"Are you sure about this Meggy?" Y/n asks. She was much closer to me than usual. The counter usually kept us divided, she couldn't physically get closer than 3 feet from me and she never really left from behind it. Now we were both outside of the small market. Her arm brushed against mine ever so often as we walked. I was once again reminded how small she was. From the top of her head I could see her scalp. Her hair was in long neat braids. They stopped at the small of her back, the ends were curly, like a slinky. It almost spiraled. Two braids were pulled in front of her face, half of them were swept up into a claw clip and the remaining braids fell down on her back.
She was wearing brown mom jeans with rips throughout the legs and knees. It was paired with an off white, almost beige crop top. It looked worn and old, with little fairies cuddling on a lily pad printed over the chest, with it she had a soft green zip-up jacket over top. Lastly some hightop all black converse finished off the outfit. Her outfits were usually always like this. Earthy tones and a girlish aura. It was different from how Nobara and Maki dress.
"Yea, I asked Nanami and Gojo- Sensei. They said you just have to meet Yaga-Sensei and then you should be good. Plus the demon dogs miss you." I say. Hoping the thought of animals would ease her anxiety. Gratefully it did, the moment I spoke of the dogs, her worries seemed to fade.
About a week ago I had brought the idea of bringing and outsider onto school property up to Gojo and Nanami- Sensei. They gave me their answer and ever since I had been trying to think of a good time to ask Y/n if she'd come over. I had planted the seed in her head, and It would be rude of me to never actually enact my word. I had only gone to the store once this week. She seemed herself and sent me off with my things. I hadn't seen or spoken with her since. That was on Monday, now it's Saturday. For some reason I feel bad... like I wasn't supposed to wait that long. I thought she would be mad or upset. But as I walked in she greeted me and began conversation as if she'd seen me an hour ago.
All while she talked I pretended to pay attention, trying to find the words that I wanted to ask her. It sounded like she was in the middle of a ramble but I cut her off. "Are you busy tonight?" I ask. Her mouth clamped shut and she looked at me with her big doe eyes. "N-No?"She said, she almost sounded scared. "Did you want to come over... I said one day you should come visit the dogs." I say. She nodded and picked up the phone. Calling who I now know to be her mother. She lied and said she had a school project to do and wanted to use the supplies in the shop, so she'd be home late. Her mother didn't seem to really care if she slept at the shop, and only warned her not to eat all of the snacks.
It was understandable why her mother wasn't worried. This market was in a no-mans land. Completely deserted, the chances of anyone breaking in or anything like that were 0-to-none. She apologized for being untruthful, but admitted her mom can be a bit overprotective and it would be the easiest explanation. I assured her it was fine, I lie to Gojo-sensei all the time.
Afterwards we began walking.
Not being able to use my shikigami's was a pain in the ass. It took much longer for me to get back and when I did I had to walk all the way to the main office which is nearly 8 flights of stairs. Y/n was oddly fine. She is a rather chubbier girl, I assumed after walking all the way there and then to the office she would have been pretty tired, hell I was. But she hadn't broken a sweat and looked completely unscathed. "Wow goom. This place is cool! I wish I went to school here." She says. I didn't respond, only holding the door open for her to walk into.
I asked the lady at the front desk if Yaga-Sensei was busy and she went back to announce I was looking for him. When she returned she printed out a sheet of paper and asked us both to sign the bottom. Afterwards we were allowed into the back and I walked Y/n over to the room. It seemed the anxiety from before began to surge back into her body. "Maybe we can just do this another day!" She says trying to turn back. The hallway was omnisciently dark and the wooden interior was not making the atmosphere look too inviting but I reassured her there was nothing to be afraid of. We walked into the room and Yaga was sitting criscrossed in front of his desk.
Y/n grabbed onto my arm as he stood up. I looked over at her, the sudden contact made goosebumps prick at my body. I must have looked uncomfortable because just as quickly as she clasped onto me; she let go. The feeling of her warmth fleeing mine was so cold. I hated it. Yaga introduced himself and Y/n did the same. Her eyes were focused closely on his, as if she was trying to see past his glasses. Y/n was very good at eye contact, I noticed that about her when we first met.
"Megumi can you step out for a moment? I need to talk to Miss Y/n in private for a moment. Although I was hesitant for some odd reason I trusted Yaga more than enough to care for Y/n, still, leaving her alone was upsetting and I'm not sure why.
_
I don't like this. I don't like that Megumi left me. I don't like that i'm now alone with this strange man, I don't like this at all. I can't see his eyes through his thick glasses and it irks me. I don't know what to say to this man or how I should feel. I was hoping all i had to do was greet myself and give some form of identification to be let into the school.
"Could you stand up?" He asks. I stood to my feet. He gave me a plethora of tasks. Jumping up and down, touching my toes, running in place. They all seemed useless but I just wanted to pass whatever this 'test' is. Once he was satisfied he allowed me to sit back down in front of him. Next, he stood. He was much bigger than I first thought he was. He looked down on me and I stayed in place still looking up at him, trying to see past his glasses. He walked over to a closet and unlocked it with a key that was tied around its neck.
There was a loud rumble as he opened it and when it was completely unlocked a creature crawled out. It was an odd looking thing. It had the body of a thick stubby snake and the face of a dragon or a lizard. Its face being much sharper and defined then a normal snake. But the oddest thing about it, was that it was stuffed, like a teddybear. I didn't make eyecontact with it, I didn't even acknowledge that it existed I kept my mind and body directed onto Yaga and my surrounding area. I pushed the thought of the snake out of my head until I couldn't tell it existed. He sat down and allowed the snake to wrap around his body. He pointed straight at me and the snake jutted out towards me.
I stayed in place, focusing my eyes on the thick lenses of his glasses. The snake stopped just before my eyes, but I looked past it, my vision still trained onto Yaga. The snake coiled its body around mine. It squeezed at my arm, naturally I scratched my arm because it felt funny. But all in all I continued to stare at Yaga. For a split second the tint of his glasses seemed to give and I could see through the dark asphalt colored lenses. His eyes were a hazel brown, light and gentle like a caramel apple. "You have pretty eyes Sir." I say. The first word I'd uttered to him. He looked to the side. It was the first time he had broken eye contact with me. "Mine are brown but they look black. I always wanted light brown eyes." I add. That statement seemed to draw his attention.
"You can tell?" He asks. "Good vision, glasses usually aren't too hard for me to see through." I say. He takes off his glasses and smiles. "Good vision indeed." He says, allowing me to fully see his brown eyes.
_
"Did he give you like a test or something? Was there paperwork?" I ask. Y/n just said it was more of a physical test than anything. I'm assuming incase something happens he wants to be sure she's agile enough to run to safety. Regardless she passed, which was great. Now the next task was to get her to the lounge area undetected.
"FUSHIGURO!" A voice shouts. Mission failed.
I pushed y/n behind me and told her to shush. She was pressed against a back wall tucked away. I wasn't embarrassed of her, or really trying to hide her from them, I'm trying to hide them from her. I want to gatekeep her. I found her, I should get to spend time with her. If everyone else meets her then she won't be my friend anymore, she'll be everyones friend. I don't want that.
"I was looking for you, where were you?" Nobara asks. "Front office?" I say. "Doing what?" "Had to fill this thing out, I've been leaving campus unattended a lot." I lie. Nobara nods. "Maki and Yuuji are about to do a 1v1. I got snacks! Wanna watch with me?" She asks. "Uhh, maybe later? I was going.. to do... something." I say. She furrows a brow at me and I just shrug my shoulders. She takes a deep sigh but mid way her deep breath becomes small sniffs. She puts her nose up to my arm and sniffs it. "Are you wearing... perfume?" She asks.
My eyes shocked open. Y/n was on my arm. "It smells.. good? Its not mine. Where'd you get it from? Give it to me I want it." She says, still smelling my arm. "It's uhh- umm.. fuck." I stutter. "Its the Maison Margiela, springtime in the park and eucalyptus soul body oil." Y/n whispers. Nobara looks behind me as Y/n steps out of the shadows. "It smells good right?" She says. "So good, how'd you even come up with that combo?
"So at the front of my shop we get some shipments of different African oils and when I'm bored I like to sniff em, and the eucalyptus one was so fucking good. Now I had been using spring time in the park since like elementary school. It was my 10th birthday and my mom got me this expensive perfume and I thought I was the shit, and every time a ran out I would beg for more, and then it just became a birthday gift I would have every year. When I found the eucalyptus I started alternating my scents, wearing one on one day and the other on another day. One day I was rushing and put on both by mistake and I got so many compliments on how I smelled I started wearing it every day." Y/n explains.
Nobara seemed completely enthralled in the conversation. And thats when I knew, she was no longer my friend. It was like dread overtook my entire body. I wanted to cry.
"Thats exactly how I was with my lip combo." Nobara says. "I was just about to ask you about that, they look so plump and the gloss is giving everything." Y/n says. "Okay so I do lip scrubs every night with my routine to keep them like soft, and when I do my makeup I start off with the Dior lip plumper. I used to use the Two faced one religiously but I've grown out of that phase. Then afterwards i line my lip with the Mac 'whirl' liner and then the ulta brand rose tinted lip oil. When I tell you MAGIC!" Nobara says. "Mac lip liners are literally top tier. Right now I have on the 'chestnut' liner with this Mango lip gloss i get from the beauty store." She says. Nobara had began walking off with Y/n who had seemingly forgot I was here.
"Megs? Which way are the dogs?" She asks looking back at me. Nobara was attached to her at the hip with a geeky smile on her face. Maki isn't the most... feminine person in the world. She dresses boyish and isn't into skincare or makeup. So Nobara was obviously overjoyed to have someone to talk about this with. Me and Yuuji just listen quietly whenever she talks about beauty. "You've met the..." She asks. "The demon dogs? Yea!" She says. Nobara crosses her arms and squints at me. "Summon them then." She says. Y/n looks over at her. "Oh they're nearby?" She asks. Y/n begins making kissy noises and whistling. I guess this is what she thought 'summoning' meant.
"I'm gonna go grab them, they probably can't be summoned from here Nobara don't be silly. Take, Y/n to the 1v1 and I'll bring the dogs in a moment." I say, gritting my teeth. Nobara nods and turns back around.
_
There is a fucking panda, and its fucking talking, and its walking on its fucking hind legs like a fucking human. What in gods fucking name is fucking going on.
"Whats your favorite kind of candy, bet I have it?" Nobara asks. I was trying my absolute hardest to pretend I couldn't see the panda but It was so so so hard. It was nothing like the weird snake. It was a fucking BEAR. "I love all sweets but I have a soft spot for snickers." I say. Nobara pulls out a comedically large snickers bar from a grocery bag and handed it to me. It looked like a baton. "Where in gods name did you get this?" I ask. "When I'm on my period I love eating candy in large amounts but I hate opening wrappers. Like I can eat 12 of these bitches in one sitting," she says holding up a golden Hershey bar. I completely understood, they're delicious. "But when I'm on my cycle I get... irritable and opening wrappers irks me so bad. Sometimes I force Yuuji to open them for me." She says.
"But, I found this website online that makes supersized candy. Its only in the States so it takes awhile to ship. Now I get to eat as much as I want and only have to deal with one wrapper." She says. "Thats actually pretty smart... I think." I say. Nobara laughs and leans on me a bit. We both direct our attention back towards the fight. Speaking of. "Do they just allow students to fight like this at school?" I ask. Nobara laughs. "Megumi didn't tell you much eh?" She asks. "He isn't a man of many words." I joke. She laughs a bit and then starts to squint. It was like a cartoon show and a little lightbulb appeared over her head.
"How do you even know him? And who let you here?" She asks. In almost an instant she got really hostile. " Oh uh, I run a small shop up the road, Megumi comes to get supplies and whatnot. I chit chat with him and one day we got on the topic of dogs, he brought in his little puppies and told me I could come see them anytime. He told me about his dorm and the school. If i'm being honest its a weird school, but everyone i've met so far have been super friendly and cool." I say. Nobara was looking at me so intensely I wanted to look away but I kept eye contact.
"Panda." She calls out. Suddenly that massive fucking bear creature whatever the fuck begins walking over to me. "Huh?" I ask. She waits for the thing to be right in front of me and looks me in my eyes once again. A gust of wind blows and I was able to use it as a muffler. I'm sure my eyes were dripping with fear, after she analyzed me she would surely know I could see that thing. I began rubbing my eyes and blinking. "Fuck." I called out, as if I were in pain. "Ahh its so dusty out here this happens to me all the time." Nobara says waiting patiently for me to finish rubbing my eyes.
I spread them wide with my fingers and looked up, knowing that thing would be looking down at me. I swallowed my fear and looked dead at it, like I was looking up to the sky. "Do you see anything in there?" I ask. "Hmm I'm not sure?" It says. Nobara kicks the bear and shakes her head. I pretended like I heard nothing and waited on her response. "No, you look good, shut your eyes for a minute." She says. I screw my eyes shut and allow them to spring open as I look straight ahead. "Thats so much better, thank you." I say.
It seemed like she had dropped her speculation because afterwards she returned back to her talkative fun self. '
_
Once I summoned the dogs I walked over to the fight and Y/n lit up with excitement. I was a tad bit late, the spar was nearly ended and Nobara was on top. Yuuji has a hard time really fighting with all his might when its someone he cares about. Maki doesn't give a fuck, so usually the winner is obvious. Once they were finished they came to introduce themselves to Y/n. Even Inumaki and Shoko-Sensei came over. Everyone seemed to love her and just as I predicted.My friend became everyones friend.