「CURSE'S VESSEL」bnhaxjjk

11: Pep Talk

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After taking a few minutes of rest after arriving to Tokyo and fighting an A-grade curse alone, Yuju now sits in a hot spring with Nobara across from her, both naked yet relaxed with smiles on their faces.

Both of them remained silent for most of the time, simply focusing on how the warm water felt on their skin.

At some point, Nobara ended up falling alseep, leaving Yuju alone in the comforting silence and her occassional snoring.

Yuju sighs. She looks up at the dark sky and lowers herself down on the steaming water until it was just below her colarbones. She can hear the boy's side still loud and livelyㅡ specifically Yuji and Satoru's constant laughing and splashing of water, Megumi was probably sitting in a corner and questioning how he ended up there. Just the thought made Yuju chuckle.

"The other side is quiet.."

"Did they leave us?!"

"They probably just fell asleep-"

"They might be sharing girl secrets! *gasp* scandalous!"

Every word the boys said is crystal clear for Yuju to hear, either the distance between them isn't so big or they were just that loud. She smiles as she hears Yuji and Satoru mimicking gossiping girlsㅡ not really her type of people, obviously, but she enjoys boys trying to copy how girls act; it's entertaining. She still remembers the time where Toge and Satoru wore skirts and even after five years, she still has the picture. She wonders how it's like to have friends who are in the LGBTQ+ community.

"Oi! Ju! Kugisaki! You guys still there?"

Yuju didn't bother answering, simply pursing her lips to prevent any noise from coming out.

"They left us!"

Yuji whined followed by a series of water splashing and sounds of protests from Megumi.

"Children.." Yuju mumbled with a smile before sinking under the warm water completely, the thought of her being the youngest out of everyone completely slipping out her mind that moment.

...

"We really thought you left us!" Yuji whines as he unintentionally begins to sofficate  Yuju in his arms with a bear hug. Satoru was sitting on the edge of his bed with a towel around his neck while Megumi and Nobara were drying their hair, the former having  just gotten out of the shower.

Nobara rolls her eyes as she continues to pat down on her wet hair, "Well, I fell asleep. I don't know about Yuju though."

"Ju!" The oldest of the siblings whined once more and fell down to his knees, almost bring Yuju with him to the ground if she hadn't held him under his armpits. "Why did you trick us?!!!"