Trapped Behind Words: InuOkko

Chapter 4: Intruder

It had been a week since Okkotsu went to Toge's house for the first time. The meeting room for the group that week was oddly cramped, yet three chairs remained open. Directly to the left of Toge sat Fushiguro Megumi, who seemed more moody than usual. A bag of Okkotsu's clothes held the open chair next to Toge as he waited for the black-haired man to show up.

"Does Gojo have no idea how time works?" Maki shouted from the opposite side of the room.

Next to her was a new woman with ginger hair and oddly orange eyes. On the other side of Maki was a new man who wore a full suit and tinted glasses. They sure were an increasingly strange bunch, but that was standard for anyone around Gojo Satoru.

A voice echoed into the room from the hall, seemingly in the middle of a story, "That's when my friend decided to try and hold a seance for the hamster, but it wasn't dead. I just stole him!"

Okkotsu's laugh followed soon after the punchline. It sounded like the kind of laugh that hit a nerve - the type of laugh that never fully dissipated and reconfigured anytime the thought came across. Toge felt himself grit his teeth hearing the laughter. Okkotsu hadn't laughed like that when they were hanging out together.

Gojo entered the room, shaking his head as he dismissed the joke, and looked around the room. One of the lights had gone out, causing a gloomier mood than ever before. Fushiguro audibly growled as the small group of three entered.

Yuta was walking alongside a man around the same age with dyed pink hair and a dark undercut. The hoodie the pink-haired man was wearing hid the shape of his body, but his muscular yet thin neck gave away that he was dramatically fit. Never had someone annoyed Toge without cause until he saw the smile spread across his face as Yuta attempted to contain himself.

Okkotsu turned his attention to the group and became visibly rigid. Toge waved the pale boy over, pointing toward the clothes that Yuta had left after the carnival. The smile came back to Yuta's face as he held a bag in his hand too.

"I am glad you remembered to bring them! Those are my only nice black jeans. I had to cuff the other pair I have all week at work," Yuta said.

As Yuta assumed the seat next to Toge, the ginger girl yelled out, "Oh my god! No way! I know you!"

Yuta grimaced, "Me?"

"Yes! Do you not recognize the beautiful face of your customer service savior?" she cheered.

At that moment, Toge connected the dots. She was the employee at the carnival they had visited a week prior. The blond wondered why she hadn't recognized him, but figured it was because his hair was down for the meeting.

Yuta looked like he was thinking for a minute. "Oh! You are the carnival lady!"

"Lady?! No, I am a girl. I am too young to be a lady," the ginger whipped her hair.

"You actually know him?" Maki said annoyed.

"Well, just barely. He bought me a water while he was on a date," she said.

Gojo jumped in, "A date? Really? Yuta? No way."

Yuta shouted, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean!"

Toge blushed. A date? Did that girl think they were on a date? Did Yuta tell her that they were on a date? Were they on a date? All the questions circled around the blond's mind as he grunted - his inability to speak had never been so annoying.

"Nothing, Yuta. I was just surprised that you went from the last meeting to dating. Seems like a daring jump," Gojo said.

The white-haired man glanced over at Toge. If there was one thing Toge could say about Gojo, it was that the man was quite cunning. He had known from the beginning of the interaction that the ginger had been talking about the time Toge and Yuta spent together. Whether he thought it was a date or not was unclear.