-Art by itzkresto on Instagram-
"Don't move!" A deep roar came from the boy standing two meters behind me. His powerful words echoed through the abandoned warehouse, pierced through the cerebrum of the monstrous creature before us and charged straight down its spine, making it freeze instantly.
The instance the large curse halted, Maki had already dashed past me to head right for it. I trailed closely behind her as she leapt forward into Panda's outstretched paws, giving her a boost and sending her even higher into the air. She maneuvered her body like a gymnast would in a way to get herself high enough to pierce its wrist with her polearm.
Another harrowing scream left the curse as a deep, purple blood spewed from its wound, causing it to loosen its grip on the frail boy.
His eyes widened as he began to fall but before having the chance to hit the ground, he was engulfed safely in my arms. I moved at hypersonic speeds to catch him in time, making sure to move to a safe distance from the curse once I caught him. "You're a real damsel in distress, you know that?" I looked down cheekily at the panicked Yuta as I held him.
The other three finished exorcising the curse as I helped the boy to the ground, watching him wince after he held his stomach. "I thought I was going to get crushed to death," He groaned lamely.
"That's what happens when you run straight at it without a plan." I chuckled, throwing one of his arms over my shoulders to help him walk.
Yuta's face dropped like a sad dog, "What was I supposed to do!? Maki looked like she was struggling against it while Inumaki was recovering from the damage to his throat and you were just goofing off with Panda!"
I couldn't help but chuckle at how anxious he was. "It's important to have fun when you're on these sorts of missions." The audaciousness in my voice was evident as I walked him to the edge of the curtain.
"Not when lives are in danger!" The boy fired back immediately.
"Nobody was in danger, dummy. You had me, Toge, Maki and Panda. Everything would have been fine either way; we're strong, after all." In response to my smile, Yuta only gave an unimpressed face.
As the other three approached us, the curtain suddenly fell. Beyond us stood Ijichi and Gojo with a boy in a beige school uniform at his side.
"That was quick! As expected of my wonderful students!" Gojo clapped his hands like a lunatic as we walked towards him.
Maki relaxed her polearm against her shoulder as she pushed past us to get to one of the black cars. "Whatever, let's just go back."
As I helped Yuta into the backseat of the other car, I glanced at the bored teenager who stood with our teacher. When he caught my eye, I held up my hand, small zaps of electricity dancing between my fingertips. "Pretty cool huh, Megumi? Bet you can't wait to be a sorcerer too, right?"
Although, rather than be totally smitten by my action, the spiky-haired boy just scoffed, "I could hear you guys goofing off behind the curtain. The only one I actually admire is Okkotsu senpai." Strands of his dark hair fell over his face as he rolled his eyes.
"You'll get wrinkles if you keep being so cynical at your age." He lightly slapped my hand away when I ruffled his hair before hopping into the car.
Toge had taken the seat next to Yuta, being in the middle of us both. Ijichi got in the drivers seat while the rest took the other car back to the school.
The silver-haired boy turned to me with raised eyebrows as the engine started, giving me a look I knew all too well. "Megumi respects me, he just doesn't show it." I snapped back with a grin.
"Bonito flakes." He lightly shook his head, chuckling.
"Um- who exactly is he and why is he here, I didn't really get a proper explanation..." Yuta perked up nervously.
Leaning back on the seat, I began, "Megumi is still in middle school but he's going to be training to be a sorcerer next year. I'm not really sure why or where he came from but I do know Gojo sometimes kidnaps him and brings him along to our missions for fun."
It was always a blast when Megumi came for a visit, though it wasn't often. That morning Gojo had brought him to our group mission because he insisted Megumi witnessed our teamwork. He'd be starting at Jujutsu Tech the upcoming summer, the same time that we would become second years. It was still only November but I looked forward to the transition. I hoped Megumi would end up liking his classmates as much as I did mine.
When we arrived back at the school, our group decided to have a movie night. It was pretty late and we were tired from spending the whole day exorcising curses so we thought it would be nice.
"Whose dorm should we meet in?" Panda asked as we walked into the school together.
"Yuta's." Maki blurted calmly.
Yuta, however, was flabbergasted at the suggestion. "Wh- but why mine!?"
"Alright, see you guys at Yuta's in an hour." I said, ignoring him.
"Kelp." Toge nodded.
Just like that, the serenity of the atmosphere vanished as Gojo popped up next to us. "Oh ho~ what's this? Are we having a hangout?" He was talking in the silly voice I couldn't stand. But then again, there wasn't much about the man that I could tolerate.
Maki swung her polearm to keep him at a distance from us. "You're not invited." She said rather coldly. You could practically hear his heart break in two and for a moment I thought I saw a small entertained smile on Megumi's face too.
As the blindfolded man-child was about to go away to sulk, I called out to him, "Ah sensei," His head perked up immediately with raised eyebrows, almost as if expecting me to give in and invite him. "Can we have your credit card? We were thinking about ordering takeout too." His shoulders slumped even lower than last time as he reached into his pocket to fish out his wallet like the pushover he was.
"Look at you kids, taking advantage of your old man like this." He sighed dramatically as he held out the black card that we gaslit him into giving us so many times before.
Toge swiped it from his hand without sympathy while Panda emotionally killed him with a final line, "You're not our dad."
Thus we left, leaving Gojo broke and sad in the empty hallway.
We met up in Yuta's room later that evening, Megumi eventually deciding he would join us, with takeout and a pillow fort. Panda lay directly in the middle of the fort with Yuta and Maki squished to his left as Megumi, Toge and I sat at his right.
The movie was interesting but clearly not enough to keep Maki and Panda awake as the two had passed out almost as soon as it started with the latter snoring loudly. Toge had taken it upon himself to eat their meals while they slept as I explained to Megumi about what life was like living in the school building.
"The other day I found these colourful capsules in my old belongings," I explained. "You basically put them into water and they turn into these foam animals, it was pretty cool."
The younger boy raised a curious brow. "So what did you do with them?"
"I went into the bathroom cabinet and I switched them with one of the pill boxes."
"That's so irresponsible, (L/N) senpai." He said, clearly not amused. "What if somebody needed to take their medication but swallowed one of your dumb capsules instead?"
Shrugging, I smirked at the thought. "Well then they'll get a surprise, won't they?"
Megumi shook his head in response until a small yawn left his lips. The only other sounds in the dark room were the faint noises from the TV, Panda's muffled snores and Toge slurping his last box of ramen. "Tired?" I asked the fourteen year-old.
He shook his head slowly. Turning to the clock, I saw it was a little past one in the morning. The boy rested his face against Panda's soft fur as I grabbed the remote to turn off the TV, resulting in the room becoming quieter and darker. I couldn't help but smile at the way Megumi's eyes drooped with drowsiness.
"Mustard?" Came a sudden whisper in my left ear. Twisting to see Toge's face close to mine, I nodded.
"He's falling asleep." I whispered back. Although the room was void of any light, it felt almost as if his lilac eyes were glowing. "Aren't you tired too?" But he only shook his head, making me chuckle quietly. "Yeah, you seemed to have a lot of energy when you were scoffing down all that ramen."
He jokingly nudged my arm before settling down comfortably on the pillows he had propped up for himself. My gaze lingered on him for a moment too long. Like everyone else, he wore his casual clothes instead of his uniform. It was a soft grey sweater and dark sweatpants, although he still had his green turtleneck on underneath. Because of the way he was leaning, I could almost see into it with his top lip nearly visible. I only ever had a clear view of his face during missions and even then I was usually moving too fast to focus on him.
The boy must have noticed my staring because he gave me a questioning look and said, "Tuna mayo." Without thinking, I reached over, tracing my fingertips along the material of his turtleneck. He didn't seem to mind and instead leaned in closer, never taking his eyes off mine.
I glanced at the others through the corner of my eye to check they were all asleep, with the exception of Yuta who wasn't even there. My face felt warmer the way Toge watched me while my hands lingered over his jaw. "Where's Yuta?" I mumbled carefully, hovering my hands over the tip of his collar.
Toge didn't speak immediately, almost as if pondering whether he should speak at all, as he brought his own hands up to hold over my own. He guided my hands to pull the green collar down to the bottom of his neck, revealing his full face. "He went to take his pills before he slept." He whispered so quietly that I almost didn't hear him. It was the way his flushed lips moved in sync with the words he said that made me gulp, especially since I wasn't expecting him to actually talk.
But I could tell he thought deeply before he spoke just to be certain his next words wouldn't end up cursing me. As if he read my mind, he smiled gently. It was almost as if I could feel flowers blooming and angels singing with just his kind features alone.
My eyes lingered on the dark, circular markings at the corners of his mouth while thoughts fogged my mind. I looked up at him through my eyelashes to see him staring right back, making my heart thunder against my chest with every inch of my being pleading me to move closer to him, to hold him, to just be with him. There was something about the way he was always so thoughtful that brimmed me with such joy and enough of it to make me want to cup his face. It was killing me not to, especially with the goofy smile he gave in response to my own. We sat there, grinning at each other like two idiots in the middle of the night as Panda's snores acted as music to our ears. And rather than fight the urge, I decided to let myself go and pulled him closer ever so slightly.
He opened his mouth again to speak and I clutched his turtleneck tighter, eager to hear his voice again.
"Y-"
"I JUST THREW UP A RHINOCEROS!" The scream of sheer panic belonged to none other than Yuta and as his distant voice reached us, a large crash was heard, indicating he fell over or something.
Toge and I jumped away from each other instantly, startled at the sudden commotion. Maki, Panda and Megumi also jolted awake at the sound of screaming and crashing down the hallway.
"What the hell is he doing now?" Maki moaned angrily, swiping her hair out of her face to rise from the mountain of blankets so she could go inspect the noise- and to likely beat Yuta up for interrupting her sleep.
Megumi only turned to me with drooped eyelids and hummed sleepily, "(L/N), I think Okkotsu senpai swallowed your foam animals."
I slapped a hand over my face both to hide my blush and abuse my past self for ruining a moment like this. Damn me and my stupid foam rhinoceroses.
-
I've read a lot of fanfictions where Inumaki only ever talks in onigiri ingredients unless he means to use his cursed speech, but I think of it a little differently: his power works in a way that every word that leaves his lips is a command but words that hold no verb-like value (e.g. salmon, tuna, etc.) have no effects. So, for example, if he said "Yuta went to take his pills" at somebody then nothing would happen since it doesn't carry any instruction. I think he only speaks in onigiri because he doesn't want to be in the habit of speaking normally in case he does accidentally curse someone. So when he is going to say something to the reader he prepares what he's going to say in advance in his head repeatedly until he's certain the words won't curse her.
That's my take on it, which is why you might notice Inumaki occasionally speaking to the reader normally in this story. But he'll only do that when he's feeling bold when she's alone with him because ✨️special treatment✨️