DARK RED [ITADORI Y.]

―VIII. A MEETING

CHAPTER VII. A MEETING

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I stared up at the ceiling of the hospital room, my arms folded behind my head. I was careful not to rip the IV out of my arm, as I'd--unfortunately--done many times before, underestimating the length of the tube when I'd roll over. My legs rocked back and forth, following the rhythm of the heart monitor beside me.

I couldn't actually believe it and ended up stressing over it. A lot. Mostly to the point where I'd been so caught up between wondering if I was dead or alive and my schoolwork, I'd completely forgot about the wonderous things called food and water. I was dehydrated, and I felt like absolute crap.

"I'm going to get some more coffee," My grandfather said, pushing himself out of the chair beside my bed. "Would you like a candy bar, Y/n?"

"Dad, she can't have that right now," My father said, looking up from his phone. "She has to drink that bottle of water before she can have anything else."

My grandfather rubbed my leg. "Hurry and drink that before I get back. F/c?"

I smiled. "You know me too well, Pops,"

He chuckled, walking from the room and down the hall. Soon after, my father rose to use the restroom, leaving me in the room by myself. I began to sit up, reaching for the bottle of water beside me. However, when I caught sight of a pair of red shoes, I felt myself pause.

I looked out through the glass window that exposed the hall, watching a boy with sandy blonde hair look around before slipping into my room, pulling the door shut behind him. I sat up more, but before I could say anything, he beat me to it.

"Hi, um, look I know you're still pretty scared about what happened, but I, uh, I wanted to apologize to you," He said, bowing to you. "I know a lot of things happened very suddenly, and you were not given a proper explanation as to what was going on. But I wanted to say I'm sorry for chasing after you...and randomly showing up here, and a lot of others things--"

"You're Itadori Yuuji," I said, making him shift his weight around.

"Yeah," He said, slipping his hands in the pockets of his yellow hoodie. "I would say it's nice to meet you, but I don't think you're very happy that I'm here."

"No--well, not like that," I said, pulling my legs under me. I pat the spot at the foot of the bed, offering him a place to sit. "I was...actually trying to look for you."

"You were?" He asked. "No offense, but why were you looking for me? You're the one who's being hunted down by the Jujutsu Council."

"The incident that happened at West Junior High," I said, making him frown. "That was because of a corrupt, or whatever they're called, wasn't it?"

"Curse," He corrected but nodded at my question. "Yeah. It's a whole long thing, but basically, this really old curse had his fingers cut off and scattered around, and other curses are trying to get the fingers to eat them and get more powerful. A, uh, curse attacked the school after the finger that the occult club had. And, um, I kinda ate it and now I'm that curse's vessel."

"You...ate a crusty old finger?" I said.

"It was a spur of the moment thing!" He groaned. "Innocent lives were at stake. You know that black-haired kid?"

"The grumpy-looking one?"

"Yeah, Fushiguro," He said. "He was there, and he was hurt. I just couldn't sit there and let it happen. I knew I had to step in."

It reminded me of when Oyama got taken by that curse. I knew I couldn't just stand there while something bad could have been happening to her. That's why I pulled Yuki with me and we went to find her. So I could guess that I knew where he was coming from.

However, when the door opened, and my father and grandfather walked in, I could see the frown forming on both of their faces. "Y/n," My dad said. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Itadori," I said, cutting the boy off before he could even get the words out. "He's a friend from Biology. We had a project due today, and I felt bad for leaving him all by himself! Right, Itadori-kun?"

"Yeah!" He laughed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh?" My father smirked. "What happened in Biology? What was the presentation about?"

"Oh...you know..." He said, scratching his cheek. "Alleles...and...biology...stuff."

My father chuckled. "Well, I hope you did well. Your grandfather and I are going to pick up your mother from work. We'll come right after and check you out. Just drink that water and eat something. Not the candy bar." He added, after seeing my grandfather creeping towards me with the two snacks in his hand. He quickly threw them at Itadori and me before grabbing my father, dragging him down the hall hurriedly.

Itadori and I glanced at each other before both of us burst into laughter. I shook my head, grabbing the candy bars from the bed, offering one to Itadori. He thanked me and took it.

"So, you're not mad at me or anything?" He asked after a moment.

I thought for a moment. He said he was a vessel, and that woman, Eris, called me her vessel. I supposed I would be kind of a hypocrite if I said anything.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's not your fault or anything. I'm sorry if I came off as a jerk or anything."

"No, no," He said, shaking his head as well. "It was kinda my fault anyways. We were ordered to track you down. But I'm not here on behalf of them!--" He added quickly. "--I came here on my own to apologize."

"Well, thank you for apologizing to me," I said. "But...I think I want you to take me back to the school."

Itadori frowned. "A-Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I want to know why everyone wants me dead."

[Chapter VIII. End]
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