Koi No Yokan (gojo x oc)

27. Before Graduation

an: thank you for 6k reads! also this book is now fully updated on both tumblr and ao3 just in case u prefer one of those platforms, i don't mind :)  (user is still @ bevswashere) 

March 2009
Nearly two years later.

"A beer for me. And you two?" Patiently she looks at us, and the waiter follows suit. "Don't be shy now. Your Senpai's are splitting the bill for your twentieth birthday tonight, Kaede-chan."

"Oh." Mei Mei neglects to acknowledge that we're both still eighteen, wearing our high school uniforms on a Friday evening. She also neglects to point out that my birthday isn't for another couple weeks, and she probably won't be one of those Senpais covering the bill. "I guess a beer for me too.

"Me as well," Nanami says.

When the waiter leaves, Mei Mei's lips thin into an alluring smile, painted in a deep shade of red, "For a special grade you sure seem to buckle under the pressure when breaking the rules, Kaede-chan."

The fabric of my pants ball up into my fists, growing clammy with sweat. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've interacted with someone other than Nanami, let alone a group. "I'm not used to it."

"Really?" she folds her arms above her chest. "You should practice it more. It might prove useful for you once you're out in the real world."

"She won't need it, Mei-san," Shoko says, a nicotine patch affixed to her inner wrist. "Kaede-chan's seen plenty of the real world. She'll be perfectly fine."

"I'm sure, but it can never hurt," Mei Mei says. "In a lot of cases it's safer to break the rules, don't you think, Ieri-chan?"

"I don't know about safer," Shoko sighs. She's grown her hair out. "Easier maybe?"

Past the four of us, the table is lined with Utahime Senpai, Chihiro, several of the kids I knew from Kyoto, and other freelance workers with close ties to the technical schools. All part of some unofficial get-together we've been thrown into.

I can tell Nanami is uncomfortable too. The past year has made us quite averse to other people, being constantly sent out overseas, avoiding our underclassmen whenever we're back. Every time I walk past them I can tell they're intimidated. Perhaps they think us cruel or snobbish, giving the time of day only to semi-first grades or higher. They can think whatever they want. At least Nanami or myself won't have to mourn them if they die. Most of the time we hide away in his room. Nanami will read, and I'd keep myself present, sleeping or on a computer or whatever else. Then we're sent away again. We isolated ourselves, sure, but like Shoko said, it's "easier."

"Uematsu-san." A boy from Shigeri's graduating class in Kyoto calls out to me from the middle of the table. "I heard you recovered one of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers the other day."

"Another one?" Mei Mei hums. "You know those are supposed to be incredibly hard to find."

"Really?" I wipe my hands against my clothes. "It doesn't seem that way."

Some of the people at the table snicker when I say this. Kei, the former Kyoto student now working as a grade one freelancer, comments, "It is strange, though, how the same person has recovered all five fingers herself. You would think they're almost drawn to you."

When I feel their eyes on me, I focus on Nanami's. The higher-ups' plans to keep all of it a secret changed shortly after Suguru defected. They let the news circulate, then the rumors. I realized then that the plan was never about controlling the chaos, but about controlling me. My movements, my ambitions. Leaving me under a spotlight to keep me unsuspect, instead of festering in the shadows as he'd done.