LADY AOKI || JUJUTSU KAISEN

三十

"I made these for you." Anzu presented the boy with a pair of gloves.

Hiroki uncovered his eyes and peered at the gift. They were supposed to be recurve gloves, to protect his hands when he was firing a bow, but her stitches were crooked and despite it being very expensive silk, he knew they would rip at even the slightest abrasion. He kept his mouth tightly shut and stared at her proud but nervous expression.

"Do you like it?" She asked, her gaze dropping to the floor. It was improper of her to speak before him, especially because she was not only younger but his fiancé. Still, despite it only being a month past their formal introduction, she wanted to at least try being friends with this stubbornly quiet basta—

"They're lovely, thank you." Hiroki accepted them politely and even managed to smile a little when he realized his reaction brought warmth to Anzu's heart.

"To Kamo Noritoshi, 

I hope you are well. I've been pretty busy lately, but nothing too out of the sorts. The Obon festival is coming up, and if you don't mind, could you please take these gloves as a gift and offer them in the name of Kamo Hiroki? I know that the festival is meant for our own ancestors, but Hiroki was my brother's best friend, and while we weren't considered relatives, his memory is one I wish to hold dear.

Thanks, 

Anzu."

Of all of them, Hiroki's death was one of the most unfair, Anzu reflected as she sat in the grass, her hands busily folding thin sheets of paper into lanterns. He loved another, she recalled, but he was hier and needed to wed a girl of equal or higher status, and the poor thing was lowborn. Besides, the matchmaker had decided that Anzu needed someone who could rein in her past reckless and energetic self. 

If he and Fumihiro hadn't been brothers in arms, he might not've had to die at such a young age.

"Yo!" Gojo suddenly appeared behind her with a devilish grin on his face. Anzu yelped and dropped her lantern as she shot to her feet and turned to glare at him.

"How did you get in?" She demanded, referring to her domain.

"Walking." He replied cheekily. "If you're going to cast your domain in your room you should at least lock the doors in case someone wanders in. Anyways, the others are getting ready to head home, don't you wanna see them off?"

Right, the festival. Anzu was to remain on school grounds, but luckily for her, so was Yuji. They stood together at the front gates to see the other students off with the setting sun at their backs, the light shrouding their lone figures in a blazing red.

"Sometimes I wish the school had more students." Anzu said to him as they returned to the seemingly barren campus. Even if they were small in number, they were a lively bunch, lighting up each empty classroom and corridor until it seemed as though the building was full of people.

"At least you have me and Gojo-sensei!" Yuji chirped. 

"I'd send you home if I could." Gojo shrugged. "But you probably wouldn't like what you might see."

"I know I won't." She frowned. "I haven't had my room cleaned in a hundred years!" 

That made them laugh, and Gojo reached out to playfully ruffle her hair as they re-entered the main building and came across departing staff. Yuji ran off to the kitchens, and Anzu waited for Gojo to return their goodbyes before heading upstairs to her dorm, the only lit space in the entire hall.

"If you've got something to say, you might as well say it now, while no one else is here." Gojo leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. His cheerful face had fallen, and he spoke seriously.