365 days | Satoru Gojo x OC

Day Twenty-two

ׂ╰┈➤ 22nd september

One thing that no one tells you about leaving something that helped shape who you are is how many things remind you of it.

People. Objects. Actions. Words.

People have to be the worst ones. The sheer amount of times that Natsuki has seen someone in the café or in the streets or in the shop and thought it was someone from her past is almost despicable. Sometimes it feels like she's searching for the ashes of someone who was buried.

Because while yes, she did get a visit from Nanami and Ino once, it was just once.

And she did see Ijichi in his car driving past once, but he was driving some black-haired boy and brown-haired girl, probably the new students, somewhere.

But that, that was a coincidence. She could tell. Because if it wasn't, then he would've been looking right at her, sweet, tactless Ijichi.

But today, someone walked in who she genuinely thought was an old friend. And rather than getting defensive, she went to greet the girl, before realizing, no. That's a complete stranger.

But is that not also what Shoko is now?

A complete stranger?

Is Natsuki herself not a stranger to both herself and her old friends?

Are the only people she's not a stranger to really the people she met in the last twenty days?

Satoru Gojo and Kukomi Teruhashi.

She can't help but think... isn't that a bit sad? She used to be a stranger to almost no one where she lived, in the school.

Does that not also beg the question of is it better to be a recovering loner with two friends or to be devastatingly sad, surrounded by an abundance of them?

"Natsuki! You got any sweet treats for us today?" Yuji leaps in her face as though he's one of her friends as she takes her shoes off and tosses them to the side lazily. "It's totally okay if not!"

His excitement almost shatters her eardrums as she rubs her red, bloodshot eyes, practically stumbling through to the kitchen on the verge of tears.

"No, Yuji, I don't have anything for you." She leans on the counter furthest away from Gojo, holding her heavy head in her sore hands.

God, she's such a mess.

She stands back up straight, looking directly at Gojo, avoiding even the tiniest glance in the direction of Yuji and his eerie aura, "I'm gonna go to sleep now. Night, Gojo."

Concern floods his concealed eyes as she attempts to push herself up from the counter, her hand slipping a little. He knows she hasn't been getting enough sleep but had no clue she was this tired.

He approaches her calmly and holds his hand about a foot away from her back, ready to catch her. "I'll walk you to your room." She doesn't have the energy to argue with him and responds with a small, simple nod of acknowledgment. Within a couple of seconds, they are by her doorframe, where she instantly collapses her tired body against it.

His heart aches as she looks up at him with dark, bagged eyes. It's too similar to how she was back at the school...

"Tricky day?" he asks, stepping back from her and crossing his arms as she nods back. "Mm, tricky day."

Not saying another word, she slips back into her room, collapsing into her bed.

On the other side of the door, Satoru runs his hands through his hair, turning back to Yuji, who shares his concerned expression.

"You don't think she's beginning to remember you, do you?"

"No. Not just yet."

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