its been a month and a half since shibuya, since yuuta's friends nearly lost their lives, since japan was struck by a loss so large, a loss of over a 100,000 civilians, 3 jujutsu sourcerers, and an entire district that was known for its beautiful and extravagant shopping malls and stores.
yuuta couldn't help the guilt that crept up his spine every time he saw maki, with the burns on her face, or inumaki, with his missing arm, or panda, with the seams of having to be sown back together after the tragedy that was the shibuya incident.
he would wince when he saw inumaki train, how he so easily got knocked off balance, or watch him try to coordinate his one hand to do what his brain wanted it to do.
he would frown when he saw maki looking at herself in the mirror with a slight frown, how she'd try to pretend like the scars didn't bother her whatsoever.
when they did. yuuta knew that they did.
it was too early for them to start training again, yuuta thought, but they all seemed insistent on getting back in the game, even starting to take on team missions together.
inumaki started taking his usual solo ones, and he'd always come back scratched up.
his throat hadn't fully healed yet, but he was so insistent on pretending like that didn't matter whatsoever.
yuuta couldn't sleep at night, back to his old insomniatic ways.
he felt too guilty.
so he'd usually make himself some tea or something, read a book, or go out on a walk. sometimes he would go to the convenience store, that wasn't exactly close to campus, and get himself a snack.
tonight was not one of those nights, yuuta was still stuck scouting shibuya, hunting down the absurd— but not surprising— amount of cursed spirits that now lurked the ruins of the district.
some of the cursed spirits even made their way to the neighboring districts, so yuuta had to go there too since there weren't really any sorcerers who could go back there.
the higher ups had the nerve to request the second years to return to shibuya— to help out— but after a very long and enraged rant from maki (they totally deserved it,), they backed down completely and didn't ask again.
yuuta was exhausted, but not in the 'asleep the second his head hits the pillow' type of exhausted. he grunted, sitting up. he'd make some chamomile tea and go on a run if that wasn't enough to get him to sleep.
his shoulders ached with fatigue as he forced himself up. his legs trembled slightly, and he suddenly remembered the fact that he was running for literal hours today.
he groaned and took a deep breath at the sudden migraine that attacked the front of his head.
yes, tea would do him some good.
he made his way over to the kitchen, only to see inumaki, already making himself some tea. lavender tea, right. his favorite.
yuuta watched for a little while, inspected inumaki.
he looked exhausted, just like yuuta did, but it was more akin to the yuuta that first joined jujutsu tech, constantly guilty and insecure, weak.
he looked like he was about to cry, and yuuta was half ready to get ready to comfort a crying inumaki, but he never did.
he set the cup down on the counter and carefully poured in the boiling tea with clumsy movements, setting the now empty pot down, looking down at the tea. he looked frustrated. he was frustrated.
he didn't seem to notice yuuta, which was.. strange, to say the least, and concerning to say more.
he took the mug and carefully went outside, using his leg to open the wooden door.
yuuta followed, he felt creepy, but it wasn't like he was just following him.. he was planning on talking to him, he just.. didn't know what he was going to say yet. so he just watched.
the cursed speech user sat down on the stone stairs, looking at the training fields.
he took a sip of his tea, it got caught in his throat and he coughed a bit.
a bit of blood splattered on the stairs.
he just stared at it blankly and wiped his mouth absentmindedly.
there was no expression on his face.
