puff out of her cigarette, Shoko glances at the time on her phone, noting that she had to start walking to the bus station soon if she wanted to make it back on campus in time for training. Not that she cared for being late, but she also didn't want to deal with Masamichi's lecture on why punctuality is an important quality for a shaman to have.
The only reason she was in the city to begin with was because the school campus refuses to sell cigarettes to her, nor do they even have them in stock to begin with, which meant she always had to come to the city in order to restock on her own supply. Luckily she'd found a shop which wouldn't ID, the only thing she had to do was make sure she'd come in dressed in anything besides her school uniform as that was an obvious giveaway to her age.
"Hey," someone says from behind, grabbing Shoko's attention. Turning around, she faces a blonde boy who looks around her age, possibly even older.
"You think you have a lighter you can lend me?" he asks, a casual smile on his face. Eyeing him for a small second, she shrugs when deeming him to be harmless, pulling out her lighter from her skirt's pocket.
Helping him light up his cigarette, she waits for him to say something, the dude continuing to stand next to her.
"A little young to be smoking, don't you think?"
'There it is,' she thinks to herself, but it's at the second glance to the boy that she realizes he was in high school as well, noticing that he was wearing a school uniform without the jacket.
"I can ask you the same thing," she retorts, a small smile on her face.
Laughing, he scratches the back of his neck with his free hand, knowing he's been busted, "And here I was planning on pretending to be a businessman," he jokes around.
"If you don't mind me asking, how'd you know I was your age?" she asks, wanting to fix any small mistakes in her appearance that could get her caught up in the future.
He shrugs, "Call it intuition," he truthfully states. Maybe it was with the way she was casually standing or dressed that tipped him off, as older people in Japan tended to always look worn out and stressed due to their day jobs, but somehow he just knew.
"So…" she pauses, wondering if she should go through with what she was about to ask, ultimately deciding to ask it anyway, "Did you actually need my lighter or did you just need an excuse to talk to me?"
Face reddening, he gives her a close eyed smile, timidly nodding his head, "If I'm being honest, the intention was to talk to you, but I genuinely did need a light," he says, and Shoko nods, appreciating his honesty. Honestly, it was better than having him getting all defensive as she figured most guys would've felt their ego take a hit.
"Well? I'm waiting," she playfully chuckles, the clock now ticking for her to make it back onto campus.
"O-oh right," he nervously laughs, "Well I was wondering if you wanted to go to a party with me and my friends on Saturday in Roppongi... " noticing how bold that sounded, he adds, "And of course you can bring whoever you'd like, so you don't feel uncomfortable of course," he says, noticing a certain glint appear in Shoko's eyes.
"Roppongi? I mean I know we look a bit older than what we are, but I doubt we'll be allowed in a club," she says, feeling skeptical about the invitation.
"It's not exactly a club per se," he smiles, "It's more of an underground party for us teens who don't have our heads buried in books all the time," he explains, and it's only then that Shoko begins to understand.
Before moving to Tokyo, she'd heard about things like this. Teens in Tokyo who weren't exactly cramming for exams and a little bit more on the rebellious side than their peers. Because they can't party in their homes like the average American teens you see on TV, they have their own spot in Roppongi to drink and party like they're in some movie. She just didn't actually think the rumors were true, nor did she think she'd be randomly invited.
"Hmm," she purposely hums, thinking about how bored she'd recently been. Back at the school, it was always a routine. Wake up, attend class, train, do a small activity with her friends, go back to her dorm, and then call it a day. Hell, she didn't even get to go on missions like the rest of her friends! Not that she wanted to of course, for her healing abilities weren't exactly suitable for exorcising curses, but she had to admit, it sometimes got boring standing on the sidelines.
Deciding that a party was just what she and her friends needed, she pulls out her phone, signalling to the boy to put in his contact information.
"W-Wait really?" he looks surprised, having expected her to outright reject his invitation.
She nods, watching him put in his contact info, excited for the upcoming weekend.
"Are you crazy?! For all you know he could be some grown ass man waiting to kidnap you?! How could you give him your information like that?!" Asami lectures Shoko, unable to believe what she'd just heard.
"Technically speaking, he gave me his information," she corrects Asami, making the girl roll her eyes, "He didn't even bother asking me what school I go to, meaning our identities are completely safe," she adds for reassurance.
"That's even worse," Asami huffs, "He's so caught up in trying to have us kidnapped that he didn't even bother to ask what school you go to!" she dramatically cries out, beginning to resemble one of those crazy conspiracy theorists you see on TV.
Laughing, Suguru shakes his head, "Asami, are you forgetting that we're all sorcerers? Even if he happens to be some kind of dangerous criminal, it's not like we can't fend for ourselves," he says, making Asami stubbornly pout, "Think of it as a chance for us to be like regular local high schoolers."
Satoru on the other hand, shrugs, "I'm down to go, I've always wanted to go to a high school party," he says, thinking of the things he'd see on American TV shows, "I just don't know if miss goody two shoes here is willing to go," he adds, purposely irritating the girl.
"Hey!" she glares at him, "Just because I'm cautious in the things I do, doesn't mean I'm a goody two shoes!"
He rolls his eyes, making a talking motion with his hands, "Blah blah blah," he scoffs, "Just admit it, you don't have a single fun bone in your body!"
She crosses her arms, "That's not true! I can have a lot of fun!" she barks back, not exactly convincing her classmates, "Not my fault I'm a little wary about some random dude inviting our friend to a party all the way out in Roppongi! But fine, if you guys wanna go so bad, fine by me!"
Suguru places a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Asami, if you don't want to go, then you don't have to," he says, making her frown. She knew he wasn't saying it because he didn't want her to go, but because he genuinely didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.
Glancing at Satoru, she sees the petty smirk on his face, riling her up even more. Not her fault she wasn't much of a city girl, especially considering she'd been part of a travelling circus all her life! And though she knew she wouldn't get in any trouble for going, for some reason she couldn't help but think about her parents back at home who constantly liked to call her, making sure she was safe and focusing on her studies.
Biting her lip, she contemplates on going, a part of her actually wanting to go while the other half was screaming at her to stay in her dorm for the night and watch a movie or something.
"Goody two shoesssss," Satoru quietly sings, knowing she was ready to say no, "Come on you guys let's just—"
"I'll go!" she interrupts him, scowling at the boy, "I'll go and have all the fun in the world," she says with spite, annoying Satoru, for he believed she was going to be the buzzkill of the night.
"Fine, just don't go complaining that you want to go home later on," the smirk on his face remains, taunting her with every word.
"I won't," she bitterly mutters, "Maybe you can finally get that first kiss of yours over there," and it's at her words that his face twists in anger, the girl having struck a nerve.
And before he could even say something in return, the girl was already running off, Satoru following behind her like a child. From there Suguru and Shoko can hear them exchange insults back and forth to each other as they walk to God knows where, the two capable of arguing for hours on end.
"I remember there was a time where it was only you and Satoru arguing like that," Shoko chuckles, recalling how in the early months of the school year, it was the two boys who often butted heads. Of course, they still occasionally did, but not as often as Asami and Satoru would.
Suguru shrugs, keeping his hands inside his pockets as the two walk around the campus, "Eh, it's nice to have a change in pace," he says, "I just don't understand how they managed to make an invitation to a party turn into an argument."
Shoko laughs, "Me neither, but I have a good feeling about Saturday…"
He raises a brow, head tilting in question, "What makes you say that?"
She softly smiles, "Mm call it a gut feeling," she answers, reminding him of his words from a couple of days ago.
"Whatever you say then Shoko," he says, knowing Saturday was just around the corner.
Saturday Night.
"Don't tell me we're lost," Satoru complains, feeling as if they'd been going in circles for the last half hour. Coming to a sudden halt, he crashes into Suguru, who in return crashes into Asami, and of course Asami crashes into Shoko, the three of them blindly following her around the city.
Flipping her brochure map of Roppongi, Shoko frowns, unsure of what she was doing wrong, "The map shows that we're in the right spot," she says, double checking the address the boy had texted to her.
"Let me see that," Satoru rudely snatches the map from her hands, pretending to know what he was looking at.
Rolling her eyes, Asami gets on her tippy toes as she tries to peek at the map in his hands, cursing at how tall the boy was. Suguru glances at it as well, the three of them trying to pinpoint where their friend could've gone wrong.
"Hmm," Asami hums, "She's right, it is supposed to be here," she comments, and to Satoru's dismay, she's indeed correct. The alley they were currently standing in was where this so called party was supposed to be at, but instead they were only met with a small ramen shop that had flickering neon signs in desperate need of a battery replacement.
"Try calling him," Suguru suggests, and Shoko nods, doing exactly that.
Sighing, Asami kicks a small rock out of boredom, regretting not bringing a jacket. It was just that her satin top was too cute to pair up with any other jacket, and she also didn't want its detailed back to be covered. Noticing her shivering, Suguru looks down at his outfit, not having brought a jacket himself.
"Satoru, give her your jacket," he commands at his best friend, sighing when sees his friend's face twist in annoyance.
"No way," he crosses his arms, "If she didn't bring a jacket, that's on her," he harshly states, adamant on keeping his jacket.
Huffing in annoyance, she glares at him, "I didn't want your stupid jacket to begin with," she says, teeth jittering.
Feeling just a tiny bit bad, Satoru finds himself regretting his harsh words, observing the red head as she continues to shiver like some chihuahua. Gulping, he prepares to take off his jacket until Shoko suddenly changes the topic of their conversation, the boy immediately backing out in fear of potential embarrassment.
"He said they got the cops called on them," Shoko frowns, realizing her gut feeling had been completely wrong.
"Now what?" Suguru asks, making Shoko let out a big sigh.
Taking off the mini-backpack she had on, she unbuckles the silver clasp, "I don't know, but I went out of my way to buy us this," she pulls out a large bottle of whiskey, "So I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed."
Grabbing the bottle, Asami studies it in childlike curiosity, "Hi-bi-ki," she sounds out the brand name, not bothering to ask Shoko where she could've possibly gotten it from as Asami was aware that Shoko had her own sources for things like this.
"I mean if you want to drink it, go ahead," Suguru says to Shoko, having tried alcohol in the past and deeming it nasty. Shoko rolls her eyes, now visibly in a bad mood, something which was quite rare.
"If I wanted to drink by myself, I would've just stayed at the dorms," she says, placing a hand to her temple as she tries to think of something else they could do.
Glancing at Asami and Satoru, she watches as they bicker over who gets to hold the bottle, Satoru now selfishly wanting to see it for himself. Soon, a mischievous smile appears on her face as she prances her way over to them.
"Sooooo," she sings, eyeing her two classmates, "You guys wanna drink tonight?"
Faces flushing, the two side-eye each other, drinking not exactly being in the plan for tonight. Yeah, Satoru wanted to party with people his age, but to drink wasn't something he exactly imagined. He just figured he'd watch the people around him drink, not actually participate in it. And in Asami's case, it was a miracle in itself that she even came with them, so to drink was something that didn't even cross her naive mind.
Gulping, Asami prepares to say no, "I-I don't know Shoko, we're underage and—"
"It'll be fun I promise! We can go to a nice view, get buzzed, and have Suguru here watch over us!" Shoko tries to convince the two, "But if you really don't want to then we can just go back to campus and call it a night," she adds not wanting to pressure them too much.
Sighing, Satoru is the first to agree, never having tried alcohol and figuring it wouldn't hurt to drink it with people he somewhat trusted. What was the worst that could happen? He was Gojo Satoru for God's sake. A bottle of liquor had absolutely nothing on him.
Nodding, Shoko turns her attention to Asami, not exactly surprised to see that the girl was still feeling hesitant, "Asami, remember if you don't want to, you don't have to," she reminds her, a genuine comforting smile on her face.
Frowning, Asami remembers Satoru's words to her.
"Just admit it, you don't have a single fun bone in your body!"
Looking at him, she imagines a smug look on his face, despite his current expression being completely stoic. When it came to matters like this, he wasn't going to tease her for saying no. If she didn't want to drink then she didn't want to drink. Point blank.
"I um—" she bites her lower lip, "I can go for a nice view right now," Asami hesitantly says, taking her classmates by complete surprise.
"Y-You sure?" Shoko asks her for confirmation, unable to believe what she was hearing.
And this time, Asami confidently nods, "I'm sure," she says, naively unaware of what was to come.
"Wow, this is what adults go crazy over?" Satoru takes another sip out of the whiskey bottle, squirming just a tiny bit before going in for another shot, "I feel absolutely nothing!" he yells across the view of the city, passing the half empty bottle to Asami.
Gulping down her own shot of the pungent drink, Asami nods, agreeing with the boy, "I thought this would taste stronger," she says, pulling the drink towards herself as Suguru tries to grab it from her hands, "Hey!' she pouts, "We're not done here."
"You two are being too loud, you're going to have the cops called on us," Suguru says, a stern look now on his face.
Looking at each other, Satoru and Asami roll their eyes before turning back to their classmate, the two simultaneously going, "BOOOO!" before mumbling things about him being a party pooper and not knowing how to have fun.
Sighing, Suguru turns his attention to Shoko, who seemed to be acting completely normal, "How is it that you've drank twice as much as them and somehow you're completely unfazed?"
She nonchalantly shrugs, admiring the dazzling lights of the city, "I can handle my liquor," she chuckles while glancing at her buzzed classmates, "While clearly they can't."
"I can see that," Suguru shakes his head, knowing they'd have a massive hangover tomorrow.
"Hey, at least they're not arguing," Shoko tries to look at the brighter side of things, the two actually getting along for once.
"Yeah, they're acting like complete ch—"
"Suguruuuu! Shokoooooo!" Asami dramatically cries out, "I need to peeeee!" she announces to the world, the bottle of liquor still in her hand.
"I guess we should start making our way back to campus," Suguru says to Shoko, who nods in agreement. If only they knew it'd be easier said than done…
"Asami!" Shoko tries to pull the red headed girl away from the metal pole she was gripping onto, her knuckles now white due to how tight she was holding onto it.
"No, I need to pee!" she yells, acting like a complete brat.
Somehow the group of four were now in the vacant parking lot of a closed supermarket, Asami claiming that her bladder was going to burst at any moment. Satoru on the other hand, was now tapping on the glass of the sliding doors, yelling to "let them in" despite there being absolutely no one inside.
Suguru could feel his headache growing by the minute, regretting allowing them to drink. In a sense, this was both his and Shoko's punishment for always teasing them so much.
"Shoko, let go of me," Asami clenches her jaw, purposely channeling her cursed energy into the hand Shoko was grabbing onto, effectively shocking her and forcing her to let go. Quickly running, Asami almost makes it to where Satoru is until she feels herself get tackled down, yelping in surprise as two pairs of arms grab onto her.
"Hey!" She scowls, Suguru and Shoko now tag teaming in holding her down, "Gojou-san!" she yells at her only current comrade, "Help me!" a hand gets placed over her mouth as she manages to grab the drunk boy's attention.
Turning around, Satoru raises a brow in confusion, wondering why there were three bowling pins in the middle of a parking lot. Innocently giggling, he begins to run towards them, accidentally imbuing his whole body with cursed energy.
"Oh no," Shoko breathes out, eyes widening as she sees what's coming their way. Unable to do anything, all three of them shut their eyes, preparing to feel the impact of Satoru's body. Instead, they feel what resembles a gush of wind.
Slowly opening their eyes, they see that they were now inside the grocery store.
Looking around for a second, Asami quickly runs to look for a restroom, leaving her three classmates at the entrance of the store. Placing his hands to his hips, Suguru glares at Satoru like a parent, "Why the hell did you teleport us inside the store, you idiot?!"
Stretching his arms, Satoru yawns, "Becauseeeee," he begins to slur his words, "Asami said she wanted to pee," he shrugs, unsure if he wanted to sleep or run several laps around the store, his spectrum of energy now fluctuating.
Shaking his head, Suguru uses his cursed energy to break the store cameras, not wanting any problems coming out of this in the future. 'Great just great,' he mentally curses to himself, unsure of how he was going to get the two idiots back home as he knew in their eyes they were now in Candyland.
"Shoko, what are you—" he watches his classmate open a bag of chips, clearly not caring for the fact that she was stealing from the store. Recognizing the look on his face, she jokingly offers him some of her chips, only further irritating him, "Shoko—"
"LOOOOOK WHAT I FOUND!" Asami interrupts Suguru before he can lecture Shoko, a brand new bottle of Hibiki in her hands. Flashing a toothy grin at her friends, she begins to open the bottle, pouting when she feels it get snatched away from her hands.
"Hey," she frowns, looking at a pissed off Suguru, "You're no fun," she crosses her arms.
"Yeah!" Satoru comes up from behind, wrapping an arm around Asami in order to keep himself from falling. Eyes widening in shock, Suguru and Shoko find themselves at a loss for words, unable to believe what they were looking at. The part that was more surprising? Asami wasn't pushing him off.
Getting over his initial shock, Suguru goes back to parenting mode, shaking his head in dismissal, "Come on, we're going home," he begins to walk out, ignoring their whines as he uses his cursed energy to open the sliding doors.
Putting their feet down, Suguru and Asami remain in place, refusing to leave the supermarket.
"I'm not saying it twice," Suguru also places his foot down, each side now refusing to relent.
"Fine," Asami huffs, confusing Satoru.
"What are you—"
"Just wait," she quietly whispers to him, now walking towards Suguru. Placing her hands at her hips, she scowls at the curse manipulation user, "In order for us to leave, you have to take a shot," she smirks.
"Tch," Suguru rolls his eyes, already imagining the bitter taste of the whiskey bottle in his hands. Twisting the cap of the bottle, he mentally prepares himself for what he's about to do, reminding himself that he was only doing this for the sole reason of going back home. Hesitantly bringing the bottle's rim to his lips, he gulps down five seconds worth of the drink, furrowing his brows when he finds himself actually enjoying the taste.
Perhaps it was because he'd been constantly swallowing curses for the past month, but there was something about this drink that was … sweet … in a sense. Taking a second swig of the drink, Asami and Satoru side eye each other, knowing they've won …
"One, two, three!"
Satoru and Suguru push their respective carts, Asami and Shoko holding on tight as they zoom through the store, the four currently holding a tournament full of different games. Right now it was Asami and Satoru versus Suguru and Shoko, the former currently holding the lead in wins.
Looking over her shoulder, Asami sees that Suguru and Shoko are catching up,"Faster, they're catching up!" she giggles because despite how fast the world was spinning, she was having the time of her life!
Grinning, Satoru pushes the cart with as much as strength and speed as he can, for Asami's safety, trying not to make his turns too rough. Raising her hands in joy, Satoru finds himself savoring the sound of her laugh, realizing just how much of a fun person she was to be around.
And deep down he was thankful that the party had been busted because if it wasn't, he wouldn't get to experience this current memory they were all making. A memory he'd get to look back at when he was older and laugh, for this was what youth was all about.
Recalling his days back at his clan's compound, he remembers how often he'd wish for friends like this, wanting nothing more than to be given the freedom to make memories like these, and so to be here, finally making them was truly … indescribable.
Getting lost in his own thoughts, Satoru fails to notice the empty plastic bag on the floor, losing grip of the shopping cart as he falls to the ground. Attempting to stop the cart on his way down, he panics when he hears Asami let out an ear screeching noise, crashing into a pyramid of cereal boxes that were currently on promotion.
Immediately stopping their own cart, Suguru and Shoko look toward Asami's direction in worry, the room filling with complete silence. Gulping, Satoru slowly walks toward the cart, preparing to genuinely apologize to the girl, fearful that she was possibly hurt because of him.
"A-Asami?" he sees that she's hugging her knees to her chest, completely hiding her face, "I-I didn't mean—"
The sound of her infectious laugh begins to echo across the walls of the store, Asami then throwing her head back in complete bliss as she wipes tears from the corners of her eyes, "That was so," she clutches onto her stomach, "FUNNY!"
Staring at her in shock, her three classmates feel themselves begin to slowly smile, laughter suddenly coming out of their own mouths as they begin to crack up. Lending a hand to Asami, Satoru helps her get off the cart, gently placing her onto the ground.
"Don't worry," she pats his chest, "I'm perfectly fine," she winks at him, for the first time teasing him in a manner that wasn't out of spite. Softly smiling, a faint blush appears on his cheeks. Touching his own cheek, he feels its warmth, convincing himself that it was due to the fact that he was drinking.
"Haha, you're all red," she says a little too loudly, catching the attention of their friends. Smirking at his best friend, Suguru prepares to say something until…
WEE! WOO!
The flash of a red and blue light causes them to internally shudder, the group of teens frantically looking at each other as they hear the sound of jingling keys.
"Run," Suguru whispers, the four pairs of feet scrambling like they were in a cartoon. Running out the back exit, they smile as they run to God knows where, feeling as if they were on top of the world. Managing to lead themselves to a park, the four successfully escape any trouble they'd face from the police.
Continuing to have their fun, the four of them play on the rusty merry-go-round, Satoru and Suguru primarily in charge of spinning them around. Tightly holding onto the metal bars, Shoko and Asami reach for each other's hands as they try not to fall, squeezing their eyes shut in an attempt to not become dizzy. Getting off, they giggle as they immediately fall to the ground, their method of shutting their eyes obviously not working.
Pulling herself up from the floor, Shoko notices what looks to be a public pool, immediately pointing at it from where she stood, "Look!" her classmates turn, seeing that it wasn't too far from them.
Suguru and Satoru turn to each other with a mischievous look in their eyes, quickly running towards the gated area while Asami and Shoko follow closely behind. Climbing over the fence, everyone begins to take off their shoes except Asami, something which doesn't go unnoticed.
Turning to look at her, Asami nervously laughs, feeling a little embarrassed for what she was about to confess, "I um…" she looks down at her feet, avoiding eye contact with the rest of them, "I can't swim," she whispers, but still loud enough for her friends to hear.
Making "o" faces, they completely understand, "I'll just be sitting over there," she points at the row of pool chairs, to which they all nod. Walking over to her chair, Asami feels the cold breeze of the night sky, rubbing the sides of her arms in an effort to create friction with her hands.
'It's freezing,' she thinks to herself while looking up at the night sky, trying not to think too much about the weather, "One, two, three…" she begins to count the number of stars above her, as tonight they seemed to be shining just a little more brighter than usual, "...eight, nine, ten—"
A warm sweater suddenly gets wrapped around her frail frame, surprising the girl as she looks up to see a brooding Satoru. Staring at him in surprise, she prepares to ask him something, "Why did—"
"You're cold, aren't you?" he looks at anything, but her. And just like how it had been him who was blushing earlier, this time it was Asami's turn. Recalling how he had originally refused to lend her his sweater, she realizes that the boy must've been secretly feeling guilty ever since, for this was his way of apologizing.
Not wanting it to seem like he cared too much, he adds a selfish comment, "I also didn't want my sweater getting wet, you know? It cost me a lot and—"
"Thank you Satoru," his name rolls off her tongue with a warmth so genuine, he was sure he felt his heart thump out of his chest. Staring at her in silence, he finds himself admiring how softly the moonlight hugs her, the warm smile on her face causing his breath to hitch.
Not wanting to seem like some creep, he stutters a faint "You're welcome," before walking back over to Suguru, deciding to ignore the faint fluttering feeling in his stomach that was screaming at him to stay with her.
Diving into the pool, he and Suguru begin to compete in a "Who can hold their breath underwater the longest" contest, Shoko keeping count for the two of them.
Watching her friends from her seat, Asami smiles as she sees them joke around and laugh with one another, convinced that it didn't get any better than this. Pulling the sweater closer to her, Asami wonders if she'll remember any of this tomorrow morning. Either way, she without a doubt didn't regret coming, in fact if she could, she'd live this day over and over, for this was a memory that would stick with her forever.
The Next Morning.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Asami groans at the sound of someone loudly banging on her door, wiping off the drool from the corners of her mouth as she hears the person bang on her door again. Rubbing her eyes, she looks around the room, wondering how the hell did she get back last night. Getting up from her bed, she looks down at the clothes she has on, noticing that she was wearing the exact same thing she had on from yesterday except this time she had some random jacket on.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
She frowns, wondering who the hell it could be, "I'm coming!" she yells in frustration, the throbbing sensation in her head causing her to be in a sour mood.
Opening the door, she's met with a grouchy looking Masamichi, who was holding Satoru and Suguru by the collars of their shirts. Gulping, she finds herself at a loss for words, "M-Masamichi-sensei—"
"Don't Masamichi-sensei me," he interrupts her, clearly ticked off by something, "Go brush your teeth and come to the lounge, NOW," he harshly commands at her, the girl obediently nodding and running out the room, mentally preparing for the punishment she was about to receive.
Pacing back and forth, the four teens feel a chill run down their spine as their sensei talks out loud to himself, wondering where he should begin. Scoffing, he shakes his head, recalling the chain of events from last night.
"Masamichi—" Satoru tries to talk, but is met with a single finger raised at him, the buff man signalling to his student that he didn't want to hear another single word come out of his mouth. Remaining in his seiza position, Satoru sighs, knowing he and his friends have truly done it this time.
"I give you kids one day to yourselves," Masamichi tries to control his pace of breathing, knowing he was capable of exploding at any moment, "Just one day," he repeats while pulling out his flip phone from his pocket, "So... I need one of you, and ONLY one of you to explain what the hell this is about…"
He presses the green button on his phone, playing a voicemail he received at 2 in the morning, waking both him and his fiance up.
"MASAMICHIIIIII-SENSEIIII," the sound of his students yelling can be heard, "We are veryyyyyyyy drunk right now, damn it!" Satoru's voice is distinct in the audio, the boy clearly mocking his sensei's catch phrase by lowering his voice, "And I don't think I can teleport us home becauseeeeee ermmmm I can barely teleport myself right now HAHA!" the sound of hysterical laughter can be heard.
"We're here at some park, all wet from swimming in the pool," this time Suguru's voice is clearer than the rest, probably having grabbed the phone from Satoru's hands. And though he originally doesn't sound drunk, the way he stammers his words is enough for Masamichi to know that he had been drinking just as much as his classmates the night prior.
Not wanting to hear any more, Masamichi shuts his flip phone, "I'm sure you four would love to hear the rest, but I personally don't like having to hear my fifteen year old students drunk," his voice begins to rise, "Nor do I like having to pick up said students in the middle of the night and deal with their drunk blabbers! And to top it off, I turn on the news this morning and see some supermarket has been mysteriously vandalized!"
By now the veins on the side of his neck are popping out, his voice having boomed across the walls of the room. Looking at each other, the four students remain silent, unsure of who was going to speak for them.
Masamichi crosses his arms, "Well I'm waiting."
"...We're sorry," the four simultaneously say, knowing there wasn't much they could say to excuse their actions.
"Tch," Masamichi frowns in disappointment, beginning to remember why he didn't want kids of his own, for shit like this was sure to get his blood pressure up and running. Feeling an incoming headache, he tries to think of a fitting punishment for them, "Sorry's not good enough. I'll be calling your parents today to tell them—"
"No!" Asami interrupts him, a worrisome look on her face. If he told her parents, the first thing they'd do is take her out of the school. Not only that, but boy would she be in lots of trouble!
"What do you mean by no?" Masamichi stares at her with a stern look on his face, not exactly falling for the puppy dog eyes she was attempting to give him.
"Masamichi-sensei, my parents will kill me if you tell them about yesterday! They might even take me out of the school!" she pleads with him, hoping he'd show some kind of leniency.
Shaking his head, he pinches the bridge of his nose, realizing he was going to have to be the bad guy, "Well maybe you should've thought about that before you went ahead and got drunk. Now, unless one of you is going to take all of the blame, I don't want to hear any more complaints."
Looking down in shame, Asami remains silent, understanding that she had to face the consequences of her actions.
Glancing at the saddened girl, Satoru originally believes her to be dramatic, that is until he sees the glossiness in her eyes. Feeling an impulsive need to raise his hand, he argues with himself, 'Don't do it,' he clenches his jaw.
Closing his eyes, he finds himself forcefully reliving the prior night, that stupid sweater she had on acting as his trigger.
Honestly speaking, when he woke up this morning, he didn't expect himself to remember anything from the night before, but sadly he did. In fact, he remembered every single thing. From the gulps of whiskey to pushing the supermarket cart loaded with a drunken Asami. But most importantly, he remembered that stupid smile on her face when he gave her his sweater, and how happy he felt to be around her … something which he once thought was impossible.
Scowling, he tries to remind himself of what an annoying person she could be. Telling himself that this was Asami he was thinking about, the girl who he thought was an uptight daddy's girl when they first met, the girl who proclaimed that he would always be nothing more than a self-absorbed idiot to her, the girl who he often found irritating.
'But she's not,' is what his heart tells him, for yesterday showed him that Asami could indeed be a fun person to be around. And so to lie in bed this morning and come to the realization that any feelings of spiteful jealousy and bitter resentment were long gone, was a tough pill to swallow. Asami was a sweet girl, that he could no longer deny….
"It was me," Satoru interrupts Masamichi's speech in the dangers of underage drinking, "I was the one who bought us the whiskey, I was the one who pushed them to all drink, and it was ultimately my idea to break into the supermarket and sneak into the public pool," he says, causing everyone to go dead silent, unable to believe what they were hearing.
Carefully studying the boy sitting in front of him, Masamichi is pleasantly surprised at his student's sudden confession, Satoru being one of the last people he'd ever assume to stand up and take all the blame. In fact, it was completely out of his nature to do something like this.
"Hm," Masamichi hums, looking to see if the boy would backtrack on his statement, "So you're willing to take any and all punishments I give?"
Asami looks at Satoru in disbelief, watching as he nods his head yes.
"Okay then. Later you'll be cleaning all the bird poop from the campus windows, from there you'll…." Asami tunes out Masamichi as she continues to stare at Satoru, wondering what could've possibly made him want to take all the blame just like that. Was he gaining something out of this? Maybe he was using this as something to hold over their heads….
Beginning to walk towards the door, Masamichi scolds them one last time, "I'll let you kids get away with it just this once, but if I see it happen a second time, I won't be as lenient," he firmly states, "And Satoru," the boy looks up, "With a technique like yours that primarily relies on vision, drinking alcohol is one of the last things you should be doing," he harshly says before leaving, making the Six Eyes user frown.
Hearing the door slam shut, the kids immediately sigh in relief, shoulders relaxing as they get out of their seiza positions.
Suguru wraps an arm around his best friend's shoulders, "What was that all about?" he laughs, "I mean thank you for taking the blame but it's a little out of your character don't you think," he teases him, having a pretty good idea as to what could've led his friend to fake a confession.
"You're all out of trouble aren't you?" Satoru retorts, preparing to leave in order to get started on his first assigned punishment.
"Don't forget your sweater," Suguru smirks when he sees Satoru stop dead in his tracks.
'Sweater? What sweat—' Asami looks down at the oversized sweater she was currently wearing, realizing that this was the exact sweater Suguru was talking about. Lips slightly parting, she becomes flustered, unable to recall how she ended up with the sweater to begin with.
"He gave it to you after seeing you were cold," Shoko whispers to her ear, causing a rapidly growing blush to appear on Asami's cheeks.
"O-Oh," she stutters, hesitantly beginning to take off the blue sweater.
"Just keep it," Satoru says, his face void of any emotion. Shaking her head, she refuses, continuing to take off the sweater. That is until she feels a hand get placed onto her shoulder, preventing her from completely taking it off.
"Asami, like I said, just keep it," he repeats, this time a little more softly.
"Thank you, Gojou-san," she slightly bows to him, confirming to him that she in fact didn't remember anything from the night before, something he was unsure if he was thankful for or … disappointed in.
Later that Evening.
Grabbing loose change from her pocket, Asami inserts the number of needed coins for the soda in the vending machine, having finished her Sunday training with a veteran sorcerer. God, was she exhausted. It's only been a couple of hours since her rude awakening from Masamichi, but the effects of it were kicking her ass! Honestly, it felt like she was going to knock out at any moment…
"But Tanaka-sensei, I've been putting all my effort into your class! I can't afford to fail it this semester!" Asami hears Satoru's voice from not too far away, completely waking her up as she turns to see him walking alongside their science teacher. Quietly observing them, she tries to remain inconspicuous.
Tanaka, the first year's science teacher, frowns, "I'm sorry Satoru, but you haven't been doing that well on the quizzes, and I can't curve those grades," he firmly states, "Look, the most I can do is let you retake those quizzes, but you're really going to have to study if you want to pass," he says, noticing the forming scowl on the boy's face.
"But I do!" Satoru huffs, pouting like a child.
Tanaka gives him a knowing look, "So then why did your last quiz have the exact same correct and incorrect answers as Suguru," he knits his brows together, Satoru now avoiding eye contact, "The only effort you've been putting in my class is the effort of cheating, something I've been nice enough not to call you out on till now."
Satoru remains silent, flashing back to the number of times he'd peep over to Suguru's desk whenever Tanaka was distracted.
"I'd like to believe my class isn't hard to pass as long as you put genuine effort, Satoru, I mean…" Tanaka spots Asami, who was indeed his favorite student from the first years, "Take Asami for example!" he points at the girl.
"Of fucking course," Satoru mutters under his breath, walking towards the girl.
Bowing in respect, Asami feigns a smile, not expecting to take part in their conversation.
"Asami here completes and turns in her assignments weeks before their due dates, and her effort is definitely shown on her quiz scores," and because Taneki fails to notice the way the two side eye each other, his next statement comes as a shock to them, "Which is why I think, she should tutor you!"
"HUH?!" the two look at him with wide eyes.
"Yeah! With the help of Asami, I'm one hundred percent sure you'll be able to pass the class Satoru!" Tanaka enthusiastically exclaims, unaware of his students' currently… weird ...relationship with each other, "So what do you say Asami?" he puts the girl on the spot.
"Oh um…" she nervously looks around, unsure of what to say.
Knowing she was going to say no, Satoru steps in for her, "Tanaka-sensei, I'll just retake your class—"
"Sure, why not," she says, taking Satoru by complete surprise.
"Wait what?" he looks down at her, expecting her to laugh at him or tell him she wasn't being serious.
"Would you look at that!" Tanaka claps his hands in joy, "See it's stuff like this that makes me love my job! Students working together to help each other succeed!" he grins, "I'll have your make-up quizzes prepared by the end of the month, Satoru, from there just come by my office any time to take them," Tanaka waves goodbye, leaving Satoru and Asami to themselves.
Awkward silence fills the air, Satoru clearly still in disbelief at Asami's willingness to help.
"So…" Asami looks around, unsure of what to say.
"Why'd you say yes?" he frowns at her, believing her kind gesture to be some kind of ruse.
Furrowing her brows, she scoffs, "What? Too good for my help?"
He remains silent.
"Tch," she rolls her eyes, "The only reason I said yes was because you took the blame for all of us and convinced Masamichi not to call my parents," she says, genuinely feeling bad when she saw him scrubbing bird poop off the windows of the campus' buildings earlier, "Think of it as an eye for an eye kind of thing."
He continues to stare at her with hostility, not a fan of being pitied, "No," he crosses his arms, avoiding eye contact like a child.
Shaking her head, she knows that he's only being stubborn, probably feeling embarrassed that he needed the help, "Come on Gojou-san, let's just go to a cafe tomorrow after practice, and if you feel like you don't like my teaching methods then I'll let you be."
He pouts his lips, knowing that he really needed to pass this science class unless he wanted to spend his next summer retaking the course.
"I promise you, I'm a really good tutor," she offers him a rare small smile. Feeling his fingers get clammy, he gulps, the uncaring facade he had on, beginning to crumble down.
And after a small moment of silence, he finally agrees to her proposal, "Fine," he mutters, deciding that he was only doing this out of his own selfish need to pass the class.
"Great!" she chuckles, "I'll see you tomorrow then Gojou-san," she waves at him, failing to notice the faint blush on his cheeks. And perhaps it did have to do with him taking all the blame, but Asami was beginning to realize that perhaps Satoru wasn't as bad as she originally made him out to be.
Banzai Café.
"Okay, let's get started!" Asami enthusiastically innocently grins as she begins to pull out her number of school materials, such as: several notebooks, different colored highlighters, post it notes, glitter pens, decorated mechanical pencils, happy face stickers, and last but not least …. A bag of wrapped candy.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Satoru plays with one of her pens, a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment on his face.
She nods, "Of course it is," she chuckles, "Stuff like this makes studying fun," she turns to a certain page in the textbook, Tanaka having given her Satoru's failed science quizzes, meaning she knew where he was doing well in the class and where he needed extra help in.
"So, I first want us to review the basic concepts of force vs mass, and how it can affect speed along with shape," Asami begins to point at a chunk of text in the textbook, reading and explaining to him what it all meant in her own words.
Genuinely paying attention, he likes how she stops every couple of minutes to make sure he was understanding everything, constantly telling him to let her know if she was going too fast.
"What if the same force is applied?" he asks, reaching the topic he was fuzzy with.
"Well remember, if the same force is applied to two objects then the object with the smaller mass will change speeds more quickly," she looks around, trying to think of a good example.
Noticing the baseball game on the TV, her eyes light up, "For example if a baseball and a bowling ball are thrown with the same force the baseball will speed up faster because of its small size."
He frowns, still not understanding the concept, but like hell was he going to admit that. It was already embarrassing enough that he needed tutoring for this subject. Groaning, Satoru mumbles incoherent curses, upset with himself for being unable to understand something so simple.
Noticing his sheepish expression, she offers him a warm comforting smile, "Hey, if you don't get it then that's okay. We'll just move on and come back to it another day, " she flips the page of the textbook, whispering something to herself that she originally believed he wouldn't hear….
"People must forget you're human sometimes…"
Staring at her in disbelief, Satoru feels his heart pound out of his chest, her words reminding him of someone he once knew back home...
Slamming his door, an eight year old Satoru plops himself onto bed, not caring if he was too old to be throwing a hissy fit. It just wasn't fair! How come all the other kids in the compound got to do whatever the hell they wanted, while he was stuck being followed around by creepy men and women. All because they were scared he'd hurt himself or more importantly … his eyes.
"Tch," he crosses his arms. Tired is what he was. So freaking tired.
Yeah, he understood that he had a power like no other, constantly being reminded of how special and important he was for his clan, but couldn't his family see that he was being treated like a bird in a cage? Always with their, "Do this," and "Do that," while constantly scolding him about rules and following traditions. The boy couldn't even sit a little slouched without getting some kind of scolding!
"What do you want?" he mumbles into his pillow, sensing the presence of someone entering his room.
"Your parents are looking for you," his clan's housekeeper, Yuna, sits on the edge of his bed. Patting his head with her hand, she chuckles, wondering who or what could've gotten the boy upset this time.
Scowling, he pushes her hand off, only making her laugh even more.
"Nothing's funny," he barks at her, now sitting up from the bed in an effort to intimidate her.
Ruffling his hair, she gives the boy a close-eyed smile, endeared by the young boy's behavior. He almost reminded her of her younger brother, who tragically died in a car accident a couple years ago, having been around the same age as Satoru.
"A young boy like you shouldn't be feeling this upset, it's not good for you," she comments, accidently aggravating the boy even more.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before," he thinks about the elders in his family who constantly berate him for the things he does, "What's up with all of you stupid adults always trying tell me what to do, always expecting me to be some kind of perfect puppet," he begins to rant, showing that he was extremely intellectual for his age.
Frowning, Yuna begins to understand where the boy's frustrations are coming from, having witnessed the unfair treatment of the boy first hand. Of course because of her inferior position in the clan, she could never say much to stand up for him… something which often made her feel guilty. It was why she often tried to make it up to him by bringing him gifts such as sweets, and casually asking him how his day was whenever she had the chance. All in all, she was the closest thing that could resemble a friend around here.
"I see," she hums, "People must forget you're human sometimes, isn't that right?"
He remains silent, focusing his gaze on the wall.
"I can make mistakes too," he whispers, making Yuna's heart twist.
"Is that what happened today? You made a mistake?"
He nods, "One tiny mistake and I'm being screamed at by smelly men who can't even wipe their—"
"Hey," Yuna furrows her brows, pretending to be upset, "I don't know who's teaching you how to say stuff like that, but you shouldn't be saying this like that about anyone."
He pouts, "Those American movies I see all the time love cursing like that," he shrugs his shoulders, not exactly realizing how disrespectful his words are.
"And where are you watching American movies from? You don't even have a TV in here," she looks around his room, the only thing of modern technology being an old radio.
Getting up from the bed, he walks over to his drawer, pulling something out from underneath, "I got myself one of these!" he flashes her the mini DVD player he had managed to sneak into the compound a couple of weeks ago.
Laughing, she shakes her head while placing her hands to her hips, "Ah Satoru, what am I going to do with you?" she teases him, making him crack a smile, "How bout you go and finish your training and in the meanwhile I'll convince your mom to let me take you to an actual movie theatre."
His eyes light up, "W-Wait really?"
Feigning a grin, she nods, "Yeah! So go run along," she nudges him, the boy unaware that it'd be the last time he'd ever see her.
"Is that okay, Gojou-san?"
Asami's voice brings him back to reality.
"Huh?" he shakes his head, unaware that he had zoned out.
"I said if it was okay to move on?" she repeats her question from before, having gone through the whole lesson already.
"Oh .. yeah it's fine," he awkwardly smiles, feeling very much flustered.
Softly chuckling, she pulls out a paper from her binder, "Great! That means we can get started on this crossword puzzle I made for you, it's so that you can memorize some of these terms a little better," she places it in front of him, passing him one of her glittered pens, "For every five correct answers, you'll get one of these," she dangles her bag of sweets.
Scowling, he glares at her, thinking it was another one of her snarky jokes, "I'm not some dog."
Playfully rolling her eyes, she giggles, "I know you aren't Gojou-san, but I like to think that we deserve small rewards for the work we put in," she says, making him stare at her in subtle shock.
Begrudgingly avoiding eye contact, he knows his face is getting red, causing him to immediately look down and get started on his crossword puzzle. Soon the sound of soft hums fills his ears as he glances up at her, tempted to tell her to shut up. That is until he realizes that she was unaware of what she was doing, innocently looking around the cafe as she then admires the view outside the window.
Feeling his stare, she turns to look at him, "Already done?" she softly smiles at him.
Flustered at what he was caught doing, he shakes his head, "N-No," he quickly gets back to working on his puzzle, silently cursing to himself for what he'd been caught doing. Messily filling in the squares, he hands the completed paper back to her.
Removing her highlighter cap, she gets into teacher mode, biting her lip as she carefully reviews his work, mumbling small compliments as she puts stars next to his correct answers. Handing him two pieces of wrapped candy, he smiles as he tosses them into his mouth, patting himself on the back for getting at least ten correct.
Continuing to review his sheet, she catches a mistake, "Ah, remember that conduction is when heat transfer takes place between objects by direct contact, while convection is heat transfer between fluids."
Nodding, he fixes his mistake, actually feeling motivated to finish his work. 'Damn she was right,' he thinks about how he was originally skeptical of the whole "treat" method, the method actually working.
Placing a sticker on the corner of his paper, she excitedly claps when handing it back to him, wanting him to feel accomplished. Looking at his paper, he attempts to hide the small smile forming on his face, genuinely happy that he had gotten most of them correct.
"I didn't take you as a teaching type," he randomly says, beginning to put his things away.
"Eh, if I wasn't a sorcerer, I think I'd study to be a teacher," she stacks her number of papers, the two beginning to make casual conversation, "Actually no, I think I'd be an actress," she laughs, never having said the words out loud.
Raising a brow, he tilts his head in question, "But I thought you'd want to be an acrobatist, you know … for the circus?" he asks, not even saying it to be rude, for he genuinely believed that she would've wanted to be at the circus had her life not done a complete 180 spin on her.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she laughs, "I can't blame you for thinking that, if you would've asked me when I was a kid what I wanted to do, I probably would've responded with that."
"What changed?"
She shrugs, "I don't know if I'm being honest," she rests her head on her hand, now in deep thought, "I just don't see myself doing that for the rest of my life," he furrows his brows, wondering why she was talking about the thing she'd been doing for most of her life so nonchalantly, almost as if she was looking down on it. But before he can dwell on her answer too much, she asks him a question of her own.
"What about you?"
"What do you mean?" he looks at her, waiting for her to elaborate.
"What would your career be if you weren't a shaman?" she stares in curiosity, genuinely wanting to know his answer.
"Oh…" he taps his fingers against the table, never really having been asked that question. He was Gojo Satoru after all, not some average man who could pick and choose between careers. Being a shaman was something he knew he was going to have to be since the day he was born.
"I don't know actually…" he awkwardly says, feeling slightly embarrassed by his lack of an answer. She probably thought he was some kind of one-dimensional person. Not that he cared for what she thought of him, but …
"That's okay. Some people are lucky enough to know early on what they want to do with their life, and well I guess you're one of them," she tells him, a soft look to her eyes as she finds herself invested in the conversation.
"Well actually, I think…."
The conversation continues, Satoru and Asami for the first time since they've met actually getting to know one another, going from topic to topic as they order themselves some food, voluntarily spending their day together. Of course, in the span of the hours that they talk, they still occasionally butt heads, agreeing and disagreeing on a number of things as they also share laughter and smiles with one another. At the end of the day, the two were finally humanizing each other.
Satoru was beginning to no longer view Asami as someone who was weak, in fact, based on just her personality and way with words, he could tell that she was strong. How foolish he was to tell her that she was anything less …
Asami on the other hand begins to realize that there's more to Satoru than meets the eye, the boy having a vast range of likes and dislikes. For example, despite him having a sweet tooth, he hated extremely powdered candy, he also preferred beaches over lakes, and last but not least … he could play the violin!
Clutching her stomach, Asami wipes the tears from the corners of her eyes, Satoru's joke just now making her crack up, "G-Gojou-san, that's hilarious!" she feels as if she can't breathe, laughing just that hard.
Grinning, he watches her as she tries to stop laughing, the sound of her laughter reminding him of that drunken night. A part of him wants to ask her if she remembers anything about it, ultimately deciding against it as he doesn't want to ruin the moment. But sadly there was something that was bothering him, he just wasn't sure what…
Finally managing to calm down, she smiles at him with complete joy, the exact smile she'd given him when he gave her his sweater.
"I cannot believe you'd do something like that Gojou-s—"
"Satoru."
She tilts her head in confusion, "Hm?"
Scratching the back of his neck, he becomes flustered, "Just call me Satoru," he mumbles, "I don't..." he hesitates to continue, "I don't think you need the formality anymore…"
She stares at him in utter silence, feeling her heart warm at his words. Pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she knows she's beginning to blush, hoping it wasn't too noticeable from where he was sitting.
"Oh okay … Satoru," she says his name as if it's something from another planet, obviously used to calling him "Gojou-san."
"Well I'd tell you to call me Asami, but you already do that," she playfully teases him, reminding him of their first encounter with each other. Nervously laughing, the boy avoids eye contact, not exactly proud of his rude actions from that day.
"Yeah I'm sor—"
"Excuse me…" Asami and Satoru look up to see a blonde haired boy, who based on his school uniform, must've been around the same age as them.
"Yes?" Asami politely smiles, a pink blush appearing on her cheeks when she realizes how cute he is. Noticing how she subtly fawns over the boy, Satoru feels his eyebrows twitch.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the boy chuckles, looking down at their study materials.
'Yeah you are, so fuck off already,' Satoru bitterly curses at the boy in his head, unaware that his green eyed monster was coming out.
"O-Oh well we were just wrapping up here," Asami nervously laughs, clearly feeling shy in front of the boy.
Scoffing, Satoru studies the boy up and down, unable to believe that this was what Asami found to be attractive. He was hideous! If this was Asami's type then clearly Satoru was some kind of supermodel in her eyes!
"Well I was hoping I could get your number," the boy smiles sheepishly, dimples appearing on his cheeks as Asami internally swoons over the boy.
'Tch as if Asami would give her number to some random stranger,' Satoru crosses his arms, smirking as he prepares to witness the ultimate rejection.
"Y-yeah," Asami shly nods, causing Satoru's eyes to widen.
"Huh?" he accidentally says out loud, making his presence known.
The blonde haired looks at Satoru, a confused expression on his face, "Something wrong?" he asks with a fake smile plastered onto his face, Satoru able to hear the attitude behind the words.
Narrowing his eyes at the nameless dude, he huffs in annoyance, "No," he responds, noticing the smug glint in the dude's eyes, 'Bastard…' he thinks to himself. Quietly growling to himself, Satoru watches as Asami writes down her phone number on a napkin, wanting nothing more than to shred it into pieces with his own hands.
"Here you go," she hands him the napkin, continuing to swoon over the boy as he makes his way back to his group of friends. Satoru glares at the group as he knows he's being talked about, possibly even being laughed at. That's because despite Asami and him not being a thing, there was no way the dude could have possibly known that, meaning Satoru either didn't look intimidating enough or the ugly boy simply didn't care! Either way Satoru hated it! He hated being looked down upon, and especially by people his own age!
Directing his anger at Asami, he scowls at her, jaw now completely clenched, "You done?"
Not noticing his attitude, she nods, placing all of her things into her bag. Getting up from their seats, the two walk out, but not before Satoru sends a final hate-filled glare to the group of boys, the blue eyes most people found unique and attractive, in this case being intimidating. Feeling a chill go down their spines', the group of boys watch as Satoru lifts his sunglasses back up, acting as if he'd done nothing while walking alongside Asami.
"Can't believe you gave a loser like that your number…" Satoru mutters under his breath, but still loud enough for Asami to hear.
"Hey," she frowns, "You don't even know the dude," she chuckles, mistaking his attitude for some light teasing. Boy, was she wrong…
"Tch, it doesn't matter. Even an idiot can tell from a mile away that the dude is a major freak!" Asami knits her brows together, confused as to where this hostility was coming from. Continuing to rant, he tightens his fist, "I mean I don't get it. You were the one who lectured Shoko on the dangers of giving some random stranger her number!"
Knowing he had a point, she laughs, "I guess I was wrong," she says, only further irritating him.
"Huh?! No you weren't!" he throws his arms in the air, dramatically flapping them down, "Trust me, that dude gives off horrible vibes."
Still oblivious to his envy, she shrugs, "I guess that's for me to find out, right? I mean like Suguru said, not like I can't fend for myself," she adds, noticing that the bus stop was nearing.
"Yeah well I still don't like the dude!" he huffs, beginning to walk ahead of her.
"Where are you going?" she yells, the boy walking past the bus stop.
"None of your business!" he says in return, disappearing in the crowd of people walking past them.
Shrugging, she boards onto the bus, genuinely happy with today's events. Not only were Satoru and her now on better terms, but she even got asked for her number by a cute boy! Leaning her head against the window, she smiles, looking forward to the rest of the school year.
Meanwhile…
Stomping his way across the city, Satoru grumpily pushes past people with his heart thumping out of his chest. "So freaking stupid," he mutters, Asami's infectious laughter ringing in his ears as he tries to get her off of his mind. But how could he when she was giving her number to random strangers?! Truly, what the hell was she thinking!
He knows he shouldn't care, and he knows it's not his place to intervene, but for some reason in that moment he felt such a nasty twisting feeling in his stomach that even now he couldn't help but be pissed off! Also, who the hell did that guy think he was! Walking over to their table as if he freaking owned the place.
"Tch, ugly bastard," Satoru clenches his jaw, unable to believe that he was beginning to compare his looks with that yellow piss haired boy. Especially because he is quite certain that he beat him in the looks department by a milestone! He was Gojo Satoru for God's sake! Born with a face that had girls throwing themselves at him! He once even got asked out by a woman twice his age!
'So what the hell did that ogre looking freak have that I don't?'
The question stops Satoru in his tracks, unable to believe what he just thought, "No way," he mumbles, "No freaking way," he shakes his head. Pausing in contemplation, he comes to a realization …
Was he …. jealous ?
A/N:
Wasn't that a long chapter! I'm telling you guys' I'm having lots of fun writing these lol. A lot has happened this chapter, and as you can see 1/2 of the duo is beginning to realize their feelings faster than the other half *cough cough* Gojou lol. Next chapter will focus more on Asami's side of things, and based on my outline, will be one of my fave chapters in this arc so I'm looking forward to writing that haha.
Note, originally I was going to make Gojou's housekeeper be his mom, but because we don't know anything about the Gojou clan I just felt like it was better to play it safe by using a housekeeper. Based on Gojou's rebellious and so called "rude" attitude it makes me assume that he was raised in a clan similar to the Zenin's just that since he was bestowed with the six eyes, of course they treated him with more precaution and strict rules. Studies show that children raised in strict households tend to be more rebellious and resent authority growing up which makes sense as Gojou is a disrespectful teenager who later grows to hate the higher ups.
Also, I know canonically Gojou doesn't like alcohol, which is why I threw in the personal Masamichi scolding as well as his inability to teleport as I I feel like Gojou is the type of person to not like drinking, not because he doesn't like the taste of it but because it impairs what makes him strong. Of course that's my own opinion, so take that as you will lmao.
I wish you guys could see the drafts to this chapter lol, originally it was going to go a complete other way, but I ultimately ended up liking how this came out to be. For the scene with grocery store/pool/park scene I imagined/played Ribs by Lorde the whole time which is my song rec for this chapter lol. As one twitter user puts it, "It's the epitome of having nostalgia, growing up with your best friends, enjoying the moment, and never wanting anything to change." When writing it, I couldn't help but think of the scene where Gojou gets sealed and the three years of his youth come flooding into his brain.
Anyways, enough chit chat! Once again thank you to anyone whose left a review, feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter and to the guest reviewer who asked for Gojou's first kiss not to be an accident, do not worry! His first kiss will be intentional, done sober, and completely built up to :) that i can promise you haha.