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DAY 1: Flower shop/Fantasy AU/Summer
The mission Yûta had been issued proved to be doable in a more or less swift way, sure. But getting back to the school on his own, after the assistant who was supposed to be their ride had gone to attend an emergency… huh, that ended up being a bit of a nuisance.
It was understandable, though, having to walk when he was still in Tokyo city and someone else had been injured enough to not be able to reach campus on their own two feet. The problem was in how having a stroll in the hottest part of a particularly hot summer day could be and indeed was less than ideal.
Hopefully, he could crash under the shadow of one of the school yard’s trees when getting back, and hopefully that could be soon. Because Yûta’s current situation was sweating like a chicken inside an oven while passing through Tokyo’s half empty streets with the look of someone searching for an oasis in the middle of the desert. And still… they stopped when something caught his attention.
“Hey, you! The nice kid over there!”
“Me?” Yûta shyly asked, to the old lady yelling from the other side of the street. When she nodded, he shrugged and approached her.
“You seem like a decent fellow, sure you have an amazing special friend for sure sure.” The woman seemed pretty nice herself, holding out a bouquet of flowers for him to see, and there were more in the small shopping cart beside her. “What about getting some flowers for a gift?”
“Oh, I--” Feeling their face lighting up, partly because of the weather and partly because of how he was getting flustered, Yûta considered it… though making the choice didn’t take long. “Actually, yeah. But…” Something as big could be too much, maybe. “Could I get two smaller ones? Pink and purple, please.”
“Two, huh? Aren’t you a cheeky little one?” Yûta’s cheeks went from soft pink to crimson red, and he could almost hear Geto saying ‘womanizer’ even if it wasn’t all about just women. And not like he was a cheater either.
“One’s for my little sister.” He lied, quick and precise.
At least, the vendor didn’t comment on anything else about their life. And purchase done, he could go on, now setting the course straight to the school without any more stops; both the flowers and Yûta himself could melt if not.
Once the destination was reached, there was actually a small change, as he went all the way up to their room, calling out for Rika to give one of the bouquets to her within the privacy of it. And, later on and after gathering all his damn courage, Yûta also exited with the other one to position himself at Toge’s door and knock.
DAY 2: Dojo/Non-Jujutsu AU/Sports
“Yûta!” Maki called from the other side of the room, where all their jackets and bags had been stationed. “You have a call!”
His phone had been set up with a decent amount of volume, so it wouldn’t be difficult to hear it ring in theory. In practice, the mix of sounds inside the place made it a bit of a challenge sometimes, when practice was on and it raised a chorus of wood katanas clashing and people talking or shouting.
“Thanks!” Leaving his katana on the floor carefully, Yûta rushed to grab their phone and take said call before it stopped, taking off his helmet and giving Maki a grateful thumbs up on the way.
“Yûta?” A soft, cheerful voice talked from the other side of the line. And said voice could be no other than his little sister’s.
“Yeah?”
“Can you pick me up when you finish practice? I know I was gonna stay at Aimi’s for dinner, but her eldest sister is having the baby already and… well, they have a bit of a mess there.”
“Aw, of course!” Yûta did a hand wave, as if to say there was no problem, even if she wasn’t going to see it. “I’m going to get dinner out with Inumaki-kun, but I can ask him so you can come too.”
“Waitwaitwaitwait. You’re going on a date? Then no, of course I can’t!” She instantly answered, and Yûta’s face went red in an instant.
“We’re not…?” They answered, gesturing frantically and sticking his tongue out at Maki, who was snickering at the whole exchange.
“Well, sure not with that attitude, mister.” The way Maki went from being more or less subtle to burst into laughter confirmed how she could hear the whole conversation too, and Yûta couldn’t physically fluster more.
“Huh… what if I call you in a bit, when I ask him?” It wasn’t the smoothest save, but it could be an efficient one nonetheless.
“Works for me. But I’m betting the whole week’s dessert it’s a date.”
“Deal.”
DAY 3: Dorms/Confessions
“So, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time… I mean-- I’ve been talking to Rika first, obvi, and…” Yûta sighed. “Damn, I’m bad at this.”
Maybe using that dorms floor’s bathroom as headquarters for practicing his (rather poor) attempts at coming up with something that would make a good confession speech. Something romantic enough to 1) impress and 2) not to be mistaken even if Yûta himself stuttered, something that effectively expressed the feelings which had started blooming for the last year.
“I think you’re doing pretty well, babe.” Rika said, appearing through one of the walls. She didn’t really need to do it that way, but it was a habit she had picked by force of simply finding it quite funny.
“You sure?” Yûta frowned, staring at their own reflection in the bathroom, which obviously offered a tired glance. “I mean, ‘cause I think that if we weren’t friends, I’d be terrified he’d laugh at me.”
“But that’s not gonna happen.”
“Yeah…” There was no doubt of that, if nothing else. “Still, I’m not that sure if this is gonna--”
“If this is gonna what?” Itadori Yûji asked as he suddenly made his entrance… then stared at Rika and Yûta, as they both stared at him in return. “... if I can ask, of course.”
“Huh--” Yûta had no actual answer, not without debriefing a classmate who he had met not so long ago in their love life… something that seemed excruciatingly embarrassing no matter how confident he had gotten till that point.
“I won’t insist if it’s private, don’t worry.” Yûji added, his glace still jumping from Yûta to Rika in a more or less rhythmic way. “But… maybe you shouldn’t be in this bathroom, Rika?”
The curse bursted out into laughter, so hard all the tension inside Yûta’s body seemed to promptly evaporate.
DAY 4: Beach/Band AU/Lotion
Sunglasses on, hats too, bags and portable fridges in hand, they all had come to the beach for a relaxing, laying low day.
Or that was the plan, at least.
Technically, on a Tuesday when classes had already started, the place should have been more or less empty. Technically. Because in practice… Well, it was basically crowded. Lots of people plus them being pretty recognizable due to their rising fame… not the best combination for keeping a low profile, that for sure.
“I thought--” Yûta started off, nervous as one could be.
“Yeah, me too.” Maki said, as Toge nodded in agreement. “Well, if we’re sneaky enough, we’ll be able to go on about our day without turning it into an improvised meet and greet.”
Which mostly would mean not doing much besides chilling under the sun. Not what they had planned, but Yûta could just go along with the change.
It worked, it indeed worked… for around half an hour.
They were under the protection of their shared umbrella, and Yûta had just finished applying suncream when someone screamed.
“Guys! Aren’t those Cursefighters?”
Hand held out in the air, about to pass Maki the suncream bottle, Yûta instantly froze as if stillness could effectively avoid stares. Then, his eyes met Toge’s, and they both shared a glance with Maki. There was no need for more, as it was clear what to do next: Operation Get The Fuck Outta There.
Maki jumped up from her towel and started picking up both towels and the umbrella, while Toge took their bags and Yûta did the same with the food. And, once it was clear they weren’t going to leave everything forgotten… They started running without looking back.
“Panda!” Yûta yelled in their friend’s direction, who was inside the small van they had all used to get there. “Start the car, we’re leaving!”
“Already? What the hell did you do in like twenty minutes, scream ‘OH, WE’RE FAMOUS’?” Panda hollered back, grunting a bit. “Next time, I’m not the one parking, ‘kay? I didn’t even get to see the sea!”
DAY 5: Rika/Angst
“I still see her.” Yûta confessed, when it had been weeks already from The Moment When Everything Went To Hell. “I still see Rika-chan.”
“That’s so sweet, dear.” His mother had told him, kneeling beside a tiny, trembling Yûta to wrap the kid in a warm embrace.
“But how…?”
“See, when you love someone that much, they’re always going to be with you.” She continued, not knowing how little it was actually helping when it came to solve her child’s doubts.
Yûta knew her mother meant well, and understood what she was trying to convey. But also… they understood telling her, or anyone by that matter, how he was really seeing Rika in the flesh (even if not the same flesh from before the accident) had turned out to be practically impossible.
It wasn’t just the image of her, or a replay of the words she had said once; it was really Rika, as tangible as she had been before having the accident. How could people say she was gone, when Yûta could see her clear as day? Sure, he had thought about her manifestation being a mirage but as time passed everything pointed at something else.
“Yûtaaaaaa…” She said, once they were alone in his room. At the very beginning, Rika had clung to him so hard it was even difficult to move. But now, she seemed to leave more personal space… at least till Yûta needed something, anything.
“Hi, I…” Yûta shrugged. “I’m… well, not fine but--” It was complicated, complicated as hell (pun not intended) since she had turned into… whatever that was. “She doesn’t believe me.”
Understandable to some point, given how strange the whole thing was. But still… it didn’t sit right with Yûta, who sometimes still struggled to keep believing all of it was real. If no one else around could see it, how not to doubt?
“I…” Yûta tried to say, sitting on the floor and curling up as tears started to fall down from his eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Rika-chan. I don’t know how to help you!”
DAY 6: Ring/First time
“So, do you come here often?”
Yûta played nervously with his ring, which was currently attached to a small chain circling the sorcerer’s neck. It was the ring’s (Rika’s ring) usual placement when it wasn’t on their finger ring. For the past months, he had started to get more confident, and apparently… people had started to notice, both that fact and Yûta in general. Which was… strange. Not only being noticed, but also in a ‘people find me attractive’ way, something they still couldn’t fully grasp, not with people other than Rika.
And still, the boy in front of him seemed to be interested, even someone who didn’t have loads and loads of experience such as Yûta could tell.
“It’s my first time, actually. I’m traveling with…” How to address Miguel, actually? He may have something to say if he called him ‘friend’, and ‘sensei’ wasn’t exactly it.
“Oh, a tourist?” Maybe it wouldn’t even be needed to specify about Miguel’s part, though.
“More like a study trip, actually. But I do a bit of tourism when I’m free, yeah.”
“When are you free, then?” He was all smiles; warm, welcoming and interested smiles. And he seemed like a nice person, and good-looking too. It was just that, well, Yûta didn’t share his interest. So this was quite awkward.
To be more specific, it wasn’t like they didn’t notice people at all, but his range of interest were… quite small actually, so much it only included two people so far. One, obviously, was Rika. And the other… oh, he was currently an ocean away.
“I…” His fidgeting increased, making the ring spin around the chain as the conversation went on. Or at least till the boy seemed to notice what kind of ring it was.
“Wait, are you already…?” Engaged? Married? “... taken?”
“I have a girlfriend, yeah.” That wasn’t how Yûta expected things to go, but saying it wasn’t a good outing would be lying too. “Actually, she gave me this when we were like, babies, and we’ve been together ever since.” The story wasn’t all that sweet, sure, but that wasn’t something a total stranger needed to know.
“Aw, that’s so sweet!”
There was always the possibility of Yûta being into more people, which was also the truth, but the boy didn’t ask (good, it would have come off as rude in that context), and by his own part… Well, Yûta still had to tell Rika about it but was too nervous to do it in the immediate future.
Little did he know, it would happen in a not-so-far future, though.