Deep Blue Sea

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ

Junpei had been sitting there for a very long time without looking at you, fiddling with his fingers as he looked at anything that was not you. No matter how many times you had tried to comfort him, he still wouldn't budge and continued to sulk, leaving you to sit there in awkward silence. Not like you really know what else you could do.

Trying to divert his attention, you decided to ask something else instead, "how's school?" You chuckled nervously, wanting to slap yourself the moment you said that.

"Huh?" He blinked before shaking his head, "I haven't been going to school these few days, I've been taking care of my mom."

"I see," you let out a sigh of relief when you heard that, "how is she?"

"She's recovering," he responded, finally looking up to meet your eyes, "thank you," he smiled at you, waves and waves of emotions washed over you with just two simple words.

"I'm just doing my job," you smiled back as you were leaning back onto the bed, "there's no need to thank me."

"But still," he insisted, taking your hand into his and gripping it firmly, "I would've- we would've gotten much worse injuries, or even get killed."

"...You're welcome, I guess," you could only look away awkwardly, not being able to meet his heated gaze suddenly.

Once again, silence fell upon the both of you. No one said anything nor move, so his hand was just awkwardly hovering over yours while you stared at the bedsheets. None of you really knew the right places to look at nor the right things to say, leaving you both to only sit there like statues, you almost thought that birds might think you both are trees and stop by.

"You have a shikigami, right?" You suddenly remembered the jellyfish-like figure you saw that day and asked.

"Yeah," he nodded, still not looking at you.

"Can I see?" You asked again, you couldn't hide the eagerness in your eyes as you got closer to him.

"S-sure," he shifted back a little at your sudden closeness. Then within seconds, a large jellyfish-like Shikigami appeared.

"So cute," you tried your best to not squeal at the large and squishy creature, not being able to control your hand that was starting to advance towards it.

"Wait! It's venomous!" Junpei tried to stop you, but it was too late.

Your hand was already on top of its head, yet you couldn't feel any pain or discomfort. In fact, it felt really nice to touch. It was almost like jello, smooth and squishy, you were slowly starting to lose yourself and you pinched it softly and rubbed it. Though it seemed to enjoy it, nudging your hand a little to show its fondness towards you, making you let out a giggle. You placed a kiss on its head, it then wiggled a bit, seemingly bashful from your action. Seeing that, a rosy pink blossomed on Junpei's face, so he let his Shikigami back and avoided your gaze.

"You're lucky that you didn't get hurt," he murmured under his breath.

You stared at him for a while, then you blurted out, "are you joining us then?"

He blinked a few times, pondering on what you just said before answering with another question, "what do you mean?"

"I mean, er," you scratched your head as you continued speaking, "do you want to come to our school?" You then laughed nervously and waved your hand, "you really don't have to though, I mean we can still go out and watch movies, I can still help you deal with those people if you called."

Junpei lowered his head, letting out a soft sigh as he spoke, "will they accept me though?"

"Depends on how you do in the interview," you smiled at him and patted his head, "don't worry, Yaga-san is a kind person."