Asahi Shimbun 朝日新聞 ⋮ Nanami Kento

Chapter 6

Nanami's cubicle sat in front of Geto's which sat in front of Gojo's. Gojo's workspace is directly across from yours and is separated by nothing but the space of the walkway. Adjacent to you, on the opposite side and separated by a partition, is Utahime. And, in front of you sat Shoko who is parallel with Geto as you are with Gojo.

The chatting continued down the walkway of the office. You were so immersed in your conversation with Nanami that you hadn't realized he walked you all the way to your cubicle. And not without having to pass Geto and Gojo's workspaces.

Geto's gaze may have flickered your way a few times from where he sat. He still doesn't know how to go about what happened between the two of you.

"Thanks again." You lift up the things currently sitting in your arm. It's a gesture of thanks, for his help earlier.

The blond shakes his head. It's his way of telling you that there isn't any need to thank him.

Gojo stops twirling his pen. The guy presses the end cap against his lower lip. The chair rolls backwards as his hand pushes himself away from the desk. The white-hair watches the two of you with great curiosity.

"You didn't have to walk me." You say and you look beyond Nanami's shoulder to where the guy should be. Although, his natural courteous behavior was indeed charming. It made him all the more appealing.

But Nanami doesn't get to respond. Gojo had gotten off his chair. His arm now dangles around the blond's shoulder. The white-hair stands too close for comfort and answers for him. He presses his pointer onto Nanami's cheek and grins in a playful manner, "That's because you came to see me, didn't you? Na. Na. Mi!~"

Nanami's hands were rooted in his pockets. The guy makes a face, an unpleasant one and he doesn't move. He doesn't bother to slap the guys finger away either. His tone held no emotion behind it, "Absolutely not."

"We haven't gone out in a while." It's obviously a ploy. A ploy to distract the both of you from pursuing each other. Gojo coos and continues his habitual playful bantering. Something Nanami Kento is all too accustomed to by now, "Let's go out together sometime, shall we?"

The white-haired man's finger continues to poke the blond's cheek repeatedly. Nanami grows irritated and his face certainly expresses it. Despite the annoyance plastered in the man's eyes, Nanami still maintains a calm measured voice, "No, thank you."

"How about—" Gojo's voice rings with excitement. He completely ignores the blond's rejection, "—tonight?"

Nanami turns away and the guy walks towards his desk. It makes the white-haired man's arm drop down to his side. The blond then says flatly, "In your dreams."

Gojo brings a finger to his lips. He titters as he watches Nanami's retreating figure, who has now reached his workspace, "How did you know I dream about you?~"

Nanami sits down in his chair. He doesn't bother to turn around to respond. He allows Gojo to converse with the back of his head. And he knows for a fact that the guy was likely joking, "That sounds awful."

You laugh quietly as you settle into your area. Their interactions with each other were always the most amusing and entertaining. It'll never get old.

Geto spins around in his chair. He's finally distracted from his work, "Must you always pick on him, Satoru?"

"But what if I had important work matters to discuss?" Gojo had a forced plead in his eyes, which were insistent. But he doesn't sound convincing at all, "I'm sure he could use a drink."

Let's be real, Gojo Satoru never has anything important to discuss. Even the people he'd just met this last week knew that. Even you knew that.

Alcohol. Gojo rarely ever drank. He remembers the one measly sip during a cheers with Geto at Omoide Yokocho not long ago. The man didn't care for alcohol for several reasons; one being the awful taste. Luckily for them, Nanami is quite the hard drinker. Nanami could kill an entire bottle by himself. He prefers hard liquor over anything else and sake or the occasional beer. This may be one of the reasons why him and Shoko Ieiri got along so well. Shoko also loved to drink. Alcohol was her favorite food if she could make it that way. It derived from a time when she used to work a job that only consisted of night shifts; at the time it was the girls only stress reliever.