What are you guys thinking so far?
After speaking to Sensei Yaga, he understood why I wasn't present in school the day before. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to let me off easy for not letting him know my whereabouts. He had been running laps around the track and doing drills on the grass. By the time the others found me, I was covered in sweat and was panting.
"Here, have some water." Shoko handed me a bottle as I sat down on the grass trying to catch my breath. Even though the temperature had dropped since we were truly in the middle of autumn, I felt like it was summer time with my body temperature.
"I can't believe he has you doing drills." Suguru spoke about what out teacher was making me do right now.
"Serves her right since she didn't tell anyone where she was." Satoru shrugged his shoulders as he commented on my situation. I rolled my eyes and completely lay flat on my back, feeling the cool grass against the back of my neck.
"Whatever, Satoru. I don't have the energy to argue with you today." I admitted.
"You shouldn't argue with me anyways since I am the strongest person, and you still owe me something from when I won that competition months ago." My eyes immediately shot open at what he said, surprised that he still remembered and that I was expected to pay my debt to him.
"What? Come on, that's not fair! We must have a time limit to this." I complained as I sat up. With his standard grin on his face, I knew that there was no way that he was going to let that debt go without me paying.
"We never negotiated on a time limit, so it looks like you're stuck." He waved his finger at me. I groaned as I got up. The beads of sweat on my face began to annoy me, so I lifted my shirt and wiped my face with it. I wasn't thinking about who was standing in front of me until I brought my shirt back down. Satoru was looking at me with a devilish smirk on his face,
Shoko was yawning from how bored she was in that moment, and Suguru was standing there quietly.
I could feel my cheeks going red the longer Satoru looked at me. Quickly, I turned to Shoko, pretending that nothing was happening to my insides and said,
"So, what are we doing about the festival?"
"Oh, I thought you'd never ask!"
"Thank you!" I thanked the vendor in front of me for my food and began to eat it with my friends.
"Suguru, let's go play that game. I bet I can beat you!" Satoru pulled his best friend off with him to go and play a claw game. Both Shoko and I rolled our eyes at their behaviour and continued to walk around the market. We knew that they would easily find us when they were done fooling around.
"Okay, stop denying it now, there is definitely something going on between you and Satoru." Shoko said to me as we walked past a group of girl friends that were laughing at a joke someone had said.
"What?" I nearly choked on my food. "Why would you say that?"
"Oh, come on, both Suguru and I can tell that something is going on. We're not blind, but you seem to be the only one that is."
"You are crazy. There is nothing between us. I'm trying to become as strong as him, so it's good to get more knowledge into how his brain works." I said. Was I lying? No. Was I beginning to notice that being around the white-haired boy made me excited? Yes, but no one needed to know that, and I definitely didn't need to admit it to myself.
"Listen, you can't convince me of any of that because I saw the way he looked at you when you happened to wipe your face with your shirt. Good move, by the way." Shoko praised me for my sneaky move that I didn't even realize I did because trying to convey to someone that I'm flirting is something I never fully grasped.
"I only did that because I needed to wipe my face." I defended myself.
Tsu was covered in sweat as she stood up in front of us. The one thing about Tsu, is that when she needs to train, she always put in her all. That was one of the many qualities I admired her for, even though she was her harshest critic at all times. As she spoke to Satoru, who stood next to me, she lifted her shirt and wiped her face. I couldn't help, but to look at my white-haired classmate from the corner of my eye. Immediately, the tension that was radiating off him was palpable and both Suguru and I could notice as we winked at each other. However, little did Tsu know, she was definitely on someone's mind.
"Listen, all I'm saying is, if you wanted to maybe explore what could happen between you two, I think he would be up for it." In that moment, my heart began to race, but then my mind reminded it to calm down, because there was no way Satoru would be interested in me. Also, I needed to stay focused on my family and trying to bring honour back to our name after my father ruined everything.
"Thanks, but even if I did, and that's a big if, I wouldn't know what to do." I admitted to Shoko.
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't even had my first kiss yet." I admitted. Immediately, Shoko stopped in her tracks, looked at me with wide eyes, and I swear her food nearly fell off her plate.
"What?" My cheeks began to heat up with embarrassment as I began to explain everything to her,
"I've never kissed a boy, I've never been on a date, I've never held a guy's hand, nothing."
"Really?"
"Yea, I mean, we have a really small class anyways, and people aren't exactly lining up to try and marry me to strengthen ties because my family name is as good as dirt at the moment for reasons we both understand." I said.
"Wow, I didn't know that. Well, I'm pretty sure you're the only person in our class that hasn't kissed someone yet." Shoko said.
"Wow, thanks for making me feel better about the situation." Sarcasm was thick on my tongue with my response.
"Listen, you're going to get that kiss, go on that date, and hold that hand. You're an absolute catch and any guy would be lucky to have you. Honestly, if you want my opinion-"
"I don't."
"Well, too bad, if you want me opinion, I think you have a shot with Satoru. I think he weirdly likes the fact that you're mean to him. He's a bit strange like that." Then, almost on cue, there was a couple walking by us, holding hands with each other and the girl was holding a teddy bear that her boyfriend must have won for her. My heart began to long for that kind of relationship in my life.
"Hey, Tsu, Shoko!" We looked behind us and saw Satoru and Suguru walk up to us. It was most like I could notice everything around me in that moment – I noticed things that I never noticed before. Like how Satoru always walked with confidence in ever stride, his white hair bounced with the wing, his smile was infectious, and even though you couldn't always see his eyes, I knew they were on me. However, my tunnel vision on him stopped when I noticed all the girls around the two boys that were clearly fawning over both of them. A little jealous monster began to appear in my stomach, but was automatically squashed by the feeling on defeat.
There is no reason for me to get my hopes up when I know that nothing can ever happen.
"Hey, what do you guys have there?" Shoko asked the pair after they made their way back to us.
"We both won something on the games, and we thought it would be the gentlemanly thing to do if we gave them to you two." Satoru answered.
"Thanks, but I'm sure we could win something if we wanted to." I said.
"Oh, but it means more when it's given to you by the two strongest sorcerers that Jujutsu High has ever seen." He gloated.
"Come on then, let's see what you two won." Shoko encouraged them to give us their prizes. Suguru was first, he brought out a toy stuffed squirrel for Shoko from behind his back. She gracefully received the gift and was thinking of a name to give him.
"Ahem." I turned my head to look back at Satoru and saw that he brought me a light blue teddy bear that was wearing a yellow ribbon around his neck. My heart immediately began to melt as I looked at the bear.
"Oh wow! It's perfect!" I was visibly excited about the bear. Satoru handed it to me, and I took it with both hands, patting the top of its head.
"I'm glad you like it. It's blue, kind of like my eyes, so you can always look at this bear instead of wanting to gaze into my eyes."
"Even though you're trying to ruin this moment with your foolishness, I won't let you because I am thoroughly shocked. Thank you!" I beamed at Satoru, and it almost looked like he was stunned for a second before he smiled back at me.
"You're welcome." He said.
"Now, there's just one more thing I want to do." I announced to the group. "We haven't been to the shrine yet, and I would like to, but you guys don't need to come along if you don't want to."
"Of course, we'll go with you!" Shoko smiled at me. The four of us made our way to the shrines, so we could give an offering and do a prayer. Being there with my friends brought me a lot of peace and happiness in that moment. I thanked for them being in my life, but I prayed for success in my life goal.
Afterward, we made our way back to the school together, talking about the night's adventures and the things we saw other people doing while at the festival. Satoru was re-enacting the disappointment a girl had when her boyfriend won her a teddy bear from one of the stalls. We were laughing at how shocked he was when she threw it back at him.
"Suguru, would you be able to walk me back to my room?" Shoko asked the black-haired boy standing next to her. The three of us all looked at her with confused faces. Suguru looked at her for a second before he smiled and nodded his head, almost like he knew what she was thinking.
"Sure! We'll see you two in the morning." He said to Satoru and I before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and the two quickly walked away from us. The two of us stood there watching the two of them walking away from us and giggling to themselves. I couldn't think of why they would leave us so abruptly.
"Well, then I guess I can walk you back to your room." Satoru offered.
"I can walk myself. We're back at school." I reasoned with him.
"You know, when someone as strong as me offers to walk you anywhere, you should just take it." He grinned at me while raising his right arm, flexing his bicep. Without thinking, I rolled my eyes at what he said.
"Don't take it so personally. I'm just being realistic." I said.
"Oh come on, you don't always have to be so boring. Come on, let's get you back to your room." He turned on his heel and began walking towards the dorms. I ran after him yelling,
"Hey, you're supposed to wait for me! You have larger strides than me." It was easy to fall into stride with him after he shortened his. It was quiet between the two of us, it almost felt awkward, which was something that I never felt with Satoru Gojo.
"I think we had a really nice night." He stated.
"We did! I'm so pleased with my bear too." I gazed at the blue bear in my hands as he opened the door for me to walk through.
"If I knew you liked teddy bears so much, then I would've gotten you one sooner." He nonchalantly said as we walked down the hall.
"It's not that I like it because I got a bear, but I think it's just the fact you thought about giving it to me. I don't know, it makes me remember that you're not just your ego." The words came out of my mouth without thinking and I mentally slapped myself, hoping that I didn't make this awkward walk even worse.
"Well, it's hard to not have an ego when you're me." He sighed, lacing his fingers together behind his head as we reached my dorm room door. I opened it and took a step inside before turning around, holding onto the door.
"And there it is. Don't you get tired of being so full of yourself?" I sighed. He leaned against my doorframe, and I only just noticed how tall he was compared to it. With his arms crossed over his chest, he smiled at me.
"Isn't this where you invite me in? I've seen it in the movies." He said.
"Absolutely not! We are at school!" Nervousness, fear and embarrassment immediately began to rush through my entire body at what he asked me. How can he be so brazen?
"So if we weren't at school…" He trailed off to imply that I would invite him in to a room outside of the school walls.
"No! What is wrong with you?" My voice went up a couple of octaves as I spoke due to my nerves. Why am I nervous? Why is he still here?
"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm just a teenage boy." He shrugged his shoulders like this was a normal occurrence for him, walking a girl to her room and trying to invite himself in. Maybe this is normal for him. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it was. There we go, just another reason why he thinks he's better than me.
"Well, maybe you should go and speak to those girls that will let you in their room." There it was, the feeling of jealousy again. I couldn't figure out why I was feeling this way because he didn't say anything wrong, but the thought of him asking someone else if he could go into their room was swirling my mind.
"Hey, no need to get upset." He raised his hands up to show me that he meant no harm.
"I'm not getting upset!" I shot back as I gripped my teddy bear tight with my free hand.
"You are." He stated.
"Ugh, do you always have to be right?" I groaned.
"I am always right." He smirked at me. God, I can't stand it when he smirks at me like that.
"Goodnight, Satoru." I said.
"What? That's it?"
"Yes, goodnight." With that, I quickly rushed him off the doorframe, so I could close it. Once my door was closed, I placed my forehead against the wood with my hand still on the doorknob. I wanted to open it again, to apologize for how I just behaved. Instead, I groaned out of frustration. "You're so stupid."
With that, I put my bear on my desk and got ready for bed. As I lay in my bed, my mind went through the entire night. The conversation with Shoko, Satoru giving me a bear, him walking me to my room, and then me basically kicking him out because I worked myself up to believe a scenario that I didn't know was true. Immediately, I turned in my bed, so I could groan into my pillow.
Aw! What a nice, sweet festival celebration! We love it when things are going smoothly...
