Call My Name | 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪

- 15 -

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𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒿𝑒𝒸𝓉

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A/N: Sorry I have been gone for literal months, faced the dreaded writer's block, and honestly am very much regretting 1. not outlining, 2. trying to extend this idea longer than it should have been. I don't really know how to end this story cleanly, so I am sorry if this gets a shitty ending, I am not very good at this. This chapter was mostly already written, I spent the last few days just deliberating on editing and if I should even bother posting it. Thank you for encouraging me. 

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Finally, their damn project is done. Nobara looks visibly relieved at that, it's sort of funny. The actual portion of what they were going to say sounds pretty cohesive, and exactly what their teacher is looking for. It's been through many edits, and might need some more tweaking, but ultimately, yes, it's finished. 

Though Maki is only thinking this because she's being purposefully nitpicky. If this were a solo project, Maki would not have put this much effort. Not nearly. She only really cares because she wants Nobara to succeed.

Nobara was determined to do well, especially on something "so pathetically easy it's elementary." Maki wasn't about to impede her progress by not helping at all. It probably would have been easier to be a dick if she didn't like her so much. Maki knows Nobara takes her grades seriously, maybe she thinks it's the only reasonable way for her to make it out of here. It makes sense, having good grades would lead to better opportunities for college somewhere else. No matter what school you come from, being in the top percent in your school was still impressive either way. 

They complete everything within the first hour, then they go from discussing various things about school, and the low-lives in it. Maki is very aware how Nobara never asks her what Gojo meant by what he said earlier. Instead, they go from discussing how it's stupid they have to present at all to discussing what happened earlier today. Maki wasn't the one who brought it up because she truly didn't feel like talking about it. Nobara being the one to bring it up just reminds her of the fact that her actions don't occur in a vacuum simply because she doesn't see who is watching. 

"I don't know, I was just pissed off after first period and it kind of carried over later," Maki says, she knows it was unreasonable the way she acted but it's over now. She's over it. Kind of.

Though she knows tomorrow the teachers will be upset with her. She wouldn't be surprised if they make her day more difficult than it has to be. She'll just have to take it in stride. She's sure tomorrow will be way easier today, if she just controls herself.

"Tomorrow's a new day, though I can't say it'll be any better. I heard you got called into the counselor's office? What happened then?"

Maki doesn't even want to think about how the counselor wants to see her again. It's ridiculous, who does she think she is? A therapist? She works at a fucking school. Just the thought of being put under a microscope, forced to talk about the very things she avoids like the fucking plague makes her skin crawl. 

"Sorry if you don't want to talk about it," Nobara backtracks, seeing how Maki's mood seems to change immediately.

The strange thing that Maki isn't exactly used to, is that Nobara knows what happened but doesn't judge her. She sort of moved on without bothering to say something like you shouldn't do that, or why is it so hard for you to just let it go. It's not like Maki expected Nobara to say those things--it would be worse if she did--but it was still nice to not hear something along those lines. It was like she just cared to know what she thought of it, and what her feelings were in general, not just asserting her own opinions over it.