Chapter Text
“Were you planning on leaving without me?” Gojo’s voice carries across the lawn where he stands outside of the Academy. Kento is already halfway into getting in the car and he moves faster. Unfortunately, Gojo somehow makes it to the car before Kento gets an opportunity to lock the doors. “I would’ve slept in if it weren’t for Yuuji-kun stomping around about you going alone. I wish Megumi cared about me that much.”
Gojo sighs and leans his head against the window. He’s wearing different clothes and his shades are back on.
“Yuuji is very caring,” The landscape blurs past them and Kento keeps his eyes on the road. Seeing Gojo, somewhat refreshed, is frustrating. He can’t believe the other mutant went to sleep, selfish even as an adult. Although he can look away from Gojo, Kento can’t pretend he’s alone in the car because Gojo will probably take silence as a cue to talk. He will indulge him in this because he’s proud of his mentees and can’t help but talk about them. “Nobara is as well, but she’s more subtle about it. They both appreciate Fushiguro’s friendship.”
Their mentees are the only common ground they have that should be relatively neutral.
“My Megumi can be so prickly sometimes.” It seems he was right, Gojo’s voice sounds delighted. “But I’m sure that Yuuji-kun and Megumi are more than friends.”
If he weren’t driving, Kento would’ve snapped his neck to glance at Gojo. “Since when?” If those two were together, did that mean he would have to see Gojo more often? He chides himself, he isn’t Yuuji’s dad.
“You haven’t noticed?” The disbelief is obvious through Gojo's scoff. “Megumi is all heart eyes and kissy faces around Yuuji.”
He can’t believe they’re gossiping like little kids about their own mentees. He tries to remember how Fushiguro looked at Yuuji, but there wasn’t anything special. In his eyes, Fushiguro had the same expression when interacting with both of his friends. He’d have to ask Nobara.
“As I said, Yuuji is affectionate. I would have to see him interact with Fushiguro a bit more before making such an assumption.” He parks outside of the first suspect’s house and looks into the rearview window to fix loose strands of hair. The gel from yesterday was wearing off.
“Or maybe you don’t want to admit that I’m right. By the way, I’ll do the talking.” He rolls his eyes and waits for Gojo to knock on the door. When the door opens and reveals a mutant shorter than them, Gojo smiles widely. “Good morning! We’re here on behalf of the Tokyo Prefectural Mutant Academy, do you have a minute to chat with us?”
They frown. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” They move to close the door, but Gojo slides his foot in between, using Infinity to stop the impact. “Listen, I chose to not go to the Academy for a reason. Leave me alone.”
“Huuh? What was the reason?” Gojo uses his height to loom and Kento watches as blue scales start to appear on the other mutant’s face. The signs of fight or flight are harder to hide in some mutants. “Committing crimes?”
“No, I wouldn’t-” The mutant continues to push against the door, but Gojo is an unmovable object. At this rate, the door is going to splinter in between the two mutants.
“Then you wouldn’t mind answering a couple of questions for us, right?” The mutant’s sclera begins to turn yellow. From the file Kento had read, this mutant had only registered as a shapeshifter and they had no history of training. It was unlikely they would win in a fight even if they shifted into a weightlifter. Even so, he wanted to avoid a scene.
“I apologize for his behavior.” Kento tries to mimic the same action Gojo did last night by tugging on his elbow, but Infinity buzzes under his palm. “You are not in any trouble. We were hoping you could give us some insight into your powers and hopefully this will be the last you hear from the Academy.”
There is still reluctance in their eyes, but they slowly open the door.
￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
“So that last woman was definitely enamored with you.” Gojo is driving, but he keeps looking over at Kento.
“Please keep your eyes on the road.” They had just finished interviewing the tenth person on their suspected list and Kento is feeling the effects of the all-nighter. He scribbles some notes from their last interrogation, he’s grateful that he doesn’t get carsick easily.
“This is actually a huge relief, I was starting to worry that everyone would be too awestruck by my dashing looks to acknowledge you.” Kento takes his glasses off and the direct sunlight causes one of his eyes to twitch. Does this stinging sensation feel heightened by Six Eyes? Could Gojo manifest six physical eyes? Talking to all these suspects was making all sorts of questions arise about others’ powers, but especially Gojo’s.
“You haven’t been as charming as you’ve been misled to believe.” And that isn’t his bias speaking either, Gojo would begin with charming smiles but if he didn’t get cooperation then he would try to intimidate the other mutants.
“Hmmm, I guess so. It’s been a long day!” That was an understatement. Kento wants to cross out suspects using the information they gathered. Shifters could look like anybody, but managing camouflage was trickier as their outline could still be seen. The shimmer that was there during the first cases was the distortion by a novice, but it revealed their suspect was between around 5’10” to 6’0”. He contemplates eliminating anybody who doesn’t match that description, but it isn’t enough. A shifter as talented as their perpetrator could easily change their height. The height had been consistent, but what if that wasn’t their original height? All of a sudden, the case feels much bigger than Kento.
He rolls down the window, it feels like he isn’t getting enough air. “You haven’t been up for more than five hours.” He takes back his statement about a shifter being unable to best them at a fight-- a shifter could blend in a crowd, could manipulate anyone into being an ally. Were they ever going to catch the perpetrator? When would they strike next?
“Ah, ah, ah, you’re wrong. I had to deal with a mutant before this so I didn’t get any sleep either. Fortunately, I’m not rocking dark circles like yours.” This snaps Kento out of his panic as he gapes at Gojo. Upon closer inspection, Kento notes that there are faint smudges under Gojo’s eyes that can’t be hidden under the shades. He’s shocked he didn’t notice sooner.
“You were assigned another case?”
“Mhm.” It sounds too casual for that amount of work. Another case, probably a higher risk level considering it was Gojo, while they were working on an investigation. Gojo waves his hand. “I wanted to sneak in a little nap, but Yuuji-kun said you were leaving. If I’m a little cranky, it’s probably because I had to drink the leftovers of your coffee. Speaking of which, I really think the Academy should invest in syrups to make a makeshift coffee bar. Hell, I’ll put in the funds.”
Gojo continues blabbering, the pinnacle of carefree if it weren’t for the way his hands clench around the steering wheel and how his voice gradually increases in pitch. It resembles his tone from the last time he had started his hysterical ranting. It almost seems like he’s forgotten his rivalry with Kento to be able to talk so freely. Maybe it was the exhaustion, Kento knows if he had to deal with another case before this, he would’ve fallen asleep as soon as he sat in the car. Despite his irritation with Gojo’s interrogation methods, he was grateful the other mutant was there with him.
You understand what it’s like Nanami . Fuck, he was right again, Kento understood. The burden of working for the Academy all of these years with the addition of this nearly impossible case… was surely going to end him. If he made it out alive, Kento would retire after this.
“Use those funds to get us better coffee now.”
“How bossy.” Gojo’s airy laugh is barely audible, but it imprints in Kento’s brain. The residues of panic feel less sharp around his heart. If Gojo can laugh at such a time, maybe this case isn’t as overwhelming as it appears.
“Do I need to remind you how many people we still have to interrogate?” More overtime.
“I’d rather you not. How do you like your coffee?”
Kento learns that Gojo doesn’t have a set number of creamers and sugars he likes to add, pouring until he deems it adequate. His drink is pale and Kento thinks the coffee makes less than 5% of the contents in his cup. For a moment, he forgets Gojo is the strongest mutant and thinks that there should be a fine for how he drinks his coffee.