12 Roses

14 | To Live with Others

You and Gojo had a mutual no-knock-just-enter policy with one another, although he abused that a lot more than you did. This time, it was your turn.

"Gojo!" you called as you entered his room. "We're waiting for you downstairs, come on! You said you'd bring us to the Christmas... market."

He tried desperately to turn to you with a grin on his face, but he failed to hide the anger, the grief, the bitterness that lurked in the air.

You were the most sensitive to those things among all the first years, you found, as you were able to sense the presence of a curse simply from the negative emotions they were born from.

"Right, sorry."

"Gojo. Are you okay?"

The softness in your tone was uncomfortably familiar and within him was a war between wanting to shoo you away and wanting to pull you into a tight hug.

You sat on his bed and patted the area next to him.

"Is something about yesterday bothering you?" You paused. "Gojo, were you close to the man with thin eyes that black hair."

"What makes you say that?"

"The way you looked at him when we first saw him. And the way you looked at me when I asked."

He chuckled in disbelief. "You couldn't even see my eyes."

"Well, the eyes are the windows to the soul, but that doesn't mean they're the only way to see it. And love isn't something that's easy for the soul to conceal."

Gojo was quiet for a while, letting your words sink in. He always knew that you could see much more than him, even with his Six Eyes. Not in a literal sense, of course, but you saw the way emotions radiated from people, saw connections that otherwise are fickle, saw pasts and futures, but not memories and timelines.

He knew from the moment he met you as a young girl, the one that knew too much but too little all at the same time.

A long sigh was released into the air and he leaned back. "Yeah. We were close. Close as anyone can be, to be honest. Kind of like you and Tsumiki."

You frowned. "So, when Yuta killed-"

"Yuta didn't kill him." His voice faltered but he chuckled to hide it. "I did. I found him staggering near the outskirts of the school."

"So, when you came to meet us, you-"

"I had just killed him."

Gojo shared the silence with you and he realized why you were such a calm person. It was nice, not being plagued by the sounds of life and chaos.

He flinched, feeling your head lean against his shoulder. "You're such a brave person, Gojo."

"What? Saying you wouldn't have done the same thing?"

"If it was Tsumiki? No. Never."

Gojo shrugged. "I don't mind. You're born alone, you die alone. He wasn't gonna be there forever."

You pondered for a moment. "But... if you're born alone and you die alone, then shouldn't you live with others?"

Gojo smiled a bit and rubbed your head. "You're a wise little brat, aren't you?

"That's me! Now come on, the others are waiting at the school and Megs is probably boiling in his winter jacket."

You left Gojo's room and he heard your muffled voice through the walls as you talked with Megumi.

He glanced at his desk, where one last gift from his friend was sitting in wait, and he picked it up, shoved it in his pocket, and followed you downstairs.