ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

twenty two . naming a cat

the sun had almost set, disappearing from sight in the sky, and three people sat on the stairs next to the field of jujutsu high, conversing among themselves. the sun had almost set, and yet there was no sign of ayame returning.

shinju and hakari seemed to be hitting it off, chatting about the most random things (mostly from shinju) and hakari, surprisingly giving her responses actively unlike his usual silence. perhaps it was just him being polite to his senior, but a part of him seemed to be enjoying the conversation.

yasuhiro quietly played with the cat in his lap as the voices of his friends became a calming white noise in his ears. the snow white cat stared up to him, its yellow eyes a captivating pair.

"...but then i asked him, 'where did you put the key, sir?'" shinju said.

"well. what did he say?" hakari replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"he said," shinju cleared her throat, and spoke in a shaky, old man voice,"aaah... i think my daughter has it... my beautiful daughter, chou... she is turning 9 today, you see...?' - however."

"however...?"

"i asked the neighbours, and it turns out, his daughter actually died 30 years ago."

a gasp. "that is... uh. unfortunate."

shinju sniffed, but no tears came out. "it's sad, right? also we found the key to the old house, it was in - "

shinju couldn't finish her sentence as the sound of glass shattering cut through the air, and the two snapped their heads towards the source.

yasuhiro also looked at them in alarm, wearing an expression like that of a kid who just got caught doing something naughty. at his feet, pieces of shattered glass spread on the ground, with a small quantity of water spilled. he scratched his neck with his covered hands.

"i - err, i tried to pick up the bottle..." yasuhiro explained, a sheepish smile on his face. "but my sleeves were too slippery...?"

shinju got up, and hovered her hand above the shattered pieces. "i'll clean it up, don't touch it." as cursed energy began to form around her hand, she spoke,"you didn't wear your gloves today?"

"they were getting washed." he said, and hugged the cat closer to his chest, as if to avoid it from jumping down and hurting its paws. shinju nodded.

the shattered glass were now entrapped in what seemed to be a string of white bubbles - no, pearls? - and shinju stood up, the string of pearls hovering above her palm. "please be careful next time, yasuhiro-kun."

shinju walked off to the nearest recycling bin, leaving hakari and yasuhiro alone together. hakari, who was watching the exchange, spoke up.

"yasuhiro-senpai."

yasuhiro glanced towards hakari. "yes?"

"why do you cover your hands?"

a simple question, one that had been on hakari's mind ever since he met yasuhiro.

he never got the chance to ask, usually it's either he got distracted, or simply forgot about it. he remembered once where he conversed with ayame about the topic, but the girl was also clueless so they didn't get anywhere further than that. coincidentally, this was a perfect timing to ask, and he happened to blurt it out.

a simple question, and then came a simple answer.

"i hate them."

-

ayame dragged her feet to the top of the stairs, tossing away a candy wrapping right into the nearest trash bin. finally returning from her mission, she was beat from both exorcising as well as climbing the damned stairs of the school. it was good exercise, though.

the sun was nowhere to be seen. only its friend, the moon was looking down upon the girl. it witnessed how she was sweating like a pig.

she walked through the halls of the school grounds, occasionally greeting the staffs she passed by. she was heading towards her room when her feet stopped in their tracks. her head were turned to her right, towards the familiar field of grass. hakari sat alone on the stairs, accompanied by a snow white cat in his laps.

seeming to notice her presence, he lifted his head up. "sup."

"hakari... what are you doing here...?"

hakari slightly turned his body facing ayame, who was now sitting down next to him. "i was waiting for you."

"oh. wow. i am touched."

"sure."

...

"what's the cat's name?"

"..." hakari paused, staring into the distance with a deep crease on his forehead. then,"this is why i waited for you."

ayame blinked. "you... wanted to ask her name?"

"no - well, yes. well - " hakari stumbled over his words, and ayame lifted a brow at the unusual sight. he sighed. "the seniors. they told me we should name it ourselves."

"ah. what do they call it?"

"azuki."

"huh...?" ayame leaned in closer to the cat. "what part of it says 'azuki'...?'

hakari cleared his throat. " - so we should name it sashimi."

...

"hakari."

"what."

"you just wanna eat sashimi right now, don't you?"