Deep Blue Sea

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛᴡᴏ

Now that you think about it, you were in no state to really help Itadori or the others, besides, you knew that you have fewer enemies that could harm him, they most likely wouldn't let anything bad happen to him as well. You suddenly felt bad for telling Junpei to go ahead first when you're actually going to do the same thing as he was.

You let out a sigh, it really seemed like you could only exorcise more curses and hope that they will end the event earlier. So you started walking deeper into the forest in the opposite direction of where Junpei just went since it could allow you to cover more grounds by doing that. And hopefully, you could be able to find Inumaki, somehow you had a hunch that he'll be hunting for cursed spirits too. Besides, you didn't want him to use too much of his cursed energy and hurt himself.

"Where are you going?" A cursed spirit lowered from the trees, crackling eerily as you got closer to it.

"Sorry, you're in my way," you sighed and you took out another low grade cursed spirit with ease, not stopping on your tracks for even a moment as you strode through the woods.

A rustling noise could be heard in a nearby bush, making you tense up and stop. You looked in that direction but couldn't find anything. Though you knew you had to be cautious, you didn't know if you'll encounter people that want your life after all.

Before you could react, you sensed a presence behind you, "Don't move," a voice whispered next to you, hot air tickling the shell of your ear.

Your body froze upon his command, you could almost feel your heart jumping out when you heard footsteps behind you. Then you felt a poke at your side, making you yelp in surprise. When you were free to move again, you instantly turned around to pinch the boy's cheek, this time he was the one yelping in surprise.

"You shouldn't be using your cursed energy like that," you scolded him and pinched Inumaki's cheek harder, which he tried to pry your hand off while crying 'okaka'.

Eventually, he was able to wriggle out of your evil hands, then he stuck out a tongue at you before twisting his head to a side with a small pout.

"I just don't want you to hurt yourself," you sighed and walked closer to him, your heart softening a bit at the sight, "you can do whatever you want when-"

Before you could finish your sentence, he lunged at you and wrapped his fingers around your side. He then started tickling you mercilessly. But he quickly stopped before you could scold him again, walking away as if nothing happened.

You swore that you could see a smug smile on his face right when he turned away, but you knew you have more important things to do now, so you only huffed and followed after him. Though there weren't much cursed spirits that remained, it seemed that most of them were already taken out. You were just worried if Junpei will do fine on his own, he is a new student after all. Froning unconsciously as the thoughts kept swirling in your head, you couldn't help but rub your knuckles with your fingers until they turned red.

"Takana?" You were stopped when a pair of hands engulfed yours, causing you to blink and look up, meeting the violent eyes of Inumaki.

The moment he saw the wrinkles between your brows, he lifted his hand to rub them lightly as if they could be smoothened. And as he expected, it worked.

"Don't worry about me," you could feel your lips curving up at his actions, "I'll be fine," you said, reaching your hand up to pat his head.

However, he moved away as soon as he saw you aiming for his head. He made a cross with his arms and shook his head, muttering 'okaka' as he gave you a disapproving look. What he did only tempted you more, so you grinned and stepped closer to him, grabbing his shoulder to prevent him from moving back and ruffling his hair.