"You look like shit."

"Well, good," Nobara agreed for once with Mai who was midway in biting down her sandwich. "Because I've been training my ass off since 5am to get better." She entered through the kitchen and opened the fridge looking for any cool drink.

She watched as the poor girl tried to hide her limp when she strided. Small branches and leaves were stuck in her hair; dirt smudged all over her tracksuit. "Miss Kugisaki isn't with you?" Mai asked.

"Off to being not around as usual." Nobara pulled up a cold water bottle from the fridge and drank it with so much relief and satisfied

sigh. "Nanami-san said he's taking a quick trip up the flower fields. He wanted to ask if you wanna come with us," asked Nobara.

"Huh? It's not even spring yet," She replied right after she chewed her sandwich bit. "Flowers won't be in bloom."

"There's this thing called autumn season flowers. Never heard of it?"

"It's early in the morning for you to have a headache right now." Mai yawned. She had just woken up minutes ago from her well deserved sleep.

"It's nine in the morning." This Mai is lucky Nobara was in a good mood from all her training.

"Where is this place exactly?"

"Get ready and you'll find out," said Nobara and shut the door to their room to probably change.

The two had to change in separate rooms, with Mai taking the bathroom, since they took too long. Like old times, Nobara and Mai still had the instincts of having an outfit competition where they don't even have any judge to choose between them.

"Nanami-san!" Nobara thought of an idea when he saw Nanami coming into the house and taking off his shoes. "What do you think has the cutest outfit?" She said, referring to Nobara and Mai.

"Hmmm, practically wise, you both lose," he answered bluntly.

Both were wearing long sleeved dresses and lace boots of their own which doesn't fit the autumn cold at all.

"Plus points for having matching clothes though," added Nanami as he turned around. "C'mon, let's go."

Both girls looked at each other with flushed faces. Now that he pointed it out, their clothing colors were complementary almost like it was meant for a couple. Nobara had worn a dark cyan shade while Mai owned a blood red one.

"I'm not changing," said Mai as if to try to change the awkwardness that suddenly loomed between them. The green haired girl went with the flow not regretting a decision she made. A giddy feeling hid in her that she hesitated to admit.

They made their trip up to the fields, and the actual place bloomed more vibrant than how the postcards show them to be. Being around it felt like endless rows of autumn flowers surrounding you and its fragrance. The sun painted more life to the season.

"It's really…..gorgeous," said Mai.

Nobara was speechless coming from someone who lived in the countryside and only dreamt of gray cities. These fields brought a different kind of world to her.

"One of the highlights of Hokkaido," said Nanami as he took a deep breath. This sight always will calm him down compared to how he saw it in detailed pictures from geography books.

The rest of the trip, both girls ran around the field enjoying the moments of youth, and Nanami was glad to witness them. They were truly having fun, and he bet their jujutsu teachers would be relieved seeing them smile like this.

Only then when the girls started pushing off each other gave Nanami moments of mini heart attacks since they could crush on the precious flowers. If that ever happened, he assumed they might pay a fine as a punishment.

"You've worked at a flower shop before, right?" suddenly asked Mai, running towards Nobara, surprisingly like an excited little girl but with a devilish grin on her lips. Her hands were behind her back.

Nobara immediately knew something was up. "What did you do?"

Mai whipped up a variety of flowers in her hands and all of them looked handpicked from the fields, pulled out from its roots. They were orange and red mostly like autumn colors. "Could you make this up into a bouquet?" she asked.

"Holy shit!" Nobara widened her eyes. "Are you sure picking those aren't illegal?"

"Eh, Who knows." Mai carelessly shrugged, fuming a flame into Nobara.

"Who knows? Who knows?! Nanami-san offered us a chance to actually visit as tourists here, not sorcerers,and then you risk us getting kicked out of here."

"Jeez, calm down."

"Those flowers are seasonal, Mai. People actually wait for them to bloom! That's a big deal!"

Oh crap there it goes. Nobara's nerding on flowers is showing. Mai chuckled. She looked cute flaring her nose like that. And she wasn't actually angry like she usually is but instead…passionate.

A text buzzed out from Nobara's phone, turning her attention away from Mai. It was a message from Nanami telling her they would be leaving in fifteen minutes.

"Now, Mai - " When Nobara turned around to continue giving her lecture, the green haired girl disappeared in her spot, only leaving fallen flower petals on the ground.

God, this girl was gonna be the end of her!

After a few minutes of trying to call Mai to better have her ass come back here, Nobara decided to look around the fields. It couldn't be hard at first since she can even see Nanami stature from a distance. Squinting her eyes, she realized how hard it is to spot that green haired girl blending within the fields. The spammed calls Nobara made to Mai became worth it as she finally returned her call.

Mai answered with a casual 'hey' as if she didn't almost give Nobara a full blown headache.

"I'm not your damn babysitter here, you know," replied Nobara.

"It isn't my fault you're not looking hard enough. I'm like, right behind you." A giggle was heard.

"Stop playing tricks on me, and get your ass over here."

Nobara abruptly spun around just in case, and a few yards from her, Mai appeared. A shit grinning overtook her face. Her phone over her ear.

"Since you wouldn't get off my ass with these flowers…" Mai started pacing forwards. She carried the possibly illegally picked flowers carefully, and it looked different this time. "Take it," she said, shoving the flowers onto Nobara's chest. The flowers were put in a water bottle, acting as its pseudo-vase.

Nobara released all the pent up emotions in her voice. It merely turned into a single calmed exhale. At least the flowers were fine. "...And it's in a Fiji water bottle." A part of her wanted to chuckle.

"No shit, Sherlock."

Rolling her eyes, Nobara took the flower off Mai's hands. Fiji water was an 'expensive' type of water, and it's interesting how Mai chose it as the 'water vase.' The flowers deserved that treatment.

"I have zero clue how to take care of those, so I thought I'll just dump the work to you," said Mai bluntly.

Nobara looked down on the flowers. "It would be very unlucky for these flowers to have an owner like you."

"I can take care of other plants too, you know."

"And what's that? Grasses?"

"No." Mai hesitated for a bit, suddenly feeling flushed. "Cactus.." Her cactus didn't specifically need getting trimmed or watered daily.

Nobara chuckled. She had the plants covering her laughing face while her shoulders shook. When Mai stared at her, the warmth on her stomach flushed even more; she decided to look away. They neared the parking lot where Nanami patiently waited for them.

"I call shotgun!" Mai sprinted, leaving Nobara carrying with the flowers to sit in the backseat.

Nanami noticed how the girl clutched the flowers tight into her arms as she ran towards him, slightly limping with a hand over her hips, like almost a kid forced to run for P.E. His eyes turned into worried slits.

—

"Are you leaving soon, Nanami-san?" asked Mai right after he had parked the car at the curbside.

"Well, my job here is done," he answered. "Unless you have any more questions…" He eyed Mai in the backseat.

"So we'll see you around Tokyo then?" chimed in Nobara.

"I've been mentoring Itadori-kun for a while now. I'll be there if you need my help," He said. "Also before you leave," Nanami reached out his arms to Mai's seat and opened up the compartment box, "you'll need this." Then he threw a small red bag at Nobara.

"First aid kit?" asked Nobara. The familiar white cross branded on the bag's center. As for Mai, Utahime had always trained Kyoto Tech to bring first aid supplies if they are packing up for a mission.

"In case of training injuries," said Nanami.

"You didn't have to-" Nobara paused, the rest of the words refusing to roll off her tongue when she remembered what Nanami did last night for her. "Um, thank you," she said instead, bowing her head.

Both girls thanked him once again before they finally took off their seats and strided toward the front porch.

"You know what?" started Nobara. "Nanami-san's pretty…cool."

"He is," agreed Mai. "Kinda reminds me of Utahime-sensei." For Mai, it seemed like any normal day of walking the porch stairs but when Nobara did try doing it, she abruptly slumped on the fence. A loud thump resounded from the stairs planks as she tripped. Her hands tended over her stomach while the other hand grabbed onto the wooden fence.

"Christ Nobara!" exclaimed Mai as she turned her head to look at her.

Nobara grunted in pain, recoiling more. "Just get me a seat!" she demanded.

Mai immediately scrambled to pull the porch chair next to Nobara. "What the hell did you do?"

"Like I said, I've been working my ass off since this morning."

"So training, huh? Did she make you carry a goddamn boulder?"

"I…underestimated how much the training will take." Nobara remembered how the training went. She admitted she fell face first on the ground. "But I can do it. It's just a bruise." She reassured herself.

Mai squinted her eyes, tucking her crossed arms.

"What?" Nobara gritted her teeth as she tried to bite back pain on her chest everytime she breathed in.

"I'll get the ice pack," said Mai as she went inside the house.

When Mai got back, Nobara looked more in pain. Both hands clutched her chest, her hair covered her face as she almost tilted off her chair.

"You sure you don't wanna lay down?" asked Mai.

"J-just lift me up."

Mai did, and when she was supposed to leave Nobara on her own to walk herself, Mai still stuck her arm close around her. Nobara refused but Mai managed through her complaints and plopped her on the couch like a heavy load of groceries.

"That hurt!" cried out Nobara. Her pricks of pain doubled.

"Well shit, it was worse than I expected."

"Obviously by the way I have to be carried, you should have known that."

"You were complaining all the way!"

"Argh, just give me that!" Nobara slapped the ice pack off Mai's hands as she put it close to her left ribs.

"How bad is the bruise?"

"I already told you its-"

"It's not gonna work if you put the ice pack over your clothes."

"Fine, if that's what it takes to shut you up." Nobara carefully took off her jacket and unzipped the side of her dress.

Mai tried to keep her eyes locked on Nobara's forehead. Mai's body might betray her if she kept her eyes looking too long down there.

Once Nobara took her dress top off, while only wearing her bra, the bruise was positioned on her left rib, spreading like a spiderweb towards her stomach.

"So this is the cost of working your butt off," said Mai.

Nobara pierced Mai straight to the eye. Her autumn eyes shone a thwarting light in it. "I needed it. To get stronger."

"But it's only the first day and you already got your ass kicked." Mai sighed, going down on one knee to closely observe Nobara's rib. "Jeez, you sound like someone I know," she mumbled.

Nobara's ear caught onto it. "It's just a damn bruise." But even if it was only that case for Nobara, why do knives seem to stab down on that part of her ribs every time she breathes. It was bearable this morning, but holy hell, this evening, the soreness became apparent on tha area.

"Does it feel soft?" asked Mai.

Nobara went on to press her bruise, flinching. "Yeah, a bit sore…maybe."

"And did you fall or something?"

"What's up with these questions?"

"I know you Tokyo brats are spoiled with Ieri-san always being around to heal you, and I'm starting to think you probably have no clue on first aid stuff."

"We're strong, that's why." Nobara couldn't recall a smidge of lessons on first aid back at Tokyo Tech. It has always been sparring with one another at the track field, and maybe those sparring hits heightened their group's pain tolerance, especially when Maki's on their side..

"So tell me then, is being 'strong' part of this?"

For a split second, Nobara blanked out, trying to reel her mind into what Mai just said. "Being strong also means obviously knowing your skills and making them stronger, like actually training for them."

"Then if you get that strong, what happens now?"

"You just keep on killing curses, easy.."

"Great, sounds like mindlessly killing them basically," Mai's voice leaked in disappointment. Nobara shot out a look at her. "I don't really get how you people can keep on doing that."

Nobara had kept her brain spinning from this small discussion. She wasn't gonna lie, she was curious. "What makes you say that?"

"Curses are not gonna stop existing soon as they comes from negative human emotions, you can't really erase that." Mai answered but kept her eyes locked on Nobara's bruise. "If you fall, feel sore, and hurt when you breathe, then it's a bruised rib," she suggested.

Nobara raised an eyebrow, suspicious. Mai finally looked up to her.

"Momo had a similar injury before when she fell doing tricks on her broom." Mai stood up, dusting off her dress. "Now, do you have any pain meds around the house?"

Many exchanges of arguments later with Mai riffling through every cabinet of the house, all the effort was wasted.

"Of course, you got nothing!" said Mai, throwing her hands up. She suggested to Nobara that she just try exercising deeper breaths rather than shallow ones to lessen the breathing pain. Mai had started teaching her what to do, and when the lesson continued on,

Nobara's mind started drifting off somewhere. Mai, the supposed mean girl, was helping her out right now with her injury. And she was right, they had Ieri-san to immediately heal this right away. Nobara began to get exercise correct, and it lessened her pain. "Uh, Mai?" Nobara said. "I fell from a tree." She finally confessed

—

"Don't expect I'd go easy on you." Her mom did show up and she had sat up from the chopped tree log she was sitting on.

"I'm sure I can handle what it is you're gonna throw at me." Nobara started stretching her body, arms first, just like they always did when sparring with Maki.

"You're not gonna need that."

"Huh?"

"This side of Resonance technique isn't depending on physical abilities. It's more like 'If you don't understand the nature of it, your curse energy will slap you back in the face."

"If you're asking me to read a damn book about that, you gotta do better as a teacher."

"Nope, not at all," said Miss Kugisaki, a smile stretching on her lips. "So I brought him."

Nobara heard metallic clangs, and there sounded some type of bird squawks as her mom grabbed something from behind the log.

"This is Tomo-kun," her mom introduced the bird with his iconic jet black feathers and black eyes who continued squawking.

"I don't accept animal cruelty at all," Nobara squinted her eyes.

"He's gonna help you," she said, letting go of the crow to fly on a nearby tree branch. There were leftover feathers spread out in his cage.

Her mom continued to spiel over all the details on how this Resonance works. It followed the same steps of using any part of the body of the target and the straw doll will be the usual effigy. Before enacting these steps, it was important for Nobara to understand their target, so they started small with a simple crow.

"And that's why I had waited and 'studied' those cursed dolls back in the black market before I could make a move," said Miss Kugisaki. "Again, if you don't understand their nature, your curse energy will slap you in the face."

"It's like a Binding Vow."

Her mom agreed.

The first few attempts all had slapped back in her face indeed.

"Change the way you look at things, Nobara!" Her mom tried to instruct her. "There's a reason why the Resonance technique is also called Sympathy."

"Can you be more specific than that!" Nobara's knees were shaking, and its effect clawed all the way up to her limbs. It begged her to collapse already.

"Try to get into Tomo-kun's head! What must he be thinking right now!"

"He's a damn animal! How am I supposed to-"

"Less talking and keep on observing him!"

Okay, you damn bird, Nobara thought, knitting her brows as she death eyed the bird. She bet the crow must be thinking how stupid she is right now and yet minutes later, her eye grew weary and all that curse energy she put back blew her back to the nearest probably a hundred year old tree.

—

Change the way you look at things.

That was one thing that her mom drilled into their first day. Hell, Nobara couldn't even grasp the concept despite being sent flying to a tree and dropping face down on the protruding roots.

"Seems like it's always been that way with your mom, you two fighting," said Mai. "Anyway about this whole bruise thing, you might end up having to stop the training for a while."

"What?!"

"Yeah, around maybe three weeks," retreated Mai, taking a step back. Nobara was roaring at this point.

"After what Nanami-san had to do, I can't possibly do that!" Nobara was fuming like Mai flanned her flames. "I'm letting him down!"

"Oh, look at that." Smirking, Mai raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you care what other people think?"

Nobara started bracing down again, taking the corner of the couch. She shut her eyes, teeth grinding in pain. Her own lungs were killing her. "Can you just get me that fucking pain meds for me?" She was practically begging at this point.

"I'll be back." Mai was satisfied and left Nobara to steady her breaths.

Nobara hated it, having to depend on others. But last night it called it with Nanami-san having to step in, and now the burden sits on her shoulders, she needed to prove herself that it's worthy of having to sacrifice a part of her pride.

Get Stronger. Don't get left behind. Her own words echoed in her brain. She thought about how Itadori and Fushiguro are doing down in Tokyo for missions, and it ate her up. But at the same time, Nanami-san's voice clashed with the echoes. "You're just a kid," he would say. She shook her head and decided to lay her head on the couch and maybe pass out for a few minutes .

Mai eventually came back and haphazardly shook Nobara awake. What she didn't expect was, next to Mai, Nobara's mom stood next to her.

"You need to get back to Tokyo by the end of the week," she said.

Shots fired, and twitching her eyebrows, Nobara glanced at Mai.

She cluelessly shrugged. "I didn't do anything."

"Looking how fucked you are right now, its obvious," said Miss Kugisaki. She easily noticed how pale her daughter is. "No excuses," she added.

"But my training! I haven't given up on that yet."

Mai glanced at Nobara. She was distraught, her eyes furrowing, like a little kid who got left out at a playground.

"You got all the tools you need," She craned her neck. "It's you who needs to know how to use them."

It left her daughter speechless.

—

"Hey!" Mai banged on the bedroom. "I also use this room, you know!"

Nobara had been somehow locking herself in their shared room. It's been hours since past dinner now, and Mai's patience was running low. Nobara finally swung open the door quietly, and Mai stepped in. She noticed how Nobara just went back to her bed and laid down. The usual Nobara would have started sprouting some whines or insults to her. Was it because of the meds? Maybe asleep? Still, this was the quietest she'd ever been with Mai since dinner, and for some weird reasons, Mai's senses felt wrong.

"This could be a good thing too if you think about it," said Mai awkwardly, clutching her neck. Gods, please don't let this fail.

No response.

She pushed on. "There's more people that could help you out there unlike here where it's technically just your mom."

Nobara remained quiet, her whole back facing Mai.

Welp, at least, Mai tried. Or she just made herself a total idiot for talking to a sleeping person. That's enough thinking for her today, so Mai plopped on her futon and just realized how she forgot to turn off the lights. She groaned, forcing herself to get up once again.

"Thanks…" a sudden voice muttered out, none other than her roommate Nobara.

Mai paused. Was Mai dreaming or was Nobara sleep talking? Mai could have missed it if she got too focused on turning off the lights, and if the clinking switch came at the same time with Nobara's voice. Mai drew the blankets closer to her and turned on her side. "Your welcome…" she muttered as well and closed her eyes.

—-

After managing to fight off her pity party and snooze off, Nobara ended up freezing her ass off and couldn't sleep. It was barely winter in Hokkaido, and those thick tiger blankets her mom gave worked jackshit. She kept tossing in her bed to at least get warm, and the wooden bed kept creaking beneath her. If the pain meds didn't kick right, she would have refused moving her body around like this.

"Did a bug bite you or something?"

Nobara halted on her tossing and brought her gaze off the wall. Her roommate appeared out of nowhere at the door, holding up her brightened phone as her flashlight.

"No," Nobara could still see Mai's dimmed face. "You're awake?"

"Had to pee," said Mai, padding her way to her futon.

"It's freezing cold," Nobara said, rubbing her palms on her shoulders and turning back to the wall. "That Old lady didn't even bother to bring a heater." When Nobara was about to close her eyes to again get some sleep, another squeak came off from her bed.

It was hers.

"You!" Her ginger hair whipped up in the air as she abruptly craned her head. The unbothered Mai casually took a seat on her bed like it was also her very own.

"I've been sleeping on the floor for days now," grumbled Mai. "And I'm cold too."

"This bed isn't for you!" protested Nobara, lightly pushing Mai out. Not a harsh one but a possible indication that maybe this wasn't too bad of an idea.

"Sharing body heat helps with the cold." Mai hesitated. She deemed her next words too heavy in her chest, but she carried on. "I…used to do it all the time with Maki."

"Oh." Nobara paused, zipping her mouth, and retracted her arms back to her blanket. Maki wouldn't really give out this kind of detail from her childhood. "Is this..one of the 'juicy details' you mentioned back in the cave?"

It messed up how Mai wanted to laugh right now, but yes, she did say that. "The Zenin's would force us to sleep outside when I got us in trouble one time," Mai added, clenching her fist.

The ringing of the night split them apart for a while, giving time for Nobara to process all these foreign, complicated feelings. She'd admit that when her mom left she didn't really have any of those aftermath feelings of losing her, and maybe the fact that she doesn't really have memories with her, in a messed up way, helped. Even Grandma didn't give a deep dive explaining about her absent mom. 'She's up there for work,' Baba would always say. Nobara knew nothing, and in some ways it gave her an upper hand, an arrogant nature, that she could abuse.

Mai noticed the abrupt change in the air and remembered Nobara's tendencies to shut out people. "Shit, sorry, I shouldn't-"

"It's fine," interjected Nobara. "You can stay. For the sake of a good sleep." Then she turned her back to Mai. Now that she knew that cruel detail, her actions back in the Goodwell dropped on her face like beams of metal. Nobara knew nothing about the sister's life, and for the longest time, she went around believing that Maki was the tough one and the only one who needed to be respected.

Change the way you look at things.

There's a reason why the Resonance technique is also called Sympathy!

Remembering those words, Nobara got bloodshot awakened. Her heart pounded loud, drum beating in her ears. Her mind ticked like a bomb going to explode. "I, uh," she stumbled over her words, "The Zenins…that's really a shitty thing they'd do."

"Yeah, we have it rough…" Mai almost had craned her neck to look at her. She pressed her back on Nobara's and wrapped herself on her own blanket like a cocoon. Their breaths synchronized with each other, feeling the other's push and pull that hopefully could lull them to sleep.

It was a change in pace of their relationship, unlike from the cave where it started out as screaming and…aggression. Tonight was just as calm as the silent darkness outside.

—

It wasn't too surprising to find Mai had already got her bags packed up and futon folded when Nobara woke up in the morning. She heard Mai's calls with her Kyoto Tech friends how she was excited to get back to town.

Nobara did her usual morning routine and packed her stuff. By the time she got out of the house, Ijichi's car was waiting outside. Miss Kugisaki was there as well, chewing a gum.

"Where's Mai?" Nobara asked.

"Said she had to buy some stuff," answered her mom. "She'll be back quick."

Mai came back with fancy paper bagged souvenirs and a logo of a Hokkaido brand food. "What? It's for my friends," she said when Nobara greeted her with a glare.

They got into the car, and Miss Kugisaki leaned down on her daughter's seat window. "You better learn how that technique works, kid," she said.

Nobara scoffed. "Like I said, I can handle it."

Mai eavesdropped and concluded that this was probably the way they bid their goodbyes. At least, it wasn't as aggressive as she first saw them together.