What the fuck did I just do. I quickly pulled back and began to stutter.
"I.. I'm...I..uh.." my mind was racing, what the fuck do I even say to that? Satoru didn't move, the same surprised expression on his face.
"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean.."
"You didn't mean to kiss me?"
"No, I.. I mean.. yes. I did mean to do that, but I- uh.." I gave up on any kind of explanation, looking down in embarrassment.
"Do you regret it?" He asked. I quickly looked back to him, nearly giving myself whiplash.
"No!!" I yelled out a bit too loudly. I covered my mouth, a fruitless attempt to quiet the shout. "No, I don't regret it.. I just shouldn't have done that."
"Why not?" I looked back over to him. His eyes almost blinding from the curiosity they held. I couldn't help but let out a weak laugh.
"Not only did we just tell my clan that nothing would happen, but only a few weeks ago we said we didn't have any interest in each other." I explained.
"Yeah, but that's for an arranged marriage. We never said anything about dating." He tried to defend. He put his hand over my own.
"Satoru," I pulled my hand away. "We both know that isn't how it'll be seen." I let out a groan. "They'll think we reconsidered the whole arranged marriage thing and would try to get us to tie the knot. I do like you, I really do, but I'm not exactly certain that you'd be okay with a commitment to me."
"What do you mean?"
"You're such a player! You go on dates with multiple women a week, hell I've even seen you go on 3 different dates in a day! Three! Are you even ready to give that up for more than a few months??" I questioned him.
"..I suppose not." Satoru sat back, really thinking over what it was I was saying.
"I like you, I wanted to kiss you, but I also know that if we started dating right now it wouldn't really work out." I spoke softly. "I don't regret the kiss, I just regret the timing."
"So, if things were different.." he paused.
"If things were different." I agreed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I don't want to make things complicated or anything like that, but I think it'd be a good idea if we kept a bit of distance for now.." I got up and took a blanket that was left discarded to the side, along with a pillow. "I'll sleep over here for the night."
"..Okay." I could tell by his tone that he didn't want me to leave, but I was thankful by the fact that he was respecting my boundaries. To be honest, I didn't want to go either. I would love to be in a relationship with Satoru, but.. he's not one for commitments. At least, not now.
"Goodnight, Mai.." I barely heard him.
"..goodnight, Satoru."
Over the next few months, we avoided each other. Honestly, it wasn't intentional. We just ended up having more separate missions than what we previously had. I went on more and more missions with Shoko, while Satoru would be with Suguru. I haven't told Shoko about what happened that night, I still don't even know how to think about it without getting upset. I pushed the feelings that I had for Satoru down and focused on the new responsibilities that I gained.
Before I knew it, it was the new school year.
"Come on, come on!" Shoko pulled on the sleeve of my uniform.
"I'm coming. Jeez. Stop yanking so hard, your gonna rip it." I huffed behind her.
The only reason Shoko was so excited was because it meant we got to see the new First Years. From what I heard, there were only 2.
"Oh, there's Satoru and Suguru!" I frowned a bit at the mention of Satoru. I don't know where we stood. We haven't really been able to talk, so it's been awkward between us. At least, I thought it was.
"Hey!" Suguru called us over. "How was your spring break?"
"Not much happened, hung out with Mai here and there." Shoko shrugged.
"Same here. Celebrated Mafuyu's birthday a bit early this year." I replied.
"Can't believe you didn't let us come over to celebrate too." Satoru pouted.
"I already said you guys can come on her actual birthday. And don't get her too many things, Tatsuya and Dazai already got her a ton of toys." I replied, ignoring his pouts.
"How old is she gonna be now? 4?" Suguru asked.
"Mmhm, she's been kind of a pain."
"What do you mean?" Shoko questioned.
"It's her technique. Remember how people started to react around her last year? Now it's become a bit of a problem." I sighed out. "She can't control it yet, so she accidentally affects some of the clansmen. It's gotten to the point where we kind of have to isolate her so that she doesn't drain someone.. I feel bad."
"Have you guys figured out what exactly her technique is?" Suguru asked, we all began to walk towards the classroom to have our 'entrance ceremony'.
"The complete opposite of our family's technique. She can steal cursed energy."
"Oh, damn." I heard Satoru say. "Must suck ass for the people who have little cursed energy." I just groaned in agreement.
"Oh, look," Shoko pointed to the otherside of the hall we were walking down. We all looked to where she was pointing and saw 2 teens. One had blonde hair, the other had dark brown hair. Most likely the new First Years. And of course, Satoru was the first to get to them.
"Hey! You guys are new here, right?" Satoru placed an arm around the brunette boy.
"Oh! Yes, we're first years." He stated a bit nervously.
"Get off him, Satoru," Suguru scolded, "Nice to meet you both." He smiled at the boys.
"We're the second year's." Shoko came up from behind Suguru. "I'm Ieiri Shoko."
"Geto Suguru."
"Yamazaki Mai."
"Gojo Satoru!" Satoru called out a bit too enthusiastically.
"Gojo?? As in the holder of the Six Eyes?? Wow!" The brunette called out.
"At least introduce yourself first.. my name is Nanami Kento." The blonde said.
"Ah! Sorry, I'm Haibara Yuu." Haibara composed himself. "I look forward to getting to know you all." He gave a bow. What a sweet boy.
"Likewise," I said back. "Are you guys headed to the classrooms?"
"Ah, yes. We just came back from the dorms." Haibara replied.
"You guys wanna walk with us then?" Suguru poked his thumb over his shoulder.
"If it's not too much trouble!" Haibara was practically jumping from excitement. Nanami, on the other hand, looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else but here.
We all began to walk to the classrooms. Satoru and Suguru bragging about their many missions to Haibara. Shoko was minding her own business. I was behind them, closer to Nanami.
"Nervous?" I asked, slowing down to his pace.
"I guess.." Ah, one of those.
"Not really looking forward to it?"
"Fighting and putting my life on the line isn't the most enticing thing in the world." Nanami replied.
"Yeah, I agree with you there."
"May I ask, why did you come to this school?" Nanami turned the questioning my direction.
"Hm? Oh, well mostly because my family is a line of sorcerers. But, I also want to be able to protect the future generations." I explained.
"Is your family a famous clan, then?"
"Mm, I wouldn't say famous in the way the Gojo Clan is," I motioned to Satoru. "But definitely popular amongst the jujutsu world." I smiled.
We said our goodbyes to our new lower classmen, going to our own respective classroom. As we entered, Yaga was already present. Stoic and intimidating as ever.
"Welcome back," he began and proceeded to go through the formalities of the new year. The entire time, I could feel someone burning holes into the side of my skull. Satoru making it abundantly clear that he didn't care about the speech Yaga was giving and was waiting for his chance to come up to me.
"Now, I have a mission for you all to do as a team. Just something to get you all used to being together again." He handed each of us a report outlining a couple of disappearances happening in Ikebukuro. There have been couples going to a specific hotel room that never come out. "There have been 6 separate incidents that have been reported within the last 4 months, but we believe that there are more than what have been released."
"Well what's so special about that? They're probably running away from families or something." Satoru waved his hand.
"Normally, that is the case," Yaga responded. "The police found the belongings of every person who has stayed in that room. Nothing touched or missing. No signs of forced entry; nothing on the cameras that show someone going in or out of the room since the arrival of each tenant."
"So folks are just vanishing once they enter the room?" Suguru chimed in.
"There's a rumor that's been growing since the disappearances. Rumors of a portal to hell are what the locals have been gossiping about."
"Creepy." Shoko said in a rather flat tone.
"Some of the more frequent tenants say that they can hear crunching coming from that room, but no one has seen anything out of the norm. Our Windows, however, have been able to spot curse residue from a specific man. One of the older hotel staff, Yamato Kenichi, has been acting odd for the last couple of days. Start there. Dismissed." Yaga left the classroom before we did.
"We don't even know what the hotels called." Satoru complained.
"It's in the report." I said, flipping through the pages.
"Haa.. I'll go get some supplies, who knows what or who we'll find there. It's probably gross.." Shoko left with a sigh.
"I'll go with you." Suguru stood up, following Shoko out of the classroom.
I mentally cursed at Suguru for leaving me alone with Satoru.
Of course, Satoru wasted no time.
"Are we good?" Well, that definitely wasn't what I was expecting.
"I don't know, are we?" I honestly wasn't sure. Things had been tense the few times we did talk or see each other, but Satoru never really seemed to have been too bothered by it.
"I'd like to think we are," Satoru said. "I'm not mad or upset or anything like that, more so just concerned that you don't want to be friends anymore since we haven't even had a proper conversation till now."
"We are absolutely still friends." I quickly reassured him, I watched his shoulders relax. "I'll be honest, I'm still kind of beating myself up about it. Just give me a couple more days, I'll get over it." Those last few words felt like acid on my tongue. Of course I didn't want to get over it. "But yeah, we're good."
During the ride to Ikebukuro, the auxiliary agent filled us in on the rest of the report. They were able to get the owner to allow us in midday since there aren't many tenants at that time. The place was off limits to the public until we were done.
Yaga had failed to tell us that we'd be surveying the entire hotel, not just that hotel room. We decided to go through the hotel in pairs and meet up on the 3rd floor where the room was. Shoko and I were going through the 1st while Satoru and Suguru went to the 2nd. I was honestly relieved to be with Shoko, I hadn't told her about anything that happened. So, maybe now was a good time to spill.
"It shouldn't take too long, we'll meet up in the 3rd floor in like 30 minutes." Shoko said. "Don't play on the beds." She directed at the 2 boys.
"Anything?" Shoko asked as I walked out of the 6th room.
"Nope, place was clean."
"There wasn't anything here either." We quickly went through the last 4 rooms, and they all came up the same. No residue and no sign of a curse lingering. We still had 15 minutes before we had to meet up with the boys, so Shoko decided to go into one of the smoking rooms.
"So," she said as she exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Are you going to tell me what it is you've been fidgeting about?"
"Huh?" I was genuinely shocked.
"Mai, you've been messing with the hem of your sleeve since we were in the car. What's going on?"
"I.. fuck it. I kissed Satoru." I looked down embarrassed by my own confession.
"Well it's about fucking time." I could hear her smirk.
"hmHuh?! What's that's supposed to mean?!" I tried to defend.
"Mai, I adore you, but you're crush on him is really obvious. I was wondering what happened when you and him weren't talking. I thought he tried something, but now I'm surprised to hear you're the one who tried something." She took another drag from her cigarette. I threw my face into my hands.
"I don't know why I did it! Ugh, I'm still upset about it. Satoru says it's fine and that we should move past it.. but I haven't stopped thinking about it since." I confessed. "This really fucking sucks."
"Are you in love with him?" Shoko questioned. Her tone serious.
"God, yeah. I really am and that's what fucking sucks. He's a player. Always on a date or talking to a girl. He's even told me that he isn't ready for a committed relationship."
"But he always wants to be around you." She put out her cigarette. "I don't think it's that he's not ready for a commitment, but that's he's not ready to give up his current lifestyle." I just listened, digesting what she was getting at. "I've known you both for a year, we've been through a lot together. I can't say that I know you both, but I've been able to see how differently you guys act around each other and other people. You guys are really close, I just think that Satoru doesn't want to admit to himself that there's something there." I was quiet for a moment.
"Do you think I should just give up on it then?"
"I can't make that decision for you. That's something you need to figure out for yourself.. but what I do think is that you should at least enjoy yourself instead of being hung over him."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sighed out. And then thought of something else I should have told her a while ago.
"Also.. Suguru asked me on a date.."
"He did what now?" Shoko asked, I couldn't tell if she was shocked or confused.
"Yeah, a while back, when we had our sleepover? He said he liked me and wanted to date me, but with everything going on I felt overwhelmed. I told him I'd give him an answer once everything has, ya know, settled down." I explained.
"Do you think things have settled down? Outside of the Satoru thing, I mean." She asked.
"..Yeah? At least, as much as they could be."
"So.. what are you getting at?" I took a minute to think over her question. Putting my thoughts together as well as her advice.
"Well.. I guess I'll finally give him an answer?" I replied meekly.
We made it to the 3rd floor to see Suguru leaning against a wall waiting for us.
"You find anything?" I called out.
"Nah," Suguru answered. "Place is spotless, other than the gross stains on the carpets." I shuddered.
"Where's Satoru?" Shoko questioned.
"Still in the last room, dunno what's keeping him." He pushed himself off the wall and made his way to the last room in the hall. He pushed open the door and we heard the squeaking of the bed from the hallway. Suguru just stood in the doorway, face blank. Shoko and I looked over his shoulders to see Satoru jumping on the bed.
"I told you not to play on the beds!" Shoko grabbed the poor boy from the collar and dragged him out of the room. Satoru just making pitiful noises as a means to protest. Suguru and I chuckled at the scene.
"So then, shall we head upstairs?" I put a hand on Shoko's shoulder. She left out a huff and began to walk back to the stairwell at the opposite end of the hall.
As soon as we stepped foot on the 3rd floor there was a noticeable shift. It felt like the walls and floor were moving, drawing you in to a certain room. The door to room 34 was open, and we could hear a crunching sound coming from it. Suguru was the first to enter.
"Shit." Was all that needed to be said. As we all got into the room, it was converted into an incomplete domain. The walls and floors turning into a fleshy space, eye and mouths sprouting from every direction. The room began to elongate and grow, and right in the middle we could see an older man's body, bloodied and gnarled. Cleaning supplies and a janitorial cart dented and spilled. Well, there was the man the Windows mentioned. Satoru took a step forward and suddenly fleshy appendages shot out from what were once the floors. Of course, none of them could touch Satoru, but as for the rest of us our ankles were being wrapped with the disgusting tentacles. I heard Shoko let out a groan as she was pulled to the ground. The appendages dragging her away from us. I tried to reach out for her, only for another of the flesh tentacles to shoot out and wrap around my wrists. I was soon brought to the floor, I could feel the flesh moving beneath me, moving up my body encasing me. Swallowing me.
"Mai!" Suguru conjured up a curse that cut away at the flesh that was enveloping me. I yelled out a thanks as I dashed to Shoko. I pulled out a dagger that I had strapped to my lower back, throwing it to the tentacles at her leg. I watched it writhe in pain as it let her go, she was quick to grab at the dagger and give it another stab. I scooped her up and grabbed my blade as I jumped out of the way. Satoru came crashing into it. Using his cursed energy to a leave a decent crater where the appendage once was. Then, the most blood curdling inhuman scream reverberated through the entirety of the space.
"I guess it doesn't like being hurt." Suguru said as the screams finally ceased.
"Sounds like it's pretty deep, you guys wanna get started on going after it?" I said, putting Shoko back on the ground.
"You can carry me more, ya know. It's nice, I feel like a princess." She said, still holding on to my shoulders.
"After, I wanna get this done first." I replied.
"Satoru, why don't you just exorcise it? You probably already know where it is." Suguru said, checking the time on his phone. Satoru just made a face.
"I don't want to, don't feel like it." He replied, throwing his arms behind his head. "One of you two do it." He pointed at Suguru and I.
"Me? Why me?" I was genuinely confused as to why he said me.
"You're strong, you can do it. I'll stay here and hang out with Shoko!" He added cheerfully. Shoko didn't seem too bothered, making it obvious that she didn't have any intention of doing anything anyway.
"I mean.. I guess?" I shrugged, turning to Suguru. "Wanna come with?" He was already conjuring a cursed spirit, a favorite of mine. The cute ray came out, floating around the raven haired boy. I walked up to it and gave it pats. Suguru hopped onto the ray and held a hand out to me, helping me on. I wrapped my arms around Suguru's waist.
"Ready?" He looked back at me.
"Yep!" I said joyfully.
"We'll be back in a few," Suguru called out to the two still on the ground. I gave a wave as the ray began to fly through the air.
Honestly, this thing was a lot farther than we thought. We had been flying through the space for at least 10 minutes, and we were going pretty fast. Well, not that I was complaining, really. It was peaceful. I was resting my head against Suguru's back, his hair blowing back from the air rushing past us. This was probably the best time to tell Suguru my answer.
"Hey, Suguru?" I called out to him.
"Yeah?" He kept facing forward
"Do you remember when we talked? About dating?" This time, I felt him crane his neck to look at me.
"I do." His tone was expectant. Unsure if it was for me to hurry up and explain, or if he was waiting for an answer.
"Well I've been thinking it over, especially recently. I don't think w-" I was cut off by the onset of cursed appendages coming barreling towards us. I grabbed onto Suguru's waist tighter as the ray began to maneuver around the tentacles. It felt like I was on a roller coaster, my stomach doing flips with every turn and loop.
"Mai, down there!" Suguru called out. I looked down to see a misshapen mess of what tried to appear human. It's bones looked too big for its body, it's entire posture looked like someone who had just got up from getting hit by a semi-truck. We could feel the cursed energy radiating off of it. Suguru got us closer to the ground, I jumped off the ray and pulled out the dagger once again, hacking away at the appendages that shot towards us.
"Do you want me to kill it?" I called out to Suguru.
"No, I'll take it in." He said, summoning a massive worm looking curse, swallowing the fleshy thing up. The worm mashed it against its teeth, the poor mangled curse looked even worse than before. Suguru transformed the curse into a black orb that fit into his hand. I watched as he put the orb to his mouth, it looked entirely too big for him to swallow. And yet, he managed to force the thing down. His face scrunched.
"You okay?" I asked, coming up to him. The incomplete domain crumbling away and returning to its normal state as a hotel room.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just need some water. By the way, what was it that you wanted to say?" He asked.
"Oh, well.." The confidence i had then dwindled away. I was going to reject him. Before I finished, we saw Shoko and Satoru were sitting on the floor.
"She was really cute, kind of dumb, but man were her friends hot! I got some of their numbers too, going on a date with one of them after this." I just stared at the white haired boy. I knew I shouldn't be upset. I knew I shouldn't have gotten as jealous as I did. Of course Satoru was still going on dates, he even said he didn't want to give that up yet. I was angry. I turned back to Suguru.
"I have an answer for you now. Yes, I'd like to go on a date with you."
"Huh?" Suguru gave me a shocked look. Satoru went silent, I could feel him staring at the two of us. "Really?" Suguru breathed out.
"Yeah, things are a lot less stressful now. So, I'd really like to go on that date." I smiled at him.
"Ah-" We heard Shoko. The door to the room shut before she could say anything else. We turned to see that Satoru was now gone.