ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

thirty three . you're a late bloomer?

a week had passed since the sora incident.

after resting for a bit, they had asked sora to call for someone to pick him up, which he gladly complied to. someone from his agency - his manager, ayame recognized - came over and looked as if he had dropped everything he was currently doing and sped to the school in a flash. ayame hoped he didn't get any speeding tickets.

sora and his manager thanked them countless times, and it took shouko to usher them away to avoid wasting anymore time (which was the best option, idols have tight schedules after all - ah, but shouko didn't seem to know sora. maybe she just wanted to make sure her room was empty so that she could smoke). it wasn't until he was about to enter the car when sora turned around, locked eyes with ayame, and smiled at her, his eyes turning into a pair of crescent moons.

ayame almost dropped dead right then and there.

well, she could probably be declared as dead at this moment, though.

ayame's back slammed into the ground without much mercy, knocking the air out of her lungs. her world spinned for a moment before a shadow loomed over her vision. kinji shook his head, his brows furrowed.

"when will you stop thinking about him? you wanna break your neck or something?" kinji scolded the girl, who in return accepted the hand that he offered. "it's been a week."

ayame patted her clothes, getting rid of the grass and dust that clung onto her body. then, she pursed her lips. "i wasn't thinking about sora."

well, not entirely... at least.

the two sat down at the side of the field, and ayame chugged down the cold mineral water they bought before starting their exercise. kinji took a sip, before saying,"yeah? what else are you capable of thinking other than him?"

when the water had reached half of the bottle, ayame finally set it down, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "hm." she fiddled with the wrapping on the bottle, tracing the barcode with her eyes. "i heard something funny."

"what?"

"..."

ayame glanced around the empty field, before scratching her cheek. she lowered her head, making sure to hide her face from the male next to her. peehaps kinji had already sensed something was wrong, but he didn't say anything.

ayame's eyelashes fluttered a couple of times, before she took in a breath. "pretty much, uh, i'm... going to go through a change."

kyonoue's face flashed in her mind.

two nights ago when ayame had gone to sleep, the woman had come to meet her in her dreams after a good while. ayame was happy to see her again, since kyonoue didn't visit her ever since she had first entered the flower realm. 'i was busy with my husband,' was her excuse, and ayame's face scrunched up - at least she's not a poor, lonely soul.

ayame didn't have the chance to ask kyonoue more about her husband, though. the woman held her shoulders in place, a serious glint in her eyes - any questions in ayame's throat was pushed back down, forgotten.

"be careful." kyonoue had said, and ayame blinked. "something is going to happen."

ayame blinked again. her mouth opened, and then closed. seemingly not knowing what to respond to kyonoue's words.

after a beat, two, it opened again,"that's very vague." then, she added. "is that a bad thing?"

"good and bad, in a way."

and then ayame woke up.

she had never felt so frustrated in life. what did it mean? what was kyonoue trying to tell her? why use such... such vague words? she's not the brightest person here - just tell her straight up. lay it down for her on the table, please!!

kinji had a different idea, though. he took another sip of his drink. as he eyed the bird perched on a tree branch, he said,"i thought girls went through puberty earlier than guys. are you a late bloomer?"

"........."

ah, why did she even try.

"you duncehead, not that kind of change." ayame muttered underneath her breath before abruptly standing up to her feet. she began walking towards the cafeteria, leaving kinji behind. she couldn't be bothered to continue explaining to him - with his response and her empty stomach, her mood gradually worsened.

the days flew by without much action, aside from the occasional small tasks from the school. ayame spent her time either locked in her room or sparring with kinji, enjoying the leisurely time she had gotten.

the flower realm had been silent, though. ever since kyonoue visited her, not once did ayame get pulled into the realm. of course, she was able to 'converse' with her flower spirits while awake, but the lack of clinginess they usually showed worried ayame, causing her to think if something had happened to the point where she was being kept out of the realm. she thought, maybe this was related to what kyonoue said.

ah, kyonoue really didn't visit her again after that. the next time they meet, ayame set her mind to throw a tantrum at the woman, annoying her to the point where she felt like rising back from the dead just to shut her up. and perhaps, ayame would give her a taste of her own medicine and bully her with the blossoming technique.

days went by, and the cold came.