Vessel // Jujutsu Kaisen x reader

11. Dead Or Alive

"He told us to 'live long'..." Megumi said.

The remaining first year students were sitting in front of a shrine.
Well, Kugisaki, Megumi and me, that is.

"But all your problems vanish when you die... Is this the first time for one of your comrades to die?" Kugisaki asked.

"It's my first time, for a classmate." Megumi answered.

I looked up at the sky, not feeling like myself.
So it wasn't his first time to see a comrade die, just one his age...

"You seem oddly fine." Kugisaki humpfed.

"... You too." Megumi sighed.

"Well, I only knew him for about 2 weeks. I'm not a soft woman..." Kugisaki said, voice beginning to quiver slightly, grabbing my attention.
"That I would cry over the death of someone like him."
She glanced at my blank face.
"But someone should..."
She mumbled quietly, but I heard it.

I sent her a weak smile, seeing her bite her bottom lip to stop it from quivering.
"You're a good person, Nobara."

She looked at me surprised before looking away, hiding her face.

"It's hot."
"... Yeah, wonder when we'll get our summer clothes."

Oh look, a butterfly!

"What the hell! You're more depressed than ever, Megumi." a woman in glasses appeared, a case for a sword on her shoulder.
"Is this a wake?"

"Zenin-senpai." Megumi looked up.

"Don't call me by that name."

"Maki. Maki!" I looked over and saw a boy with off-white hair and a panda hiding behind a tree.
"He really did die. Yesterday! A boy in first year!"
The panda tried explaining to this Maki.

"Katsuobushi flakes!" the boy with off-white hair said, the lower half of his face covered.

I chuckled.
"Yuu-chan look, a talking panda."
I went to nudge the boy next to me but was met with air.
I looked around.
"Yuu-chan?"

"L/n." Megumi called my name and I looked at him confused.
He shook his head guiltily and I looked at Nobara who was biting her finger.

And then it clicked.
"Oh, right... Sorry..."
I mumbled and slumped my head into my hands.

Right... He's not here...

"Now I seem like a cold, heartless devil!" that Maki yelled at the talking panda, who is of no interest to me anymore.

"Actually, that's exactly what you are, you know!" the panda yelled at her.

"Tunamayo."

"Those people, who are they?" Nobara asked, trying to change the mood that I must have soured.

"They're our second year senpais." Megumi sighed.
"Zenin Maki-senpai, she's the best at handling cursed weapons, out of us students.
A specialist in spells, Inumaki Toge-senpai, his only vocabulary is onigiri ingredients.
That's Panda-senpai."
Megumi started introducing everyone.
"there's one more; Okkotsu-senpai. He's the only one I can openly respect, but he's overseas right now."

And that's when I cut off.
I got off into a daze and before I knew it I was engulfed by darkness and then a blue and red hue.

"Geh!" something fell into the water close to me.

Wait, water? Where am I?

"Fwaaahh!" a familiar looking pink-haired head emerged from the water.
"But I thought I definitely scored that one!"