Yuzu and Lime - Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Okkotsu Yuta)

Chapter seven

Man, we're on the psuedo finale already? ah- in my defense it is technically earlier than yesterday... anyway this was the planned ending but i went and wrote another chapter after this one cause there just wasnt enough. I'm in the process of writing another extra chapter on top of that, whether any more extras - long or short - come out is all very up in the air. For the moment though;;;

I hope you enjoy this chapter! its a long one huhu

"'The hell happened when you two were away? You haven't looked in his direction like a smitten idiot the whole day," Maki sneered, spinning her polearm around tauntingly while looking down at Yuzuha's prone form. Maki had won all seven of their spars since they started and to say she noticed Yuzuha was off, well that would be an understatement; Yuzuha took way too many hits in the face for it to just be a normal 'off' day.

Yuzuha practically collapsed to the ground, a long groan escaping her: "Maki... I think I ruined everything."

"Huh?" Maki then found herself sat before the lump of melted butter, listening to her woes and recounts of what happened in Kyoto. "So you confessed? And he asked you to wait for his answer? That's what you're moping about? I thought the world was ending with the way you were looking like death itself."

"Maki, my world is ending, you don't understand."

The girl sighed and flicked the top of Yuzuha's head, "why don't you use your brain for once. He didn't reject you right? He told you to wait – likely until he's figured out how to break Rika's curse cause she's a lingering attachment; so he probably thinks he can't move on freely if she's still cursed. Knowing that guy he'd feel guilty about it, though he's probably hating himself right now too. You're blind if you can't see that he likes you too."

"I'm so pathetic," Yuzuha grumbled.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Like that, a few weeks passed. Yuta started sparring with Maki and improved considerably more than when he trained with Yuzuha – even though she was having private training with Maki to get better so that she could help him more, but whatever, she wasn't salty. Yuzuha somehow grew closer to the other two first years, since Yuta and Maki trained together, she found herself brawling Panda and Inumaki a lot of the time. Aside from the odd mission handed down to them, for the most part things were calm, steady, absolutely excruciating. Yuzuha lived with the fear that she'd be rejected any minute, they already weren't speaking to each other – and although people say distance makes the heart grow fonder, no, her heart was tearing itself apart.

It was pretty early morning, every one had gathered outside before starting the day's usual routine. Yuzuha was chatting Maki's ear off about something she'd heard a thousand times; to no one's surprise, it was Yuta. Maki found that she didn't even need to reply, hell, Yuzuha didn't even expect her to listen – she just wanted something, someone to vent to. The girl didn't have an output for her feelings, she knew what happened when she kept them to herself, and so she'd asked Maki if she could talk to her about it. Maki, being who she was, didn't particularly mind. It was strange that the enclosed, lonely girl was actually as open a book as they come – it was almost funny that she couldn't hide how she felt.

"I've got a bad feeling." The group of them heard Yuta mutter, Yuzuha stopped chatting Maki's ear off and peered at him from behind her. She believed him instantly, of course, however the rest of the first years... they had differing opinions.

"It's your imagination," Maki said.

"For sure."

"Okaka."

"Huh – hey, wait – guys?" Yuta stumbled, hurrying behind the group leaving him behind.

Panda continued: "Your perception of cursed energy is whack," he said, waving Yuta off.