That Time When I Fell Down the Stairs and Became a Jujutsu Sorcerer

Chapter 16 - Let Them In

The morgue was cold. I stood looking down at the sheet covering Nanami's body, my eyes still red from crying. Haibara stood beside me, still in shock. His shoulders trembled, before he turned and hurried out without a word. I stayed a while longer before I turned away, pulling the sheet over Nanami's face.

I walked out into the hall. Satoru and Suguru were both there waiting. Satoru looked away immediately, his sunglasses pushed up high. Suguru stepped forward, pressing me against his chest in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry." He said gently, "It's not your fault."

"I made a bad call." I croaked out, "It was my fault."

"You can't blame yourself for having to choose. You felt that Haibara needed you more." He said softly, "You couldn't have known and you had no time."

I gripped his t-shirt, "I could have. I fought the curse with Haibara instead of healing him in time." I cried, tears rolling down my cheeks again, "I thought he'd be okay. I overestimated what he could handle."

"Don't try to be perfect." Suguru said, his hand on my head, "You can't always get it right."

I heard a sigh from Satoru and his footsteps, "I'm gonna go check on Haibara." He muttered, walking away down the hall.

Suguru pulled me back, smiling down at me, "When are you going to patch things up with him? You're breaking his heart, you know. He's a sensitive guy."

I scoffed, "He's being just as shitty about it as me."

"Yes he is, but that's no excuse for you to drag it out with him." Suguru chided me, "You know he is quick to overreact to this kind of situation. He just wants to help."

I wiped my eyes on my sleeve, "I know I'm being the immature one about the whole thing but I can't just let him win this."

Suguru sighed, "Well, in any case you should go get some rest. I'll take care of things here."

"Checkpoint?"

"No I think… I think maybe I'll wait." I said looking at the dagger as it spun on the makeshift Ouija board, "I have a terrible feeling that the world needs Nanami more than Haibara so I may need to go back."

"Probably right"

"Nanami is the far superior sorcerer." I sighed, "Maybe I should just loop now? It'll probably make a difference later. Nanami is the one who trains Itadori later and we need Itadori to be strong."

"Right"

I sighed, standing up and stretching my arms, "It's not like this loop has gotten me anything besides training. Guess I can just call it off and start again."

"Good idea."

"Okay, next time we won't fight with Satoru then and we'll save Nanami too." I leaned down to pick up the dagger, "Although I suppose I could ask to peep the void again? He's super mad still but maybe he'd do it for me?"

The dagger vibrated once and I smiled at it.

I walked across to the male dorms. Outside of Satoru's door, I could hear the familiar clicking of a controller. He was playing something, so he was probably in a pretty amicable mood. Maybe enough to let me try something crazy?

"Satoru?" I called, knocking quietly, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." I heard him call back.

His eyes flicked to me for a moment as I opened the door, then back at his game, "Just a sec." He said quickly.

I awkwardly stood in the doorway before closing it behind me. It felt weird that he was so okay with seeing me. I was sure he'd still be mad, especially after earlier when Haibara and I had returned with Nanami's body and he didn't say anything about it.