Lavender and Vanilla {Itafushi}

Part Five: Cold Shoulder

Itadori's POV

The next few days were.. Rather lonely for me, honestly. Just as Fushiguro had said, he changed rooms, moving to a completely different hall. Our rooms were no longer next to each other. It didn't bother me too much that he changed his room.. It was the intention behind why he did it. To be away from me.

From what he's shown me recently, I think it might've been a good choice for him.. Hopefully now he could focus more on himself and his mental health. I only want what's best for him, after all..

Though I couldn't help but felt guilty for all of this trauma he was dealing with. I guess the reform school incident really messed him up. I mean, I don't blame him, it must've been scary..

I made sure to stay clear of him during our warm ups and classes, but most days he didn't even show up at all. I had heard from Maki that he was doing his training with Gojo individually.

When all sat down at the table to eat our dinner, Fushiguro almost never joined us. He usually took his food back to eat in his room.

Truth be told, when I came back after the reform school incident, I wanted to confess how I felt to Fushiguro. I wanted to tell him so much, so much I had thought about in the the two months I was gone.. Even while watching all those movies, training with Gojo, he was on my mind almost always.

I guess there's no chance of me telling him now, huh?

He started hanging out with the others at least, so he wasn't completely isolating himself. Whenever I saw him with Nobara or Toge, I stayed out of the way.

But after a couple weeks he began joining us in training again, and dinner! Though he never even looked my way. It was as if I didn't exist anymore. Part of me was okay with that.. As long as he was doing better.

"Hey, Fushiguro, what happened to your arm?" I heard Yuta question one day at dinner, gesturing to Fushiguro's bandaged arm. I honestly had wondered the same thing as well. We hadn't been on any missions in quite a while, so there wasn't really any opportunities for him to injure it.

He seemed to freeze up, at the opposite end of the table from where I sat.

"Oh, I.. uh.." he looked down at his arm, "I um.. Sprained it a little bit when practicing hand-to-hand combat with Gojo." He shrugged.

"Really? You seem to be able to move it just fine though.." Nobara added, arching a brow.

"W-Well yeah- it was a while ago! I'm doing a lot better now."

"But-"

"That's enough talk, he already told you what happened." Gojo interrupted, a bit of seriousness in his voice. I continued eating my food quietly, honestly curious as to what really happened to Fushiguro's arm.. Once again, I knew he was hiding something. But it wasn't like I could talk to him anymore..

Fushiguro stood up from the table, setting his plate in the sink before silently leaving to return to his room. Gojo sighed and got up as well, following him a few moments later.

The table went silent, as the rest of us sat there.

"Good job, Yuta-" Maki finally broke the silence, shaking her head.

"How was I supposed to know it was going to upset him?!"

"Salmon.." Toge placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Are you really that oblivious?" Maki continued, narrowing her eyes at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I added, and Maki sighed.

"He's obviously been hurting himself.." she closed her eyes, as she spoke just loud enough for us to hear, looking as if it pained her just to say it, which it probably did..

Time seemed to stop the moment I heard her say that though. I never thought much about the bandages around Fushiguro's arm.. But now.. it made sense. God, it all made sense..

I didn't even realize I had zoned out, having dropped my fork I was using to eat. I was startled by Nobara shaking me, as I snapped out of it and looked at her with wide eyes. "Wh-What did you say..?"

"I said, are you okay?! You almost fainted!"

I blinked a couple times, was I okay?

No, I wasn't ok.. All of this was my fault, wasn't it? Fushiguro wouldn't be going through so much trauma right now if it weren't for me.

I raised both my hands up to place over my face, breathing shakily. "Oh.. oh my god.. How could I- how could I be so fucking stupid?!" Tears swelled in my eyes as I began getting choked up. Everything was a blur, I felt like I was dying.

"Yuji.. Yuji, calm down.." I heard someone's voice, looking up to see Yuta. Somehow I was on the floor now, being helped to sit back up. "Did I..?"

"You passed out.." Nobara stated flatly, yet continued rubbing my back.

I held my head, groaning. "Fuck.."

"You should probably go get some rest, Yuji." Yuta suggested, helping me back up to my feet.

"Y-Yeah.." I sighed in reply, starting to make my way back to my room. I glanced down the hallway Fushiguro's room was on. It had been around two months since he changed rooms, since he walked out of my life, and I missed him dearly..

I opened up my door, stepping in and lazily closing it behind me with my foot.

God.. This.. This changes everything..

As I landed on my bed with a soft thud, I stared up at the ceiling, mouth falling slightly agape.

So, Gojo obviously knew about this too.. This was the second time he'd tried hiding the truth from me.. It only made me wonder what else he was hiding from us.. From me.