"Everything is real, but it's also just as fake."

People li: The Reckoning

AJJ

Weekends were great for shopping and as a team of predominantly women who loved the activity, the sport if you will, we were the best dressed class to ever exist.

Kugisaki and I said so.

"Why am I here?" Megumi demanded with no real conviction as he joined us at the circular table, setting down his shopping bag next to our five. "I didn't want to be here." But the one time Gojo came through was this morning when sensei ordered him to stop being gloomy and go shopping with the girls.

"Team building." Kugisaki jumped into the conversation with a confident smirk to the boy. We got our nails done earlier on the morning and her manicured nails wrapped around her boba tea. My own nails were around my phone, texting but I still nodded in agreement even if my attention was on the third year I met last weekend asking me if I wanted to hang out tonight.

"But... shopping?" Megumi sighed out and not in an annoyed, I have better things to do, sorta way, but in more of a way where he truly didn't understand. We had been in Shibuya all day and it was already two in the afternoon, the perfect tea break. "You already have tons of clothes." He took a sip of his boba tea and looked over at me.

"Yeah, and?" My eyebrow raised and I looked over my phone to challenge Megumi who scowled in dissatisfaction, but no disbelief. It's not like we'd never hung out before on the weekends away from campus or school in general. Plus, changing my clothes felt like changing my skin, but not in a morbid way, well maybe in a morbid way. "I want more."

"Exactly, we should always strive to do more." Kugisaki agreed after a sip of her drink. "That's what sensei says!"

"He meant training!" Megumi clarified, already annoyed and frustrated with the warping of comments coming from the girls. Sensei had been talking about training so that they could get better, so more, get good so that they could be better sorcerers, not shoppers - is what I'm sure he's thinking while I apply lip gloss to my lips.

"I'm applying it to everywhere in my life." My lips popped together to dispense evenly the shimmer and I used my phones camera to investigate any imperfections before they pulled back into a grin. Beautiful, I was so pretty and amazing. I turned to Megumi, turned my phone off and closed it into my clutch. "I'm going to be better and do better."

Megumi's eyes narrowed at me, analyzing my words while I stood up and walked over to the trashcan at the other side of the room. Good keep staring, watch me, and don't stop! There was still ice in the cup and one hidden boba at the bottom, but the drink was gone and that was why—

"O-oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized quickly when I bumped into an older teen who was quick to grab me by my arm to help steady me. He wasn't strong, but he wasn't weak, definitely not in any sports, but charismatic enough to help out a girl he didn't know. "I'm such a clutz!" He's perfect.

"What? No, it's okay!" He chuckled with just a twinge of nervousness that was overshadowed by the confidence in his stance, and he was smiling at me with his full attention on me. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you!" I bowed shallowly and smiled my own in a sweet, school girl crush way like in my Manga. My cup was still in my hands and he looked down to the pink straw cup for a moment before he pointed to it. "Taro tea?" He both asked and observed, and I nodded quickly, and he held up his own half full cup of familiar purple drink with tapioca pearls on the bottom like a prize. "The superior flavor of boba." He said playfully.

"Finally, someone with taste." I sighed dramatically with my free hand over my heart as if it were to calm down an overly beating heart inside my chest. My target laughed loudly and it was enough to actually make my chest lurch forward, his lips cracked further into a grin as he calmed down into chuckles - it wasn't that funny. "I'm... I'm Jun Solberg, by the way." I introduced finally.

His eyes sparkled with interest and he returned my introduction with his own. "Daniel." And this time my own interest was amplified in truth. "You're a foreigner, too?" And I finally heard that familiar twinge of an accent that I couldn't believe I didn't notice before now.

"No." I denied, but clarified at the unconscious tick of his head. "My dad is Norwegian, but I've never been out of Japan before. It's my home." He didn't look not-Japanese and I almost blushed as our eyes met, there was already a knowing sort of mischief inside of his own.

"I'm American." He took the turn to clarify and someone was walking behind me, too close, so I stepped closer to him and he paused. My breath stilled because this was a little too close for a first meeting, but it was going so well, and I really didn't want to have to go back to our table alone—! "Would you like to sit with me for a bit?" My lips curled and my eyes closed as I looked at hum and nodded with the perfect face of a kind, willing woman. And we were sitting and Megumi was glaring at me from my original table while Kugisaki gave me an encouraging thumbs up.

"So American?" I swirled my ice around and waited patiently while he nodded his head and took a sip of his drink for his answer to clear out of his throat.

"I'm a sophomore at Waseda University." I had to shove down the prideful shout that threatened to leave, because I guessed it and chose him for that reason. My drink covered my smirk with a forced sip of the melting ice. "My parents are both Japanese, but moved to America before I was born."

"And you came back? To study?" I clarified curiously and he nodded. "Do you have family around here?"

"No, not Tokyo." He shook his head and I had to scoot a little closer as a group of preteens girls fam through the doors with loud giggles. "I have an aunt and cousin in Kawasaki, I'm going to go visit them pretty soon."

"Are you going to go back to America when you're finished?"

"Of course, but I'm trying to make the best of it while I'm here and make as many memories as I can!" It was harder now to ignore the small errors in his speech, although they weren't glaring, just enough to itch my ears when they passed through.

...What a great love story gone wrong we could have!

He could take my memory back with him thousands of miles away for years after studying— I asked him what he was studying. "International Law and Politics." That explains the charismatic attitude yet lower athleticism. I could easily outrun him. "What about you?"

"Me?" I blinked in confusion, what about me? But he only smiled good natured and pointed at me with his boba tea cup and swirled it to gesture to me. "You," he confirmed. "Where do you go to school?"

"Oh, I go to a small private school just outside of Tokyo." I chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head, because I didn't expect to have to answer that question. Most people didn't care where I went to school and even Tamaki never asked me about it. Maybe he assumed I went to school with him? "It's a religious institution."

"Oh?" He leaned forward, intrigued, and it almost felt like the air was twisting into something that I couldn't quite identify. It was like he was in a biology lab, curiously preparing himself to take apart the poor creature before him, and I wasn't sure if this was the attention I wanted— "what do you study?"

"Religion." It was dry, and a lie, sort of not really. Did I really look old enough to be in college? The assumptions did wonders for my ego, but there was still that awkward heavy in my chest that began to lightly blossom. He wouldn't like a high schooler would he? Oh, God, he wouldn't, he couldn't! I was screwed and I hadn't officially had a date with him yet!

"Woah, that's an interesting major. I haven't encountered anyone like that before." Daniel held no sarcasm or disingenuous tones about him, and he even leaned forward a bit more as if he were further fascinated by my choice in study. "Why religion?"

"Why Law?" I countered back and he blinked, ssand I feared I had chosen the wrong dialogue option with a sinking feeling setting my stomach. But, then he laughed again and took a sip, swallowed, and explained how he wanted to join the US military and go into external affairs or whatever. It was complicated, kinda long, kinda interesting, but still he answered my question. And I had to prepare my own response.

"Soru." A chill and I looked up to see the twitching eyebrow of Megumi and an apologetic Kugisaki standing behind him, but she walked away with her phone to her ear in a call I couldn't hear. My head tilted and my eyes narrowed as I tried to tell the other own to go away with the new mental powers that I was totally about to grown. "We have to go."

"I'm talking to Daniel-San." I responded politely with a gesture to the older teen before me, trying to keep my smile sweet and anger down. Megumi was such a pain and now I cursed Gojo for making us bring him. He stood there with that aura of I'm stronger, intimidating, yet not really meaning to do so to the non-sorcerer. But Daniel was not without confidence as he smiled at the two and stood up politely, which I followed in stance with gritted teeth.

"Daniel." He introduced with a bow and Megumi returned it, before Daniel turned back to me with a smile still on his face and I felt all of my hard work at getting a date slowly go down the drain. This is when he says goodbye. "I'm sorry for taking Jun from you guys, is it okay if we talk more or did you guys have plans?" My heart soared and I looked up at Megumi, who stared blankly at the non-sorcerer, and I hoped he could hear my brain screaming to go without problems.

"She—"

"Megumi, grab your girlfriend and let's go. It's already been two minutes and I am not waiting any further for this meaningless conversation." My face paled at the voice behind me and I wanted to scream at the way Daniel's face dropped and his stance immediately closed off to me, and— and damn it! "Megumi, Soru. Let's go, now."

I twirled around to face the blond sorcerer with evil in my eye and a curse on my lips, but the green goggles looked back at me without even a challenge or care, just those stupid eyes staring bored down at me and I snapped my jaw shut. Nanami Kento would care even less for what I had to say than Gojo Satoru. So, I twirled to try and fix things with Daniel because phones exist! "Daniel, there's—" Daniel was already holding his phone up with a sheepish smile and I paused as he looked at me and glance at Megumi politely as well.

"Not that many people talk to foreigners even if they look Japanese." He chuckled with a scratch to the back of his head and I made quick notice of the newly empty cup on the table with my own. "If it's okay with you and your boyfriend, I'd like to stay in touch, maybe?" It would give me time to explain the embarrassment of the sorcerer community!

My international romance heartbreak memories could still happen!

"No." And it was Nanami who was pushing me to the door stone cold and uncaring of my statue-like freeze. No, no, no. No? No?! Just like that, he says no and has the audacity to just shove me out. "No boys." He continued just as fully and account-like as usual while he pushed me out the door with a shove and I nearly fell to the ground next to Kugisaki, who just got off the phone and patted me sympathetically on the back.

"We just a call from sensei." My depressive shock was ignored as Megumi joined the small circle we made off for the side of the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets. Nanami, the giant mountain of a man in office worker attire, stood next to me with an attitude of a prison guard. "There's a cursed spirit a few blocks over at the Siika cemetery, something that he wants us to handle, with uh, this guy apparently?"

Why did he say Megumi was my boyfriend? I pondered while staring unashamed through narrowed eyes at the side of the man's head as if I could break into it and see what he was thinking. Could mind reading be achieved with cursed energy? Was there an innate technique for it? Sometimes I felt like sensei could read our minds since he could pretty much do everything else.

"My name is Nanami Kento." I already knew that of course, we met before, and he was one of the ones who frequented the school in the past few of years as somewhat of a passing through mentor. I had my respect for him, but now he had to go and take it away from me. "I'll be ensuring your safety during this mission, so value my time as I will yours."

"I'm Kugisaki Nobara." And I followed them as they walked with mix of conversation and silence between the three of them. They were talking about the mission, but I figured I'd learn more when I got there, so I continued my mourning. My date, my sort-of foreign escapade, ruined because of that blond decided to— wait.

He was attractive. A man.

"Nanami, can you drive?" I asked suddenly, suspiciously, and Megumi also looked at me and I ignored him because he was also at fault for my trauma. Kento didn't stop his walk but he did nod his head to my question and suddenly everything shattered into place.

What if he likes girls?

Oh, what if Kento Nanami was jealous and likes girls?! What if... what if he likes me?!

No, no, I mean— of course he would like me. I am perfect in everything and anything, but I was still very much in high school! I couldn't be a wife yet to a man who has already had a career. No, no, maybe that's why he— that's why he's acting so aloof and distant! But no! My fists clenched in front of me with a new feeling of purpose, I couldn't allow this to happen!

He'd have to wait for me!

"Why are you blushing?" Megumi demanded and he was walking beside me, behind Kugisaki and me behind the suited back of my admirer. The man truly was a gentleman, waiting for me to reach the perfect age and yet protecting me! Megumi's eyes looked at my own and trailed my vision to Nanami's and my classmate's eyes widened in horror. "Soru, please don't—"

"Shhhhh!" I violently wrapped an arm around Megumi's neck, which required a small jump to get up that high, and brought him down to mush my face next to his own. "Don't say anything, you'll embarrass him and I can't return his feelings!" I hissed out rapidly yet viscerally because the least I could do was protect the heart of my admirer. After all, I am a humble woman.

"Embarrass— return—his--?!" Megumi choked out in a rare show of being caught off guard and threw my arm off of him to stare down at me like I was insane. "You're insane!" He spluttered out and I couldn't even find it in me to rejoice in the fact that I got him to react like that. Not with Nanami pausing his walk and turning back to see what was going on, and Megumi trying to blow his secret to the world. "He's like thirty—!"

"Shhhh!!" I covered his mouth and turned to the expressionless man with a closed eyed smile and a little blush appeared on my face. "Nothing to worry about sensei! Just a lovers spat with my boyfriend!" Kento looked down at his watch and my eyes widened. He was totally jealous!

"We're going to be late if you keep acting like this." Because you're jealous. "Let's go." He's jealous. "Hurry up, Jun." He said my name, he's totally—

"You are the worst." Megumi said lowly beside me and I scoffed because how can I be the worst? I have admirers everywhere of all kinds of life and now I had one who could drive! What a selection! Maki was right about older men. Oh the possibilities, the heartbreaking, the memories—! "Please stop rubbing your palms together like that, it's embarrassing."

Jealous.

"Shield!" I dropped down in front of my classmates to block the shards of clay rushing towards us and winced as they landed one after another sharply into my floor tile turned wall. "This is way more than just one curse!"

"There's at least three." Megumi confirmed with a tsk of annoyance. He had jumped in behind me while pulling Kugisaki along to seek shelter for just a moment so we could talk and I felt his shoulder press into my back harshly, but as a reminder that he was there. He stilled. "Behind us!"

And my shield quickly grew further from the floor into the same dome as I had made out of mud just weeks ago, but this time the light inside died out without the interruption of a cursed hand infiltrating. We were in closed in the tiled darkness, but the curses around us continued to bang all around to find a weakness in my dome.

"Good thinking." Megumi praised and I ate it up with a flick of my braid, before returning my hand to the floor to keep the shield in restoration.

"Ugh, I just bought this shirt too!" Kugisaki nearly wailed out into the darkness and I listened to her stomp in time with the explosion to her left of whatever ghastly creature tried to enter.

"Are you okay?" Megumi asked and I listened to him shuffle to fully face the girl in the small shelter of mine and our backs were touching for a moment before he stood up. "...are you bleeding?" And I imagined he could either smell it or had reached out to help but felt the sticky liquid.

"Yeah, but not bad." Kugisaki huffed and it truly sounded like there was no problems at all other than the annoyance that she was just inconvenienced. I bit my lip, because I could heal her now, but a harsh thump sent a tile above me cracking and a beam of light allowed us to see momentarily before I restored it with a pink shimmer. "Jun, are you okay?"

"I'm perfect." I responded with a roll of my eyes, because the constant use of restorative processes was starting to make my muscles ache. "But we need a plan, because I can't keep doing this for much longer." I warned and I heard Megumi shift to turn in the dome as if he was looking— his finger poked my dome.

"Put a hole here." He instructed and my energy immediately swallowed the tile in pink shimmer that highlighted the features just enough to see the green pattern. This place apparently used to be a pottery shop, but had recently gone out of business for some unknown reason that I could care less about. "When the tile drops, there's going to be a curse there. Kugisaki, think you can handle that?" Her nails were already in between her fingers and her hammer clutched by her manicured hand.

"What a dumb question."

"Good." Megumi took the reassurance for what it was and then placed a hand on my shoulder for support while they maneuvered behind me. "Then we'll do it three times. One on each side of the dome, one after another and then you can let the dome fall."

"What?"

"They keep striking the same spot in intervals." Megumi explained, not at all bothered in my confused question and I paused for a moment. Bang, ba-bang, bang! Huh, there it was and he was right. Right, behind, left — and they did it again. "Kugisaki can hit each one as they strike, but if they figure out our plan we're still safe in the dome."

"And if there's another one waiting patiently?" I asked with a grunt. The last hit cycle was particularly rough and I wondered if they were trying to wear me down. Could curses even think? My answer came with his hands on my back and the familiar animal sign gave me enough reassurance. "I'll leave the front shield up though." I both informed and warned.

"Good." Megumi praised and paused, we counted silently the attack cycle and once it started— "now!"

I released the first tile and light glared at us and Kugisaki hissed at the sudden intrusion in her eyes for a second before she sent her first attack out. "Back!" Megumi instructed and Kugisaki twisted to the back where I let another tile fall, and she successfully hit the curse with a satisfying hiss. "Last one!" He crouched behind me while Kugisaki aimed out of the hole I created. "Divine Dog: Totality!"

The furry lump spawned just in time as I finally allowed the dome to shatter around us, because restoring it into the now bare, cement floor was way too much work to even think about. Instead, I left my shield up and removed my hands from the floor with a sigh, rubbing them together to get the clay dust free.

"There's one more—!" Kugisaki shouted quickly, and raced her arm to her pouch, and I frantically tried to push myself into to build the dome, but there was no need. The dog - the giant fucking wolf - leaped over us and grabbed the wretched brown sack of warped cursed energy between his large jaws, crushing it and consuming it. "Oh." She sweat dropped as the giant world took up a quarter of the room and looked over at us like he wasn't a ferocious beast.

The fear of Satoru popping up with his cleaning song was enough to make me stand on my feet and take the a few steps to grab Kugisaki by the hand. "I need to touch skin." I explained when she opened her mouth in indignation and smirked as it shut closed. My energy stretched out from my body down my arm up hers and located the wound rather quickly. "What happened?"

"Shard got through. Stabbed me so I pulled it out." She shrugged but winced at the movement because the inch deep wound was in her shoulder. "Will I live doc?" She asked with a smirk at me and I returned the reaction with fake solemn eyes while energy stitched the flesh together and encouraged cellular restoration to leave no scar.

"No." I said sadly, as if we were int that soap opera we watched the other night in my room with my projector on the wall and a box of tissues between us. "I'm afraid you're sick." I pretended to sob and even Kugisaki's smirk began to drop and the last cell fixed its place and I covered my arms over my eyes as if I couldn't bare to believe it. "You have... DNOYF."

"DN...?" Kugisaki repeated the letters, not sure if she should be horrified or not or something worse or less. She looked at her healed shoulder, the light yellow shirt she wore was now stained with blood. I shook my head and stilled my face, returned my arm beside me and grabbed her by the shoulders for her own support.

"Deez nuts on your face!" I ended with a howl of laughter as I grabbed my stomach with my right hand and leaned on her shoulder with the left, tears balled up at the corners of my eyes and my laughs became nearly demonic while Kugisaki tried to act like she was seriously pissed off. But her lips were twitch and a snicker kept breaking through her mask and at one particularly reptilian like snort, she covered her face and I was sent into the realm of so much silent laughter it hurt.

"Idiots." But if Megumi tried to tell me he was turned around for any other reason than to hid his own laughter, I'd call him out on it. We were in an abandoned room covered in purple gunk, a shield of tile left on the floor like a contemporary art piece, and it was amazing. One of us deliriously laughing like a clown on cocaine, the other snorting like a sleeping sloth, and the last of us trying to keep the last brain cell together.

"Five minutes passed three, what are your three still doing here?" Nanami Kento finally made his entry through the sliding door after having stayed in the lobby to give us enough distance to deal with the minor curses, but close enough to jump in if needed. We must have looked like a mess because even Megumi refused to turn around to give me that satisfaction of his humor.

"Kugisaki... Kugisaki has DNYOF." I managed to calm myself down a bit and straighten up, but my eyes were manically wide and burning from not blinking so that I wouldn't burst into laughter in front of the Nanami. I took a deep breath and held it, and the salaryman-lookalike tilted his head just enough for me to see that he was a fish thinking about taking the bait. "It's... it's not good."

"It's not... good." He repeated slowly in that deep, smooth voice of his and I took a second to appreciate it. "Then why laugh?" I didn't respond, I couldn't. I waited, I played a bluff and I watched him look at his watch as another minute passed and he finally gave in. "If you won't tell me why, and I am now seven minutes over, what is DN—?"

"Deeze nuts on your face!" I barely managed to screech out intelligibly. His tiny goggles landed on me and the hysteria of the day, the weeks, broke me as I fell to the floor and let out honks of laughter, grabbing Kugisaki's ankle to keep me somewhat grounded in my temporary loss of sanity.

But she wasn't even better.

At my honks and my response - I was shamelessly no more than a goose in the moment - Kugisaki finally broke through and cried out in laughter as she grabbed her stomach and leaned over me like she was going to fall over. I heard a smack and turned to look over at Megumi with Kugisaki and there was no denying the shoulders that vibrated up and down and the hand he had slapped over his mouth to try and keep his own composure.

I was crying, I was laughing, I may have been yelling, but so were they. So were they! And when someone's laugh died down, another's started it back up again and we were all, three of us, laughing like normal teens and I swear! I swear on my grave what I saw was real! Even if I was laughing so hard my cheeks blocked my wet, blurry vision even more than the tears of mirth did, I would die swearing what I saw was real!

Kento Nanami smiling.

Not a Gojo large psychotic grin, or a confident Maki smirk, or my own practiced mask. His was softer, less prominent and just enough to where he could deny its existence if he wanted to, but it was there. Even if we were laughing at his expense, the corners of his lip were nearly microscopic, but they were there - turned up into what most would call an expression of peace.

Like laughing kids was all he wanted to see and we had given it to him and suddenly my tears were no longer from just my hysterical laughter, but there was also a lump in my throat because when was the last time we'd be like this? Was this the last time I'd hear Megumi break into chuckles or hear the unladylike snorts come from Kugisaki? Would we ever get to laugh again? When was the last time Yuuji Itadori laughed?

"Alright you three, last step is to clean up what you can and go back to school." Nanami turned around and stuck his hands in his pockets for a moment, before pausing in front of the doorway as our laughter slowly disappeared into the air and I felt desperate to grab onto the dying noises to keep them here a little longer. "It's after three, work is over. Oh, and Jun?"

Kugisaki had just helped me up and I was already about to begin putting the old pottery room back how it was when he turned his head to look at me with a glint in his eyes— oh no. I sobered up, he can't confess to me now! This isn't a good spot— he was mischievous, not as much as Gojo, but there was something he knew that I didn't—

"You left your bags at the tea shop."

I dropped to my knees and let out a pained howl.

A/N: READ READ

Okay so, I promise you this is not an adult X high schooler fanfiction. This is just a high school who has a heightened sense of self worth and a school girl crush that is not reciprocated by any of our respectable men of our beloved anime.

Just a cringey humor that will not be returned.

This was a longer one too. 5k, yeeesh. And I tried my hand at a little mission and filler of what the three did while Itadori was gone. What do you think about that?!

Ok comment and the go read strawberry milk and then comment there too haha ok-

Also, GOT 'EM