A Dead Man's Return

XI: Oddity

Itadori shifted his body back, causing the wooden floor boards to creek under him. "W-What?"

"Why are you always staring at me? y'know I notice everything Itadori, you have to remember that a girl has a sixth sense for these kind of things." Nobara stated seriously while pressing a finger into his chest, leaning her face closer to his to the point where they could feel each other's quickening breaths. Itadori coughed into his arm before scratching his cheek and turning to the side with a red tint on his face.

"I'm just– uh... it's nothing."

"Spit it out."

Yuji awkwardly looked the girl in her eyes, tracing the area of her irises with his pupils. Her eyes were incredibly pretty– he couldn't seem to understand why it took him until now to realize. They were beautiful. Maybe it was because they were always so cold and indifferent when they looked in his direction before. "I just– I just think your eyes are really pretty. I haven't really noticed how pretty they were until recently... sorry."

Kugisaki raised her eyebrows in surprise, then chuckled, leaning back and exhaling. "There you go apologizing for a compliment again... But yeah, I've noticed you staring a little more than usual recently. Is Itadori losing his mind and falling for his dear old friend? The gall!"

Yuji's eyes widened, as he quickly shook his head and waved his hands in front of him, not realizing she was teasing him. "No, of course not! Anything but that!"

The brunette's eyebrows fell in annoyance and she tilted her head. "Why did you say that so assertively? Something wrong with falling for me? Am I not good enough for you? I'm... heartbroken."

Yuji was stunned by both the seriousness of her tone and the words that were escaping her lips. Was she joking? With the way she was looking at him he couldn't tell for sure. He clammed up and turned his head, Nobara practically in his face as she awaited an answer.

Kugisaki narrowed her eyes, searching his face for any sort of indication. At first, she was poking fun at the pink haired vessel for a funny reaction... but now she was genuinely curious at what his answer would be.

Was she prying too much? She didn't think so, but the awkward mess that had taken ahold of Itadori told her otherwise.

For the next few seconds, there was silence, then a loud bang– one that Itadori wasn't sure he should be thankful for... or instead wish he would die on the spot.

"Ready for... uh– Nobara? Am I interrupting something?"

Both Itadori and Kugisaki darted their heads to the door. There stood Maki Zen'in with a scowl on her face and a tight grip on her staff. Nobara quickly stood up and shook her head, batting her brown hair and smiling nervously. "Nah, we were just discussing something Maki! Let me get out of your hair and stop intruding on your training tog–"

"Discussing what?"

Nobara stopped and side eyed Yuji, who was currently staring out of the window awkwardly while tapping his foot repeatedly on the ground. She sighed, rolling her eyes and stretching her arms out. "About how amazing you are Maki. He couldn't stop gushing about how cool you are and how jealous he was that you and I are best friends and you two aren't!"

Maki raised an eyebrow, Nobara leaning her face forward while the latter's eyes stared at Yuji's shocked expression. Her next words came in the form of a whisper, "He might have a little crush on you too with the way he's been speaking, who knows?"