"Hey, Hero." He says so cooly with his drink in hand. The girl looks blankly at the boy before taking a quick glance of the patch he had on his cheek. Must've been a cut from the curse spirit.
"You again?" Maki asked with an eyebrow arched at him. Who would've thought she'd meet the boy she saved from last night. She then feels hostile towards Tamaki and sits at the edge of her seat when he decides to sit on the stool next to her.
She no longer was alone in the bar anymore.
"What? Have you been, like, following me or something?" She asked, a single trace of trust undiscovered from the boy. At least, not yet.
He looks around when her volume is loud enough for people around to hear. People began to give off weird, suspicious stares and he looks back at them, nervously. He partly waves at them so they wouldn't assume he was doing anything shady.
"N-No, I'm not following you. This is all sheer coincidence, I swear." He mumbles at her before he looks down at the luggage next to her. He then looks at the bar and notices empty cups of iced water toppled over each other. Pieces of paper crumbled on the table.
He sniffs a bit and almost cringes from the dirty smell. He almost gags and the girl looks at him, a bit annoyed.
"I-Idiot, don't be weird!" She blushes and the boy covers his nose, bowing a bit profusely.
"I'm sorry, there's just this stench..." He doesn't know if it's coming from her bags or her. But judging how angrily flustered she was getting, he kinda already knows the answer.
She looked like she was wearing the same clothes as last night, but they're a bit damp from what seems like the rain. She wore the same light jacket on with shorts and leggings underneath them. Her white converse were dirty and grim.
"If you're here to say something, I suggest you do it now." She felt humiliated already and she was fuming to herself as the boy still stood in front of her.
"Look, I-I just wanted to thank you for the other night." He then frowned to himself,
"But also, I'm so conflicted on what I just saw too! I mean, I gotta confess. This isn't my first time I've seen something like this. And I just want to know what it is..or maybe, I'm just crazy. I don't know!"
She stares at the boy nearly having a breakdown in front of her. She bites her lip, looking left and right out of embarrassment to see the boy frantically freak out about last night.
"Sorry, I probably sound weird right now.." He noticed her weary features but she looks at him with a mouth agape, trying to figure out what to say to him. His head is hung down, staring at his lap.
But then she simply says one thing,
"You're not crazy, dude." She says with a bland tone. "Those things that you see are curse spirits and only few people can see it. You'd be considered gifted in the Jujutsu world."
"Jujutsu?"
"Yes, sorcery."
Maki confirms that she's apart of it too, but doesn't delve too deep into it.
His eyes perk up from the news, a big smile stretching from the corner of his lips.
"Holy crap. I was right.."
She stares, confused and the boy puts his hands up, almost making a fit out of it.
He read too many conspiracy theories and stories to convince himself there are actual sorcerers amongst them, exorcising spirits. And now that he knows it's not all imagination, he laughs out and Maki feels more uncomfortable by that.
"W-Wait, but you said I could be gifted? So does that mean, that I too can be a sorcerer?!" He almost jumped out of his seat in delight but she stops him,
"Not necessarily. There are humans who can see them but can't exorcise them. If you were actually a sorcerer, you should've showed the signs at a young age."
"Aww.." He frowns a bit before his ears jump at the alert heard on the television nearby. The music in the background immediately stops playing.
Everyone looks at television screen as the anchor gives news a flash flood will likely occur tonight.
Tamaki sighs.
'Well, looks like dad isn't coming at all today and tomorrow.'
He loved the winter and the constant rain they've been getting, but a flood wasn't something to be excited about. He then pays attention to Maki and he looks carefully at her.
He swore he heard a tiny, scared whimper coming out her lips. She grits her teething her body looks like she's shaking a bit.
He looks in her eyes,
"Hey..do you have some place to go?" He asked and she looks at him before avoiding his stare.
"N-Not really.." She confesses and he can't help but probe some more.
"Look..uhh.." He waits for her to introduce herself. To finally give a name. She didn't to at first, but then she finally gives in. She refused to be called hero by this guy once more.
"Maki. Just Maki." Her surname didn't matter.
But then he smiles before letting loose a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
"Nothing it's just..your name is literally just mine with the Ta at the beginning.."
"So, what's your name, trouble seeker?" She asked and he's suddenly taken aback by her unusual nickname for him.
"It's Tamaki, Tamaki Hatsumi."
'Hatsumi?' That almost rings a bell to Maki.
'Could it be? There's no way..'
She shakes her head before trying to act normal. She looks at the hand given out to her. She resists a bit before reaching for his hand, shaking it.
"So, Maki..do you have family around here?" He asked, a bit concerned over her situation.
"Welll, not really." She says, not wanting to say much about the Zenin boy. But it kinda annoyed her that the boy was way too curious.
"I'm only asking cause with that flood happening soon, you might need a place to stay, right? Do you have anyone around here who can take care of you?" He asked but Maki only continues to not look in his eyes.
"Look, I can take care of myself. No flood can get rid of someone like me." She scoffs, crossing her arms.
"So you don't have anywhere to go?"
'Damn it' She mentally face palms herself. Tamaki looks at her surroundings again. It's so clear to the boy that she's been living off the streets for a while now.
Even the constant ordering of a free iced water attest to her being homeless at the very least.
He looks at her staff,
'But where does she get something like that?' He thought. He then takes out his phone, looking up any homeless shelters nearby.
"Well maybe we can have social services help you out!"
"NO." She deadpans, yanking the phone out of his hands and placing it down on the counter with the screen facing down.
"You won't call them. Can't you see that'll make my situation only worse?"
He gulps at her furious stare and when she sees that's she is making him nervous, she leans back and lets out a sigh.
"I'm sorry..my situation is complicated. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine.."
"Okay, how about this..
Why don't you come over to my place? It's the least I can do to the one who saved my life."
She scoffs again with a teasing smirk,
"Heh. You want to take advantage of me?" She teases and his shoulders simply drop, looking at her like she's silly.
"What?" She asked, unaware of the reaction he would give her.
"You know that's not possible right?"
"Why?" She asked, still dumbfounded.
"Maki, I'm prettyyy sure you can kick my ass if you wanted to."
She looks at him and starts to nod, coming to her senses. She nudges him and laughs a bit,
"Oh yeah. Right, right.." She says
"Still though.." She comes close, her smirk still on display. Their lips so close to each other,
"Maybe you'd like to get your ass kicked by me, huh~?"
He looks with some interest, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Maybe so.
But still.." he has to focus on the topic at hand,
"The point is, nothing wouldn't happen to you anyways. I want to give you that shelter. As I've said, it's the least I can do. Plus, you really won't be a burden if you think so. I practically live by myself."
She thinks about it for a second and then looks at him. For once, she sees sincere in his eyes. Something that people most her life lacked so much of. She hesitates but nods at him and he smiles in relief.
"Thank goodness, I would've been guilty if I left you out here. Come on, it's only a few blocks away."
He then hears a loud growl coming from the pit of Maki's stomach. She stops in her footsteps and she blushes so hard in front of the guy. He only chuckles a bit,
"Maybe we should get you some food first."
-
"Sushi?" He asked.
"Nah." She simply responds.
"Ramen?"
"Had some yesterday," She muttered in disgust. She's been having instant ramen since she came to this city by herself.
"So what would you like then?"
"Whatever you want, I'll eat." She's quick to respond.
"So Vegetable Gyoza it is then?" He asked and she sticks her tongue out as she holds her staff.
"YUCK, you eat that crap?"
UGH.
He groans as he runs out of ideas out of his head. No matter what options he gave her, she was so picky about it.
'Gee, are girls like this all the time?'
"How about we just get a regular, pepperoni pizza?" The most basic order but hey, it's almost everyones' favorite.
He looks at her to see if the light has been green lit or not. She doesn't say anything and looks away, a smile crept in her face.
"Pizza it is, then."
Tamaki watches as Maki not only gobbles one, but three pizza slices in a short span of time. The poor girl was really hungry and ate and ate, while taking a sip of her soda. He watches as he munches on his first pizza.
"Mm, this hits the spot!" She exclaims, rubbing her belly with satisfaction.
The girl began to calm down after having a good ass meal and then being able to use a shower after two days of not having access to one.
She moaned when the hot water hits her and lets her body get drowned the water fall crashing down on her.
She felt clean afterwards with a new set of pajamas she had in her luggage.
As Tamaki took turns showering himself, Maki dried up the ends of her hair with a towel while looking around the two-story house.
It was a large but almost empty. They had furniture and every kitchen essentials and whatnot, but they barely had any albums of pictures displayed on the wall.
There were some turned down against the counter. She pulls one up before seeing an image of a younger Tamaki with his mother and father.
'Why was it turned down?' She asked.
She looked around until she found a larger photo of Tamaki's mother. She was beautiful and looked a-lot like Tamaki. The same black hair but with dark brown eyes instead.
"My mother was a fearless woman.." Tamaki says, walking down the stairs in his fresh pajamas and damp hair.
"Fearless but beautiful. That's what my dad told me when he set his eyes on her.." He looks at photo,
"He said it was love at first sight."
"How'd they meet?"
"Work actually," He chuckles, "Apparently before I was born, they worked for independent detective work. They were partners. After I was born, though, my father decided to build a Kendo academy and my mom was a stay-at-home mother for awhile."
Maki looks at him and she frowns,
"Sorry to ask, Tamaki..but..
how did your mother die? If I may ask, of course..."
"Heck, I wish I can tell you." He shrugs at her with a sad stare.
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes, I wonder if my dad is just as confused as me or he's lying to my face." He clenches his fists, a bit agitated to tell this story.
But he does so anyways.
"I don't know. I remembered one night, they took me to my grandparents house. They never said what for but it was so late. That was the last time I saw my mother...
As far as I know, her whole entire body was scorched by powerful flames. I don't know how and where it came from, but I was told it was so bad that her body completely incinerated away. Leaving no trace of her, not even her own ashes.."
"Tamaki...I'm sorry." Maki cursed to herself, wishing she hadn't asked. It pulled a string to Tamaki's heart.
"I-It's alright..."
He then asked,
"You think it could've been those curse spirits you told me?"
She simply looks at him,
"Honestly. I'm not so sure."
He nods silently, accepting the ongoing mystery of her death. But it doesn't leave him upset the whole night. He tries to be cheerful and happy around Maki.
The two sat over at the living room by the fire, talking for hours about themselves, Jujutsu sorcery and much more.
Maki looks at the boy and sees how easily excited he gets talking about conspiracies or paranormal stuff. The way he smiled as he patiently listens made her feel some way.
'He's kinda cute..' She thinks to herself as he rambles on.
After talking, Maki felt herself falling asleep on the couch. She clutches the polearm tightly against her chest as she slept. Tamaki tries to yank it off but she doesn't like that.
So he lets her be and then heads upstairs. He then comes back stairs with some warm blankets.
"Here you go," He whispers.
"You don't have to-" She murmurs tiredly before cutting off her own words. She moans a bit from the warmth wrapped around her entire body.
She closed her eyes and felt her muscles started to loosen.
She felt so cared for in this moment and Tamaki smiles at her, finally seeing the girl at bliss.
"Goodnight, Maki.." He says before walking up to his bedroom.
He was glad the next day was a weekend. It all meant he was able to sleep as much as he wants instead of waking up at 8.am.
Except for this very, special Saturday.
"Oi, wake up!"
"Okay, I'm awake!" He gets out of bed, looking where the sound of Maki is coming from. He then looks in front of him and he immediately turns red.
Her face is inches close to him as she zooms her face towards him. She's bend over in front of him, with Suki at her side.
"Gee, you're a heavy sleeper." She murmurs, "Maybe that's your curse technique."
"Curse technique?"
"Don't you have school, by the way?" She genuinely asked with a tilted face. That's why she's been trying to wake up. He chuckles and rubs the back of his head,
"It's actually Saturday." He said and she looks at him a bit shook.
"Oh." She lost track of time.
"So..what now?"
He brainstorms for a bit. Most of the time, he'd stay at home all day since his dad was out mostly. But then with Maki here, he thought he'd show off the sorcerer some new places.
He smiles,
"I have an idea."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, did y'all enjoy the chapter? What do guys think of Tamaki and Maki so far? Lmk down in the comments and as always, vote pls <3
I appreciate you peeps for reading my books. It means alot, really-