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“Why are you guys so slumpy today? Is there an energy sucking curse in your dorms or something?”
Maki sat down on the field after she defeated Panda in another battle by making him loose his footing with her pole, slumping forward, groaning long and loud.
“Well, you’d feel the same too if all your plans for weeks gets ruined.” Said Panda, staring at the sky above him.
The white-haired teacher tilted his to the side, a confused look on his lidded eyes as he hummed to himself in thought. “I don’t get it.”
“Yuuta’s birthday is next week, moron!” Said the cursed tool user with a sting. “It was supposed to be the first birthday he spent with us if it wasn’t for some mission all the way over in Africa.”
“Oh man, such a pity.” Gojo even dared to bring his hand to his cheek in mock sympathy. The first years stared at him with a look that screamed look who’s talking. But soon a grin found its place on the man’s face again. “Well, I’m supposed to pay him a visit in a few days, so I’ll send your regards to him.”
“Oh yeah? Good for you.” Said Maki with the same bored tone, standing up to continue with their training. They couldn’t change the situation anyway, so they’d better at least not slack off at least.
Maybe it was due to the gloom still clouding their minds, but it took them a few good seconds to really comprehend what Gojo was saying. As soon as the words sank in, their heads turned to the teacher so fast it was a surprise their necks didn’t snap, like a predator that had just noticed his prey. Those blue eyes of Gojo could hardly follow their movements as they all ran towards him and Maki clung to his collar.
“Take us with you!”
“What?”
“Takana!”
“Wait, guys…”
“Maki will follow your orders for three months.” Panda was outright kneeling in front of him.
“Don’t promise anything in my place!”
“Is it really the place to argue about that?”
“Wait, wait!” Gojo raised his voice to calm them down. “I can’t take you kids with me.”
“you’re Gojo Satoru, you can do anything.” “Tuna.” The cursed speech user agreed with Panda.
“Well, too bad for you, cause this one’s out of my hand.”
“But why?” Whined Maki.
“This one’s on the principle. He can’t just let some kids fly to another continent just so they can visit a friend.”
“Strange, no one seemed to be complaining when you sent a ball of anxiety over there.”
Gojo stood up from his spot, walking out of their circle. “His was a special case. A mastermind like him can take care of himself. And also, besides the mission, it was a good opportunity for him to grow. Not to forget,” he stood in place, turning to look at them. “you guys have your finals coming up.”
And this was when they knew there was no room to argue. Exams were a prominent red-line for Yaga. You could be the greatest sorcerer in history, the nightmare of the curses, but you were done for if you missed or flopped the exams in a school under Yaga’s watch. They dropped their heads again with a sigh, all their previous energy gone once again.
“Hey, don’t be so gloom. Not all hope is gone.”
Raising their heads slightly, the students looked at him with a skeptical look.
“I can still take for example… your presents to him.”
***
Seriously, how hard could it be to find a proper present for someone. You just had to find something that would match their taste, something that would be memorable to them, and you’re done!
Well, it’s easier said than done when the person in question doesn’t let out much about themselves, and that was something the three of them noticed as they were raking their brains and jumping from shop to shop. There was really nothing that Yuuta showed special interest to during all the months he had spent with them, only buying things when he absolutely needed them. He had always been content with whatever he had, and he was totally happy with them.
In the end, they had settled on a white T-shirt with a simple design on it and a bar of chocolate that he usually bought from the vending machine. They couldn’t possibly have Japanese brands in Africa, right?
The sun was setting by now as they sat on a bench outside of their dorm, pondering on what else they could look for.
“This is so lame.” Said Maki. She had planned to get something much more meaningful for the boy, something that would actually say hey, we’re always thinking of you and not like they had just put something together on a rush.
“Sake.” Confirmed Inumaki, who was sitting between her and panda, scrolling through his phone in any website he could find. “Maybe we should write him a letter.” Suggested Panda.
“Yeah, there’s that too…” Replied Maki, stretching her arms above her head. It really DID seem like a good idea. Maybe she would just go for that, write to him about what’s happened in the one month he had been absent. Maybe that would make him feel less like he has missed on anything. Well, it wasn’t like anything much had happened, but still. She could remember how much happy he lately was around them, how he found their commotions so funny, how he looked forward to morning training even though he was up for a beating in the first weeks, the fact that he would always suggest to join in on their missions. All as if he wanted to make the most of his days.
Maybe all this time, what he truly wanted was to spend his time around them.
“Hehe, you can tell him how much you want to see him. When will you come back to me, Yuuta-kun.”
Maki didn’t react to Panda’s teasing, as opposed to all the previous occasions, much to his surprise. “…Wait, are you really going to do it?”
His words fell on deaf ears. She was lost in the thought of how hard it must be for Yuuta to be alone on this trip, and she couldn’t deny that she missed his presence around them too, none of them could. He had been able to forge himself a place in their puzzle and become an inseparable member of the team. They had made so many memories together, helped each other grow into better. Maki was too stubborn to admit it - she would never see the end of it if she did - but the time she had spent alongside all the three of them had truly been one of the most precious in her life. God, she could feel her cheeks heating up at the thought.
she cast her eyes to the side, looking at the screen of Inumaki’s phone, the page scrolling slowly.
An idea popped into her head.
She pulled her phone out, turning the screen on and pressing a few buttons before holding it up. “Hey, you two. Look here.”
***
“Keep it somewhere cool.”
“Alrighty!”
“Make sure you actually give it to him.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Okaka.”
“Leave it to me. Now, if you excuse me, your teacher has a flight to catch up to.”
***
“Wow! You look worse than I remember.”
Look who’s talking, Yuuta thought to himself as he stood before Gojo Satoru. Maybe he was right. He probably smelled pretty bad as he showered less and with more distance in between. He had seen how his eyes look in the mirror, droopier than ever, and his eyebags hadn’t gotten much better.
“Still, I like the new hairstyle. It gives you a special charm.” He says with a grin and thumbs up.
“Thank you, sensei.” He replied, in a tone that didn’t convey his appreciation much, much to Gojo’s pain. Sensing that his distant cousin didn’t have much energy for small talk, he decided to go straight to the point. “so, how’s it going?”
And that was the question that almost made Yuuta lose his shit. He wanted to scream past the stratosphere, complain to his teacher about how he has sent him to this godforsaken land with only a former curse user as company. The lush lands of Africa had certainly been beautiful, but he was feeling homesick beyond repair.
He managed to somehow keep his composure through the day as he reported back the recent events to his teacher, keeping him up to date on whatever lead they had found as he guided him to his residence for a rest and to take shelter from the sun. He couldn't help but be reminded of how the weather must still be cold in Japan, crying internally.
Gojo would stay with them for a few days, and Miguel had no choice but to come out of his hideout to accompany them on their expedition. Yuuta was grateful for the infinity sorcerer, being with someone he actually knew for some time took some of the exhaustion out of him, even if it was for a short time. he also used the chance to get news from home and ask about his classmates. It was good to know that they were doing well.
Unfortunately, that time came to pass too, and he once again had to say goodbye to his teacher as he prepared to leave.
“Oh yeah, the others asked me to give this to you.” Said Gojo as he pulled a neatly wrapped package out of his bag, stretching his arm towards Yuuta. He tried to control his excitement as he took it from Gojo’s hands. “Really? Please send my thanks to them.” His heart could jump out of his chest. He couldn’t believe that they were kind enough to prepare something for him and send it all the way.
“Am I your messaging app now?” replied Gojo as a joke. “Well, see you around.”
“Oh, and happy early birthday.” Said the infinity user before he wrapped himself away. Yuuta was surprised that his teacher had kept this in mind, glad and kinda embarrassed about it.
Wait, was the delivery a birthday present too?
After dinner, he excused himself to his room – the one temporarily assigned to him - earlier than usual. The package was sitting there at a table. Yuuta gazed down at it for a moment before reaching out and unwrapping it slowly, and his eyes widened a bit after he saw what’s inside.
At the top was a bar of chocolate, the one he usually used to eat back at home. He chuckled to himself at how his friends remembered such a small thing. “Those guys are unbelievable.” He kept in mind to share some of it with Miguel. Under that was a piece of clothing, a T-shirt. He brought it to his face, inhaling the smell of fresh cloth, something he hadn’t smelled in a long time. How refreshing it was.
There was also another package under all of that. “Wow, they really went out of their way with all of this.” He picked up the smaller package. The content seemed quite hard. He peeled the tape on the top, unraveling what’s inside, and the small smile on his lips disappeared with surprise.
Laying in front of him was a picture of the four of them, all of them grinning at the camera, dirt covering their face and clothes, and if he wasn’t mistaking, they had taken it after their first group mission. Their enemy at time wasn’t really strong, but it was a sneaky curse, making them run after him all around a district.
And it wasn’t just this one, there were many, many photos of this kind piled together. Yuuta put the first one at the end of the stack. The next one again included all of them. Maki was holding an open hose in Panda’s direction, soaking him up. He and Toge were trying to convince her to stop, afraid of approaching the girl at her angry state. He could remember this one too, when Panda had gone too far with his jokes on Maki during a cleaning duty. They had to spend the rest of the day squeezing Panda to get the water out of his stuffing. Yuuta laughed to himself at the memory. The pictures kept going on. One was of when he came back from the Goodwill event with the second years as the MVP of the match, another of when Utahime-sensei had visited and Gojo-sensei kept on bothering her, Toge watering the flowers. His cheeks were starting to hurt with how much he was grinning, a small blush on his face.
Yuuta went on till he arrived to the last picture. This one only contained Panda, Toge and Maki in it, a selfie. He could recognize the scenery behind the dorm building, but couldn’t remember the occasion they took it on. Must be from the time he was away. Toge was wearing a mast, so they must’ve been out. Maki had her hair in a bun, and Yuuta took a mind note to tell her how she looked good in them.
They must be having so much fun, he thought to himself.
Suddenly, Yuuta noticed a small detail, one that had been covered by the thumb of his hand. Moving it aside, he read the short writing at the corner.
Happy birthday!
Come back soon
He didn’t notice the tears that were welling up in his eyes until one of them dripped down on the picture. He hastily wiped it out to not let it soak in. he couldn’t stop the sob that shook out of him. How long has it been since anyone genuinely told these words to him?
In the past, there was no way his family would miss on the day, and they always planned the best parties out. Rika would always remember it too, throwing her own little celebration party for him. And it all went away when she died. He wasn’t good with people as it was, and now he couldn’t approach anyone in fear of what Rika might do to them. He became distant from his family, and all the happy birthday wish he would get was through her mother’s grief laced voice behind the door to his bedroom.
And now, after all this time, he had once again found people who would care for him, people who valued him, and awaited his return. That little sentence was proof of that.
He pulled in the snot that threatened to run out of his nose and soil his face along with the stream of tears. Gently putting the pictures down, he brought his hands together, clutching them and bringing them to his face as he whispered to the ring on his left hand.
“Rika-chan, we’re so blessed, aren’t we?”
The next morning, Miguel would find him asleep at his table, head resting on his arms, and it was only some time after he woke up that he found out about the letter that was written at the back of the last photo.