wasteland, baby! [fushiguro megumi]

07: playground

june 2018

tokyo prefectural jujutsu high school

third person pov

it's been a week since the last time the group of first years had gone out for missions, and the teenagers took it upon themselves to train using the school's almost state of the art facilities. they've also taken the time to try and get to know each other, well, it was mostly just itadori and kugisaki doing all the asking and talking. they were really like two halfwit peas in a pod.

megumi, as usual, kept to himself during most of the conversations, occasionally humming a response or a nod of approval, but mostly wanting to throw itadori across the room for acting like a complete idiot. what the raven was more curious about though, was how silent keiko was while the group shared about themselves. he didn't recall her being this ... introverted.

every once in a blue moon when a conversation about their childhood would surface, megumi and keiko would exchange a subtle glance and continued to let the pink haired boy and the ginger carry the heart-to-heart chat, praying that they would never have to answer that one dreadful question.

"you two knew each other from way back right? it must've been nice to have a friend who could see curses too." itadori had blurted out the question of impending doom, for him to receive a fist knocked into his head by kugisaki as if reminding him, 'there's a reason they haven't talked about it yet idiot!'. but the ginger too was eager to hear what the silent pair had to say.

the group was hanging out in the pantry after their dinner, the noirette and the redhead had sat side by side as usual, across from the other two, who had their chins rested on their palms, anticipating a long story of nostalgia.

what exactly was their relationship before keiko left? they weren't exactly best of pals but they sure weren't enemies either, or at least that's what the raven thought.

keiko flashed him a nervous frown, giving him a nudge to the elbow. 'this one's all yours' she panicked in her head, to which the raven had picked up the memo.

"uh ..." the raven twiddled his thumbs, "we weren't close."

a twinge of bitterness panged through the redhead's chest, maybe she thought otherwise or maybe she was just way over her head, but that curt statement seemed to have cut her cords somehow.

of course, i'm an idiot to expect anything.

getting out of her seat, keiko gave the noirette a cold light pat on his shoulder before turning to the other two, who had their eyes widened and their hands clasped over their mouths.

"yeah, we weren't close." keiko dismissed the bitterness in her chest as she headed for the exit, faking a yawn. "well, i'll tap out for tonight. goodnight everybody."

she shared a final gaze with her 'childhood friend', who was trying to find the familiar warmth from within her scarlet irises, only to be left gripping at nothingness.

༊*·˚

the following day led to a series of unresolved tension as itadori could only lay his eyes on the pumped up ginger and the exhausted raven, with no sign of keiko anywhere.

"hey where's mizuki?" he poked the two.

they were supposed to spar in the morning and head out to the city for lunch as it was another day off, but the lack of their other classmate was making itadori uneasy.