"We should've taken her out of her wet clothes quicker," the old lady said calmly. "However, she should be alright in a day or so. Is that good enough for you, young man?"
Toge clung to your hand tightly, and your grip on his was comforting despite the fact that he was losing feeling in his fingertips.
Panda put his hand on Toge's shoulder. "She's fine," Panda confirmed, although he wasn't quite sure himself.
Your grip on Toge's hand went tighter and his head snapped towards you, a quiet grunt coming from his throat as he placed his other hand on your shoulder, seeing the trouble expression on your face.
"She's probably just having an unpleasant dream," the old lady assured, placing her hand over your side. And suddenly, your expression relaxed.
"Yuta's still fighting," you said quietly as Maki and Panda awoke.
"He's fighting that monster?!" Panda exclaimed loudly, making your ears ring.
You let out a quiet groan, placing your hands over your ears.
Toge yelped softly and took your hand, placing it back over your wound in your side. You snorted and slapped his hand away, given weakly. "I'm fine. Since you're healed now, I can work on it."
"Better do it quick," Maki urged.
You slowly got to your feet, peering over the balcony to see Yuta and Suguru's fight off in the distance. A great deal of cursed energy burst from amongst the buildings nearby.
"Crap- Watch out!" You swung your arm and vines rapidly grew from the ground up till the balcony. Panda shielded Maki while Toge pulled you close and a loud crash came from beyond the shield of nature.
Maki let out a quiet gasp and took out her sword, slicing through your vines and jumping from the balcony, sliding down the vines with Panda close behind.
Toge picked you up and helped you down.
"My wound is fine now," you signed, showing him that the blood was just the stains on your shirt. Toge, however, didn't put you down.
"Yuta!" Maki called desperately, running through the rubble and remnants of the damaged buildings. "Yuta!!"
"Over there!" Panda pointed and you all rushed over to find Yuta lying on the ground, unconscious.
Toge put you down and you hovered your hands above him. His wounds started to close, slowly but cleaner than the way he had done it, and his eyes started to open.
Maki's eyes went wide. "Yuta! Are you okay?!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Yuta!" Panda yelled as if Yuta wasn't right in front of him.
Yuta sat up abruptly and your hands recoiled back to your chest, a grin spreading across your face.
His eyes filled with relieved tears and you sighed, leaning back on Toge. "Too much is happening today," you said to only him, and he nodded.
"Yuta."
You followed everyone's gaze to the curse that clung to Yuta, even through battle. She was powerful, you could tell, from the moment Yuta walked into the classroom.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Rika," Yuta said with a soft smile.
"Wait, what?" You stared expectantly at Yuta as he sent a guilty glance at the group.
"Um, in exchange for her powers... I agreed to go with her."
"What?!"
"You mean... death?!"
"What were you thinking?!"
Before Yuta could get to Rika, it seemed like she shrunk and turned into a young girl with long brown hair and a knee length dress.
You raised a brow, holding Toge's shoulder as you moved behind him.
Approaching claps gained your attention and you viewed Gojo walking towards you. "Congrats. The curse is broken."
"Who are you?"
"Everyone's favourite, good-looking Gojo-sensei."
"What curse?" you asked.
"I thought that Yuta's theory was interesting, so I looked into his lineage. Rika's was complete a long time ago, but Yuta's was quite the search. And we found out..." Gojo held up to peace signs. "Apparently, you're a descendant of Michizune Sugawara. It may be super distant, but we're relatives!"
Your brows shot up and you turned to the innocent and tired looking boy. "Who...?"
"One of Japan's big three vengeful spirits," Maki explained.
"Yuta, you're right," Gojo continued. "Rika isn't cursing you. You cursed Rika."
You gazed upon the young girl, pity filling your eyes. At her age, you knew that all you were doing was running around your family's flower shop.
Guilty tears streamed down Yuta's face.
"It's all my fault... Turning Rika into a curse, hurting so many people. Because Geto was after me... everyone nearly died."
But before he could rip out his hair in anguish, Rika took it upon herself to remind him of one thing as her arms wrapped around him.
"Yuta... Thank you. For giving me the time. For letting me be by your side. I've been happier these past six years... than when I was alive."
She pulled away. "Goodbye... be well."
A smile spread across her face.
"And don't come too soon, okay?"
And she was gone with the wind, as little stars that found their place in the sky at last.
•••
When you opened your eyes, you were met with the ceiling of one of the rooms in the cabin, but it wasn't yours.
Your head pounded and you couldn't figure out if you were freezing or boiling, burying your face into the sweater that clung to you and trying to convince yourself that the room wasn't spinning.
It was sweltering under the blanket but the moment you took it off, it was like being thrown back out into the snow.
Your eyes burned and watered when you tried to go back to sleep so you slowly slipped out of bed to try and wash your face.
The room was dimly lit by the window, with drawn curtains, and you slowly moved towards the door, feeling the floor creak under you and feeling like it started to tilt.
You opened the door and poked your head out just in time to see Toge walking out of the shower, drying his hair so it didn't soak the oversized shirt he was wearing. He didn't have the hoodie he normally wore and when you looked down, you realized that you were wearing it.
He noticed you and his brows raised. Without a word of warning, he rushed towards you began pushing you back into the room, which you deducted was his.
You didn't have the strength to fight against it so you let him plop you down on the bed and place the back of his hand on your forehead.
The worried look in his eyes was dreamily familiar.
Without thinking, you placed your hands on either side of his face, prompting his hand to recoil, but he didn't move otherwise.
Your thumbs traces over the corners of his lips, where you knew that you imagined lines of dark purple.
"What are you doing?"
Your eyes travelled down to his hands, which fell to his sides, and you dropped your own. "...rry," you muttered as if it were second nature to speak with your mouth, until the unfamiliar feeling of your voice vibrating in your throat took over you and you seemed to wake up completely. "What happened?"
His face remained awestruck, hearing your voice that wasn't laced with a laugh or in the form of a broken sound from surprise or confusion.
With a quick shake of his head, he answered, "You collapsed from the cold. How are you feeling?"
"Not great."
He pressed his hand against your forehead again before moving it to your neck, just under your jawline. "You're still warm," he signed.
You hummed. "I definitely believe you."
"I'll get a towel or something."
You nodded and watched him leave the room before turning to the clock that sat on the side table, seeing at it was around 10:00am.
The door opened again but this time, it was the old lady followed by Toge and Maki. She held a basin of water with a small white towel hanging from it.
Toge gently pushed you onto your back and the damp towel was placed on your forehead.
"Feel better?" Maki asked.
"I feel like a cup of warm water."
She scoffed. "How poetic."
"I could make a bouquet that says the same thing."
Maki rolled her eyes while Toge let out a voiceless chuckle.
"Where are Panda and Yuta?" you asked.
"They're trying to prepare soup."
"Emphasis on trying," Maki added.
You tried not to picture what would happen if two boys with one wearing a panda head trying to make soup looked like and simply strained a smile, although your mind started playing tricks on you, making you think you smelled smoke.
"Just stay in bed today," Maki said.
"Okay..." You began playing with the draw strings of Toge's sweater. It smelled like cinnamon.
The sound of the smoke detector sounded through the cabin and Maki sighed, rubbing the side of her face. "It's soup, how do you mess up soup?!"
You stared at the two and Toge told you, "Guess who burnt soup and set off the smoke detector?"
You stifled a giggle as Maki went stomping off, yelling at the two to not burn down the cabin.
Toge sighed. "Hopefully you're a bit better in the kitchen than Panda is."
"I can make a sandwich."
He blinked. "Seriously?"
"Hey, skills aren't hereditary."
"Skills?"
"My dad's a chef." You smiled to yourself, remembering yourself in elementary school having homemade lunches while others had to get things from the cafeteria.
"I ought to teach you how to cook then." Toge smiled.
"Would we start with onigiri?"
He stared at you, his brows raised. "Did I tell you that was my favourite food or something?"
You shook your head. "Just a hunch."