A Heart That Belongs to Him

9: Kyoto

The world outside the train window zoomed past as Kosuke watched from her seat. She was lucky enough to have a first-class ticket, giving her the most comfortable seat the train had to offer. It made it easier to enjoy the train ride, making the long trip also seem shorter.

Music played softly through her headphones as she nodded her head along to the music. Her fingers tapped against her knee, following the rhythm of the music. Her other hand played with the ends of her hair, twisting the strands around her finger. Her ebony hair was worn down now mostly, she had learned how to braid her hair a long time ago, but now she didn't feel like she had enough time to do it. She was fourteen now, and life had taken quite the turn.

Gojo was busy teaching so now Kosuke spent all her time in Kyoto with Utahime. Which yes, Utahime was also a teacher, and she was busy too, but she also wasn't the strongest sorcerer. People didn't expect things from Utahime like they did with Gojo. Kosuke had yet to visit the sister school in Kyoto, but since she would be doing more curse technique practicing this trip, she would soon change that.

Since she went back and forth from Kyoto to Tokyo so much, Kosuke ditched going to school and started school online. When she first brought it up to Gojo he was very hesitant about it, Utahime was too. But Kosuke had started middle school, and with a new school she started getting bullied again. Her overly friendly demeanor earned her many friends in elementary school, but middle school was completely different. Everyone thought that they were already adults even if there were still basically children. They all acted cold and aloof, like they were better than everyone. And nobody embodied this more than Megumi.

Whatever bond they had when they were younger, the smallest bond they had made for a short time was long gone. No one seemed more annoyed with Kosuke's joyful attitude than Megumi. So when Kosuke left school and started online, she rarely saw Megumi. Even when she hung out with Tsumiki it was always at a third location or at Gojo's apartment. The only time she saw Megumi was for the missions Gojo forced the two of them to go on. He always said, "it's because your cursed techniques work so well together". It annoyed both of them, but Kosuke didn't let Gojo see her annoyance. Because the rare time she spent with Megumi were also one of the only times she spent with Gojo.

Time seemed to be a precious thing now adays, so Kosuke didn't mind having these two hours for herself to relax and be by herself.

Her music cut out and was replaced by the sound of her ringtone, notifying her that someone was calling. She grabbed her phone from the table and flipped it up, greeted by her best friend's name scrolled on the top of the screen. She slid her finger across the screen, accepting the call. "Hey Tsumiki."

"Hi, I know we just hung out and you're on the train back to Kyoto, but would you mind if we talked?"

Kosuke shifted in her seat, moving to a more comfortable position. "Go ahead. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, you just know how Megumi can be." Tsumiki obviously couldn't tell her school friends a lot about Megumi, especially since most of them thought he was cute. So Kosuke was more than happy to lend an ear and let Tsumiki vent to her about her frustrations.

For the next hour of the train ride Tsumiki told Kosuke about Megumi's annoying behavior and how she so desperately wanted him to stop fighting. Kosuke had learned to stop caring what Megumi did, at least that's what she told herself. She knew Megumi didn't care what she did, so why would she waste her time with him? If he wanted to be an idiot and fight, then she would just shrug her shoulders and turn the other way.

Tsumiki also spoke about how her friends wanted to do a test of courage. Kosuke personally thought tests of courage were stupid. She had been put into dangerous positions before thanks to her being a sorcerer, and she didn't understand why someone would willingly put themselves in danger.