Earlier, he had sent her some messages, demanding her attention, along with crude drawings and gifs that Utahime had chosen to ignore. Truth be told, she had been avoiding him for days, and she felt like it would come back to bite her at any moment. She knew that Satoru would accept this up to a certain point before showing up where she was, invading her personal space, demanding to know why she wasn't responding to him. If she could navigate the conversation well, maybe she could trick him and delay the news a little longer.
Utahime pushed the bento box away. She couldn't eat, the smell of her own food made her nauseous. She felt the weight of the paper at the bottom of her bag, hanging on the chair. The blood test confirmed that she was nearly nine weeks along, and she had scheduled the first ultrasound for Saturday afternoon. Shoko said she would go with her and wanted to make sure she took care of herself.
Taking a deep breath, she felt as if the world had fallen silent. It was as if a curtain had been drawn over her. Each passing day seemed to echo like a lonely whisper, during the day she could distract herself with classes and students and she never thought she would hate returning to her apartment, where she lay down letting a sea of thoughts consume her until exhaustion overcame her, the only advantage of pregnancy was that it knocked her out minutes after.
In the last week, she had been living on autopilot, days unfolding in front of her without her truly feeling the passage of time.
After the confirmation, it seemed like all the early pregnancy symptoms had decided to manifest at once. The exhaustion seemed to grow, the nausea was not just in the morning, and Utahime struggled to keep up appearances at school. Sometimes during lunch she wondered if it was a real symptom or simply the result of pretending that nothing was happening. When she realized that the day was passing, she felt the need to try to hold onto something tangible, trying to stop time, delay every second to avoid the day she would have to face him or when people would start to notice her situation.
She knew that there would come a point where she could no longer ignore the situation, but she also couldn't make the fact public. Shoko's advice about telling the idiot kept hammering in her mind. How could she tell him something when it was never planned? She always knew the way he lived, advocating for his freedom and the renunciation of ties, be they of clan, superiors, girlfriends... or children.
That was their agreement. She didn't feel the need to demand anything from him, and he wouldn't give her anything. They were just two people who met in lonely nights, where she sought a shoulder and he found a challenge. She denied him, presenting a real risk of being thrown out of the apartment if she annoyed him enough.
Every time she thought of Gojo, Utahime felt a wave of frustration that made her want to tear her hair out. And the worst part was the uncontrollable urge to throw something at that idiot. She knew that if he appeared in front of her, she wouldn't hesitate to throw everything on the table at him, even if his invisible barrier protected him. The mere imagination of an object hitting his head brought a momentary smile to her face, bringing some comfort.
"I hope that smile on your face is because you're thinking of me, Utah."
Utahime jumped from her chair upon hearing that voice and recognized the presence of the one who had been tormenting her thoughts for the past few weeks. Gojo appeared in the doorway of her classroom in his teacher's uniform and blindfold. Utahime always thought he looked like an idiot with that hair that made him look like a brush.
Gojo smiled mischievously and approached, teasing Utahime. "After all, how could you not think of the Great Satoru Gojo?"
Utahime stared at him with a look of disbelief. Gojo entered the room, approaching her, completely ignoring the idea of personal space.
"Did you miss me, Utah? It's impossible not to miss, after all, who else could fill that void in your dull life, Utah?" Gojo said playfully.
"Utahime-senpai," she corrected him, completely ignoring Gojo's attempt to get a laugh out of her. She turned her gaze back to the bento, feigning total disinterest, and caught a glimpse of him making a dramatic gesture, placing his hand on his chest.
Gojo's smile faded, he sat at the edge of the desk, his leg brushing against her arm. "So, why have you been ignoring me, Utahime?" He questioned, eyeing her bento, looking for something to steal. He quickly grabbed a piece of salmon, avoiding the slap she aimed at his hand.
Utahime kept her gaze fixed on the bento, feeling the nausea of anxiety mix with the aroma of food.
"I was busy with school and missions, and what are you doing here anyway? And stop stealing my food."
Utahime saw Gojo pull another piece of her lunch and stuff it into his mouth, chewing as loudly as possible, knowing that he was doing it to annoy her, probably as a petty revenge for her ignoring him.
"Utahime, what happened?"
Gojo asked again, ignoring her protests, by this point Utahime had given up trying to save her lunch and let him take the food, passing the chopsticks to him, she leaned back in her chair, staring at a point at the end of the room, trying to ignore the nausea. A shiver ran down her spine, she knew he was staring at her, she felt his gaze weighing on her, he wandered looking for any clue that explained the change in her behavior.
Gojo sighed and looked seriously at Utahime.
"Utahime, please. You're not the type to lie or hide things. What went wrong?"
Utahime hesitated for a moment, ignoring his face, avoiding his eyes, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to look at him.
"It's really nothing, Gojo. I'm just feeling a little under the weather today, it's not anything serious."
Before she could realize it, Gojo placed the bento on the table and grabbed her arm. Utahime felt the atmosphere change around her, and before she could say anything, they were teleported to an isolated park on the outskirts of Kyoto's sister school.
Utahime couldn't hold back the nausea that hit her and ran to vomit by a tree. Gojo watched her with a mix of surprise and concern. "I thought you were already used to teleportation, Utah."
Utahime straightened up, taking a deep breath and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked at Gojo with irritation. "You're an idiot, you know that?"
Gojo held her arm again, this time more gently. "Don't lie to me, Utahime. Something is bothering you, and I want to know what it is."
"The only thing bothering me here is you, Gojo. And how can you be so sure I'm lying?"
"Your cursed energy is different, Hime. It's not as calm as usual. When I entered the room, I saw your energy fluctuating like a spiral. I know something is bothering you."
"We've been talking for over 10 minutes and you haven't yelled at me
or thrown any object at me, I don't know if I like you like this." Gojo approached her, holding her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I believe we're friends enough for you to trust me to tell me what's going on. You don't have to deal with this alone."
Gojo tilted his head, looking into Utahime's eyes. "We've been talking for over 10 minutes and you haven't yelled at me or thrown any object at me. I don't know if I like you like this."
He approached her, holding her chin delicately, forcing her to look at him. "I believe we're friends enough for you to trust me to tell me what's going on. You don't have to deal with this alone."
Utahime hesitated for a moment before finally speaking. "I... I don't know if I can talk about this."
Gojo watched her with concern. "Is it something related to the students or is it personal? If it's a promotion, I know you haven't taken any recent tests."
Utahime shrugged. "It's personal... and I think you won't like it."
"Please try. You know you can trust me," Gojo encouraged.
A tense silence hung in the air before Gojo made a decision. With his free hand, he removed the blindfold from his eyes. His gaze was sincere and gentle. Utahime knew when Gojo's smile was genuine. The slight dimple on his cheek appeared, and his eyes smiled along with his lips.
Gojo broke the silence. "Do you trust me, Utahime?"
She nodded firmly and, after a moment of hesitation, finally spoke. "I'm pregnant."
Utahime waited, her heart pounding, while Gojo processed her words. The silence was almost deafening, filled only by the sound of the wind whispering through the trees.
Finally, Gojo spoke, his voice filled with surprise and uncertainty. "Pregnant?"
She nodded, her eyes fixed on the ground. "Yes, Gojo. Pregnant."
Gojo became serious, affirming with conviction: "You're not lying or joking about this, are you?"
Utahime stared at him, her eyes conveying the seriousness of the situation. "No, Gojo. This shit is real."
Gojo nodded, looking at the horizon, lost in his thoughts. "I wasn't prepared for something like this."
They remained silent for a moment, until Utahime finally freed herself from his grip and walked to a nearby concrete bench. She sat down, looking at the horizon, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to escape.
Utahime watched him approach and sit beside her on the bench. The tension was palpable.
"Do you already know what you intend to do?"
She nodded, resolute. "I'm keeping it, but I don't expect you to feel the same obligation. I know you well enough to not have expectations and I know this wasn't our agreement."
She saw his affected smile and his eyes fixed on the ground.
"How... how did this happen?"
Utahime gave him an ironic look. He raised his face to look at her, accompanied by a mischievous smile.
"It was rhetorical. I remember very well how it happened."
"You don't need to stay, Gojo. I understand that you might want to distance yourself from this situation."
"When did you find out?" He continued to ignore her warnings that he could go.
"It's been a few weeks," she answered.
He frowned.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugged, uncertain. "I don't know."
"Do you feel up to going back to the classroom?"
Utahime nodded, feeling a certain relief that Gojo wasn't pressuring her further. He approached her and put his arm around her waist before teleporting. When they returned to the classroom, Gojo still had a firm grip.
She pulled away from him, smiling, trying to convince him, or maybe herself, that everything was fine. As Gojo carefully let her go, a sound caught their attention.
Utahime's phone on the desk beeped, a notification from a pregnancy app informing her that the baby was the size of a lemon that week.