Divine Born ━━ Jujutsu Kaisen

𝖛. A Touch of Normalcy

The booming voice of Akane's newest classmates breaks her out of her cycle of thoughts. Akane turns to look at Kugisaki Nobara, studying her features once more as she did so. Nobara has short hair that reaches to her shoulders, whose brown strands look almost orange in the sunlight. When Akane met Nobara for the first time (on the same day that she woke up; Nobara came banging on her door when she realised her only other female classmate has woken up from her three-day nap), her hair reminded Akane of sunset. Akane thought her hair was really pretty and felt a pang of jealousy when she came to the realisation that her hair looks nothing like that. Akane's hair is hideous, it makes her feel hideous. 

Nobara is also extremely loud. She regularly teases and makes fun of the two boys in their class, often complaining about how useless they are. Megumi is usually quiet whenever this happens, oftentimes just giving her a look that said shut up, but Yuuji, on the other hand, is very vocal about how much she 'pisses him off'. Akane actually finds their banter quite endearing and can see Nobara and Yuuji become close friends eventually. 

Akane would like to think that she too, would end up becoming Nobara's best friend. Honestly, Nobara is the only girl her age that Akane has ever been acquainted with. But seeing as to how... socially unfriendly Akane is, she wouldn't be surprised if Nobara got tired of her.

( It was during times like these that Akane really wanted nothing more than to have had a normal childhood, a normal family, a normal life. )

Nobara swings her arm around Akane's shoulder, which makes the timid girl tense. "Say, do you think your parents named you 'Akane' because of your red thread?"

Akane blinks. What a strange thing to be curious about. "My... thread?"

Nobara blows some air from her mouth, fanning her hand. "I mean, that curse thanks to which you're stuck with that dimwit," Nobara points at Yuuji who wails a 'Hey!' in protest. "The string is red, right? And your name means 'red' too."

Akane can't help the shocked expression that washes over her face. "I never thought of that... I guess so."

Nobara chuckles. "I know, right? I always knew I would make a great detective." She points a thumb to herself, pulling Akane closer to her as she frowns. "My name means 'wild rose', although that makes no sense."

Nobara heaves a sigh of disappointment, but Akane bites her lips in thought. She shakes her head. "No, Kugisaki-san, I think your name fits you perfectly. Although you put on a tough exterior and act brash and wild, I think you're still a beautiful person on the inside who's just afraid of voicing her thoughts, even though you're loud. So you're like a rose, in essence- a thorny exterior, but nevertheless, beautiful on the inside."

Nobara's face is as red as the rose Akane just described and the entire car is silent. All her three classmates are looking at her with wide eyes, except Ijichi who silently drives the students to Eishuu Juvenile Detention Center without any words. 

Megumi is the first one to break the silence. "You got all that from a name?"

Yuuji excitedly points to himself. "What about me, Akane-san, what do you think of my name?"

Akane tries not to look surprised at the fact that Yuuji called her by her first name, he did ask her permission for it before, but still, it was strange to hear it, albeit in a good way.  She looks at him for a long while, trying to decipher the meaning of his name while she looks at the marks underneath his eyes. It took her a while to notice those and when she asked him about it, he said that it was where Sukuna's extra pair of eyes were. Those marks are basically signs that Sukuna is asleep inside Yuuji. He hasn't popped out yet, at least not in front of Akane.