365 days | Satoru Gojo x OC

Day Sixteen

ׂ╰┈➤ 16th september

Thankfully, it's Monday morning, meaning that Yuji Itadori has left and she doesn't have to hide in her room for the day, avoiding him and his unexplainable ominous presence. Not that she'd have to today since she has work again. Ugh, so much effort just to be able to afford to move out of Tokyo!

Truthfully, she has no clue yet where she's going to go in a year. It can't be Kyoto due to the sister school located there. She probably won't have enough to move out of the country after only a year of working at a café, even if its pay is probably double that of any other café, so perhaps that'll have to wait until she's a bit older.

Anyway, it's not like the café is bad or anything, she's actually quite comfy there due to the good pay and her friend Kukomi.

Shit—friend. She just called Kukomi a friend...

It's not necessarily a lie. Whether she likes it or not, the pair had become quite close already. Not too close though.

After all, they can remain as work friends. You know what she means, like gossiping, backing each other up, maybe even seeing each other outside of work every other month.

Yeah, that's exactly what they are—

"SATORU GOJO!" she screams at the sight of the toilet seat being up, the toilet roll missing, and toothpaste spilling out of his tube and onto the sink, leaving a crusty, blue paste hardening annoyingly.

Water blasts out of the sink, piercing the lightbulb above her, tiny fragments of glass raining down on her as she squeals, "Shit!".

Fuck, no!

Hoping it doesn't cut her, she grabs the larger pieces of glass from the ground and tosses them in the bin. Thank God Gojo isn't home today. How on earth would she explain this to him?

"Oh yeah, sorry Gojo. I actually got so pissed off at your messiness that I used my curse technique that I've been attempting and failing to suppress for the last month. Haha, yes I know, so funny. Oh—and did I forget to mention that I accidentally smashed a light bulb?" She mocks herself in a monotone voice, squatting down and sweeping up the last bits of crumbling glass and shoving it in the bin.

She grabs a note and scribbles an apology on it, explaining that she'll fix it when she gets home and sticks it on the shattered bulb.

She grabs her bag and leaves the apartment, basically setting the street on fire with her speed, scared she'll be late for work due to her stupid technique slip-up.

"What?"

She comes to a stop outside of the café at the sight of all of the café workers and a fire truck outside of the building. She watches as Kukomi separates from the small crowd and runs up to her, waving her arm with a small smile, "Oh my God! Natsuki, guess what!"

She scans the building quickly before looking back to Kukomi, "There's been a flood. Someone got hurt." Her friend's jaw drops open in amazement, "Shit... yeah! How'd you know?"

On the windows, a stream still trickles down, pooling in foot-deep water at the bottom. Small specks of rust float in it, suggesting that a pipe had burst. Two people she recognized to be the baristas who usually work the shift before Natsuki and Kukomi were both drenched the most, their clothes and hair dripping onto the concrete of the street her own wobbly legs stand on. Behind the fire truck is an ambulance, a sad, sorrowful suggestion.

"Just a guess." She shrugs her shoulders, concealing her jittering hands behind her back, not wanting Kukomi to notice, "Do you know what happened?"

Kukomi nods, "Mhm, yup! Apparently, one of the taps burst, spraying both of the baristas on shift with hot water. And—get this, apparently the pressure buildup or whatever, you know me, I don't know technical terms, caused the tap to snap off and it hit one of the customers. But it's okay though, because we get the day off!" Kukomi delivers the message with excitement in her voice, but it doesn't even fill Natsuki with a smidge of joy.

That was her.

She knows it was her.

It just can't be a coincidence that she slipped up with her cursed technique this morning, causing water to erupt out of her tap and now the same thing happens at her work, harming someone? Shit.

She takes her shaky hands and holds them over her eyes, her bottom lip wobbling. "I'm gonna head home."

Kukomi nods, not pressing her for why she's upset but accepting it, "Okay, I'll see you soon. Bye." She watches as her friend walks up the road, shaking, wishing there was something she could do to help her.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." She mumbles, staring straight down at the pavement as she stumbles home. How could she do that? How could she let her technique hurt someone? What if they had—

She wipes the tears from her eyes and grasps the strap of her bag, going forward step by step. No one died. No one died. You didn't kill anyone, Natsuki. You didn't kill that customer, and you didn't kill Kukomi.

What happened that night wasn't your fault, and neither was what just happened now. Both were just honest mistakes.

"Honest mistakes shouldn't lead to death," she fights back to herself, entering her apartment and leaning back against the first wall she can find, her whole body suddenly feeling like cement.

Peeking out of her fingers, she sees that Gojo's shoes are now messily on the rack, meaning he's home.

Fuck! She didn't get light bulbs. Idiot.

She smacks her head with her hand harshly, climbing to her feet and stumbling through the kitchen, teary-eyed, to the bathroom where she finds Gojo, his hands on the bulb and his feet off the ground—what?!

She rubs her eyes, the tears escaping on her fingers. Her lowered fingers reveal his feet planted firmly on the ground. God, is she seriously going so crazy she's imagining people as superheroes? Wow.

With the smashed bulb in his hand, he turns to her with a stern look. "You have a cut on your cheek. You should make sure there's no glass in it and put a plaster on it."

She cups her cheek, not daring to say a word as he storms past her, his arm crashing against her shoulder, "You're welcome."

He closes the door behind him, leaving her trapped in the suffocating room. Still shaking, she strokes her own cheek, attempting to comfort herself as she falls to her knees.

They seemed so close yesterday...

Stupid Natsuki. Of course, you're the one to fuck up so much in one day.

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