Hollow Shadows; 中空の影 [Jujutsu Kaisen]

20 | Coincidence

XVI

Manga: Chapter 23-31

Anime: Episode 11-13

THE only thing that greeted Yuuji on the other side of his phone was constant ringing.

"Ijichi-san's not answering." He said, his brows knitting in the middle of his forehead. Behind him, Yoshino Junpei sat quietly on the stairs.

"Should I really be the one to ask this?" Yuuji muttered to himself as he looked at Yoshino. He wasn't instructed on what to do if he were to wind up in the current situation that he was in.

"Is it really okay to just ask him straight up about that, though?" he thought to himself. "How much am I allowed to reveal about Jujutsu Tech, anyway?"

"I wonder what's going on?" Yuuji asked out loud when Ijichi didn't pick up the phone for the nth time that afternoon.

He stayed silent for a while, debating on whether or not he would question Yoshino Junpei on his own.

Finally, Yuuji snapped when Ijichi still didn't answer his call.

"Forget it!" he yelled. "I'm just going to ask!"

He turned around and faced Yoshino.

"Listen, there were people who died at the theater you went to the other day. Did you happen to see anything?" he asked with a straight face. "A creepy thing like this, maybe?" he asked as he gestured to the low-level curse that he was holding in his hand.

"No, I didn't." Yoshino replied with a small voice. "I've only recently started seeing those clearly."

"I see." Yuuji sighed before pocketing the cursed spirit – it was so small it didn't take up that much space – before going to sit beside the dark haired boy. "Well, I've got nothing else to ask then!"

"Eh?" Yoshino blinked, his face a little surprised. "That's it?"

Yuuji nodded but turned to the other boy. "But could you still wait until my.... I guess he's like my boss.... Shows up?" he asked with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Yeah, sure." The other nodded, although hesitantly.

"Thanks!" the light haired brunet smiled. "Hey, what were you watching at that theater?" he asked in attempt to start a conversation while they wait for Nanami and Ijichi to come.

"It was a repeat screening on an old movie." Yoshino replied. Again, in a small voice. Yuuji was starting to see Yuumi in him for some reason. "I doubt you'd know if I told you."

Having already watched a lot of movies for the past month under Gojou's training, Yuuji just brushed the other boy off and insisted that he'd tell him. "Come on, just tell me."

"Human Earthworm 3." Yoshino finally said after a while of persuasion.

"That one was super boring!" Yuuji suddenly exclaimed. "I got hit so many times over that." He muttered as he remembered the doll that he was supposed to keep by his side at all times.

"You got hit?" Yoshino muttered, curiousness in his voice. But eventually, the tone dropped. "Honestly, it was. But it's just a splatter film, so maybe it's our own fault for asking it to deliver more than that. But 2-,"

"But 2 was pretty good, right?"

Yoshino suddenly turned to him with a smile on his face.

"Yeah! Yeah, it was! It was the only one with a way you could enjoy it!"