Archive of Our Own ^beta

The letter was inconspicuous, a simple white envelope with an address and name written in neat handwriting on the front. The back was sealed with a wax stamp, and a crest. The stamp in and of itself wasn’t too crazy, considering the lengths some jujutsu sorcerers would go to make something distinctly theirs, but the crest was easy to recognize. A pair of eyes connected to an open mouth, full of fangs. And Toge Inumaki knew exactly what to expect as soon as he saw it.

The parcel sat closed on his desk for days, and his mind raced every time he so much as looked at it. One question prevailed through the noise it spawned: What did they want? Why now, of all times, were they calling upon him? It wormed its way through his every waking thought, with no care for his need to focus or simply breathe. The letter, only the size of his hand, loomed over him with the presence of a special grade.

Finally, a few nights after receiving it, when the pressure built too high for Toge to bear, he ripped the seal from the envelope and took out the letter. It was, again, nothing special in its appearance. A piece of paper. But nothing was ever that simple, was it?

Dear Toge,

We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming Inumaki Clan meeting. We have been monitoring your progress and believe that you have advanced far enough in your studies at Tokyo Jujutsu High that we can readmit you to the clan. A solitary, strong sorcerer like you have become is just what we need in this age of upset and strife among the jujutsu community.

The meeting will take place in two weeks time, in our main hall at eight o’clock PM. Please return home by then, or we will assume you have rejected our offer and will take appropriate actions. Feel no need to bring anyone with you, as accompaniment is not necessary for this event. However, if needed, we do have availability for a plus one, should you happen to have anyone you would like the leaders to meet and perhaps approve of.

The clan hopes we can all move past our previous troubles and once again become family.

Yours,

Inumaki Clan Elders

Three paragraphs. Three fucking paragraphs were all they could think to send to him, after years of radio silence. And he could feel the venom dripping from every word, every letter written in their ink. They thought he was strong? No, they thought he was subordinate. Solitary. Alone. Well, fuck that.

Before he could really process his actions, Toge had plucked a pencil from his desk and snatched a paper from one of the drawers. It was floral, covered in lilies, but the words it soon came to contain were far from it.

Inumaki Clan Elders,

I will be showing up to your event, and I will be bringing someone. Do not expect a response, affirmative or negative, until I arrive. I hope you rot.

With no respect,

Toge Inumaki

Two could play at that game. As many words as Toge had stuffed up in his mind only moments after reading the letter, he knew he should wait. He wasn’t lying—he was going to show up at the event. And he would bring someone, just to prove to them he wasn’t alone, that he had made friends, forged his own connections, and he could make it just fine in the world without them. And he was going to continue the rest of his life without them.

Another moment later and he was scrawling an address onto the front of an envelope, already printed with the address of the school in the top corner. He addressed it to generally the Inumaki Clan, just as they had written on the return address on the invitation he had received. It was almost 10 PM, but Toge stood up from his desk, slipped on some shoes and a jacket, and trudged outside to the mailboxes. They were halfway across the campus, but he needed air and a bit of time to process everything.

It was quiet outside. Toge thought he could use some quiet.

Of course, in the morning, he realized what deep shit he was in.

It wasn’t that Toge didn’t have friends—he had lots now, actually, between the rest of his class and the first years—he just didn’t exactly tell them anything about the clan. Which, of course he didn’t, considering he was disowned by them years ago and hadn’t had contact with anyone in his family since. So yeah, it was a bit of a touchy subject.

But he had to bring someone with him because the clan heads were a bunch of assholes who thought he hated everyone and he had to prove them wrong. He had to prove that he really only hated them, and the best thing would be to have someone tag along, most likely to at least pose as a romantic partner. That might make them straight up keel over. But who exactly did he ask? Well, there was…

“You in there, Inumaki?” a voice poked at the edge of his ears, as well as a finger, in fact. Toge turned his head outside of the wall of his arms to find, of course, Maki Zenin. He perked up a bit at the sight of his friend, who had entered their classroom while he had been lost in thought.

“Shake, shake,” he replied, ensuring her that he was, in fact, fine.

“What are you doing here so early?” she asked. “Usually you’re the last of the bunch to get to class.”

“Just couldn’t sleep,” he signed, choosing more direct words over making his classmates interpret, especially this early.

“Wow, a cold day in hell, I guess.” Toge swatted at Maki, who laughed it off. “Ready to spar already I see.”

Maki began to settle down at her desk when Panda wandered into the room, doing a double take at Toge’s appearance.

“Whoa, Inumaki, you’re here? Already?” he exclaimed, more confused than Maki, apparently.

“Is it really that surprising?” Toge asked back.

“I mean, you’re never here yet. And we’ve all been on overnight missions together, and you can sleep through anything, I swear. It’s actually kind of alarming sometimes,” Panda returned.

“As I told Maki, couldn’t sleep,” Toge said.

“Alright buddy,” interrupted Maki. “I’m calling bullshit right now. Something’s up, considering you were moping when I first came in here. Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned, but with the fact that you’re not currently wrapped in blankets and fighting your alarm, I know there’s something going on.”

Toge raised his hands to deny, nearly slipping out an “okaka”, but stopped short. If he was going to stick it to the elders, he had to actually, you know, use his words. Metaphorically.

“I got a letter. From the clan.”

“What? I thought you weren’t talking to them anymore?” Panda questioned.

“I thought the same, but I guess they want me back. Apparently, they think I’m strong now.”

“You aren’t going back,” Maki said, almost more of a command than a question.

“Of course not. I still hate them.” Toge lowered his hands for a tick as he considered his explanation carefully. “But they invited me to the next meeting, in two weeks. And they called me solitary in the letter, so I said I was going to bring someone, and I think I implied a boyfriend or girlfriend or something of the sort. So now I need to find myself a partner in less than two weeks, go to the clan, tell them to fuck off in person, and then leave.”

“Well, I’m definitely not going with you. As much as I’m sure showing up with the Zenin disgrace would be a huge power move, I’m still a lesbian, and I’m pretty sure most people can tell from the…all of me,” Maki said, gesturing to said all of her.

“I’m a Panda,” said Panda. “Also, I’m busy two weeks from now.” 

“There are the first years, but Itadori and Fushiguro seem to be occupied with each other most of the time, and I swear to god if you even think of asking Nobara—”

“Message received, don’t worry,” Toge responded, stopping the shovel talk before it started. With the break in conversation, he knew exactly what was coming next. He still refused to accept it.

“You could always ask Okkotsu,” Maki stated. The words just fell from her mouth as if it was that easy. Sure, Toge could ask Yuuta, the boy whom he had a crush on—whom she knew he had a crush on—for almost a year at this point, to simply pretend to date him for a function with his fucked up family. And she expected Toge to just be normal about it.

Toge groaned, Maki smirked, and almost as if on cue, Yuuta Okkotsu walked in the door. Tall, toned, inexplicably gorgeous Yuuta Okkotsu. With just a look at him, you could almost believe he was scary, with ever-present eye bags and a resting murder face, as their underclassmen had dubbed it.

“Ask me what?” As soon as the boy spoke, however, the illusion was broken and he became just that—a boy. Sure, a boy with the figure of a god that he for some reason kept hidden behind a baggy uniform (curse him) (not really though), but a boy nonetheless.

Oh god, Toge was having gay thoughts again, goddammit. His face flushed, and he crossed his arms over his chest, muttering, “Okaka,” and turning away from the other students.

“Toge here was just telling us that—” Maki started. Toge could practically hear her smirk as he cut her off again.

“Okaka!”

Yuuta, clueless as ever about the condensed ball of panic that was flustered Toge, just shrugged and walked over to his spot. “Good morning, Toge. I’m glad to see you here.” It was a sentiment the boy passed onto him near daily, and yet he could tell that Yuuta absolutely meant the words every time.

Toge waved and smiled, the scrunch of his eyes the only visible piece of the expression over the extended collar of his uniform.

The door once again opened. However, it was more of a slam than anything else this time because Gojo-sensei had entered the room and you would never not know when Gojo-sensei entered the room. “Hello there, precious students!” He began with frankly way more energy than a sane person should have at eight in the morning, which seemed to be a trend with him. “Kusakabe is going to be otherwise occupied today. We’ve got a meeting with the higher-ups,” he explained in a tone that sounded suspiciously like whining. “You get a free training day. Don’t go slacking off!”

All of the students in the room muttered a “Yes, sir,” with varying degrees of pep. None of the second years were particularly surprised. At this point, it was basically a fluke for them to get any time with their teacher to actually act as, well, their teacher. They were fairly used to training on days with or without scheduled classes.

Gojo-sensei almost pouted at the lack of response—another common occurrence with him—and he proceeded to leave the classroom again. “Well alright, you heard the man,” Maki said. “Let’s go everyone, come on! Some of us don’t have cursed energy to rely on here, don’t get lazy!” Toge groaned internally.

There was a rhythm to training within the second years. It had changed several times, from the slowly adjusting pace that came when Yuuta first joined the group, to the sporadic and intense sessions when he was gone, to the now steady, comfortable feeling of the whole group being reunited once Yuuta returned from his studies abroad. If Yuuta was the one thing that changed, then the one thing that stayed the same was the fact that Maki ran the show.

Oh, that, and the fact that Toge was terrible at close quarters combat without his cursed technique.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to learn. It was just that when you have a technique as powerful and ever-present as cursed speech, you sort of learn to use it whenever you can. It wasn’t a crutch, because it worked, and it was the best way he had to fight curses. It did, however, often leave him a little lacking in the muscle department. As Panda and Maki had put it quite bluntly before, his limbs were like sticks.

But again, he didn’t really need it, so he typically opted out of any sparring the group did with each other. He found ways to practice his technique on his own when needed and honestly, just running typically did him better than hand-to-hand. And sometimes, it was nice to just sit outside with them and watch.

It was common to see Maki and Yuuta sparring as the main two weapon users among the students, including both first- and second-years. Toge found them captivating, watching them attack and evade in turn, each knowing the other’s fighting style and tricks. They were a great match for training partners.

Also, Yuuta was hot when he was fighting. Toge had been into him for a while—much to his chagrin, as his other classmates would never leave him alone about it—but he had changed since he came back. He was still the same polite and impossibly kind person he was before, but he had gained an edge of confidence that dulled down his previously obvious anxiety. And he had grown, a lot. He was quite a bit taller than Toge now, which still sort of shocked him, considering they weren’t that different height-wise before. Plus, the training he underwent obviously worked since his figure had filled out quite a bit.

Toge’s focus snapped back to the spar in front of him, just as Yuuta managed to land a glancing blow on Maki, and the two broke apart. Despite the fair weather, sweat was beginning to cover both sorcerers. Yuuta lifted his shirt (his uniform jacket having been discarded earlier) to wipe his face down and Toge had to admit, he was staring. In his defense, how are you supposed to be around such glorious abs and not look at them?

Unfortunately, today, Maki saw exactly where he was gazing, and waved Toge over to the two of them.

“Since you seem so full of energy this morning,” she began, as his mind already started to fill with dread, “why don’t you try your hand at some actual sparring? Yuuta, you could use some practice with a partner who isn’t me, right? How about it?”

Before Toge could get a denial in edgewise, Yuuta responded with, “Sure! Sounds like a good idea, as long as you’re up for it, Inumaki.”

“I couldn’t possibly take your sparring partner from you,” Toge signed to Maki, trying to somehow psychically communicate that no, today was not the day for this.

“Oh, no,” she continued despite his clear despair. “I’ll be fine. You two go ahead! Plus, didn’t you have a question for Okkotsu?” She all but physically winked. Toge hated her sometimes.

He sighed and signed a quick “let’s go” to Yuuta before getting away as fast as he could from his snarky, scheming classmate. The taller sorcerer followed behind him, and once the two had gotten an adequate distance away from Maki, he asked, “What’s that question Maki keeps mentioning? I think I remember her saying something about it right as I got into class, too.”

“Just don’t worry about it,” Toge said, desperate to simply get away from the topic. At this point, he would get knocked on his ass as many times as he needed as long as Yuuta wouldn’t ask him about it again.

The two stood in a heavy silence as Toge stretched, which was uncommon. Typically, even just sitting quietly felt comfortable between the two of them. It felt good to be around Yuuta. Except, of course, for the times when Toge couldn’t stop thinking about the concept of asking him out on a not-really-date to be his not-really-partner for a shitty family event, and whether that might ruin his chances of an actual date in the future, minus the shitty family part.

He tried to shake it from his mind as best as he could before the spar began, but try as he might, it all lingered, just as the letter itself had. Even as he shifted his stance to one of the basic ones Maki had attempted to teach him before she gave up, he found himself only half observing Yuuta as he settled in himself.

And again, one constant of this universe was that Toge Inumaki was awful at combat without his cursed technique.

Seemingly within moments, he had been swept onto the ground, only half-remembering moving in to begin after the other boy’s prompting. Holy fuck Yuuta had gotten good. Toge still remembered when he first joined the group and was an understanding figure in his struggle, but now? Yuuta was a powerhouse.

From his view in the grass, Toge saw Yuuta’s face pop into his periphery, plastered with a look of concern. “You alright down there?” Toge simply groaned, incredibly annoyed.

Yuuta offered a hand with a laugh, and Toge grabbed it to raise himself back up off the ground.

“Seriously though, are you good?” he asked again, more in confusion than worry this time. “I mean, we both know how much you still somehow suck at this, but you seem out of it.”

“Kind of, but I’ll be fine.” The frown that cut through Yuuta’s face was enough to tell Toge that the response wasn’t enough for him.

“Are you sure? Like, sure sure? I don’t mean to pry, of course, but—”

“Okaka,” Toge said, looking up towards the eyes of his classmate. The deep, dark blue eyes that frankly should look unnatural but meshed with his appearance. Anyways.

“You’re good. It’s just,” Toge signed, his hands hesitant, “I got a letter. From the Inumaki clan. They want to invite me back.” He could tell Yuuta the gist of the situation. He should. He at least deserved that.

“Is…is that a good thing or a bad thing? Because I know the clan relationship is complicated for you, but I’m not sure if it’s Maki’s level. Though I’m not sure anyone other than Maki herself can really get there.”

“Not strictly good or bad. But the way they put it in the letter made it seem they only wanted me back because I’ve honed my technique more. Either way, they invited me to the next big event they’re hosting, almost like a family meeting. I’m going.” He stalled. That was all he really needed to say, right?

Unfortunately, Yuuta was smart. And Yuuta knew him. So Yuuta knew when he was biting his tongue, literally or metaphorically, at this point. “That isn’t it, is it?”

After careful consideration—which lasted all of 5 seconds—Toge decided, fuck it. This was going to be a messy affair whether he asked Yuuta along or not, so he might as well request some support.

“They called me solitary. Lonely. So I’m gonna bring someone, specifically in a romantic context to really break their brains. But I don’t exactly have anyone to bring, so…”

“I’ll go with you,” the boy in front of him said, almost without thinking, it seemed.

Wait, what?

After yet another painful moment, the two of them seemed to realize at the same time exactly what it was that Yuuta had just offered. Toge wondered, had Yuuta’s face always been that pink? He had just been sparring, so—wait, what about his own face? It certainly felt warm, enough to be noticeable. Shit, Toge was blushing, wasn’t he?

Yuuta started up again, voice a bit more frantic than before. “I mean, I don’t have to! Don’t feel pressured to accept just because I offered or anything. I don’t want to presume anything or make you uncomfortable or whatever, I just wanted to be helpful, you know? Not that I ever don’t want to help you, or—”

“Yuuta.” This cut him off immediately. “It’s fine. I was already thinking of asking you,” Toge continued in sign. He watched in a strange delight as his friend’s face grew brighter and he gave a small nod. Very rarely, Toge liked to cause chaos among his class, just for the fun of it. Well, more than rarely. All the time. But this was especially fun, he had to admit, even if he himself was embarrassed as well.

That was right. Yuuta wasn’t some stranger or far away acquaintance anymore, nor was he a friend a world away. He was right there.

“Seriously though, would you? I know it might be a bit uncomfortable, having to put on an act for my family, but it would be easier to do with someone by my side, I think.”

“If you’ll have me, I’ll be there,” he said. “Although, are you sure? I know the whole Inumaki clan situation is a bit complicated. I wouldn’t want to butt in.”

“Shake,” Toge confirmed, breaking into a grin. That went a lot easier than he was expecting and happened a lot sooner. In any other circumstances, he probably would have waited until the last minute to do anything, but odds were in his favor today. He’d have to thank Maki.

“Oi, idiots!” Scratch that, Maki was getting no such thanks. “Okkotsu, that looks like a whole lot of talking and not a lot of knocking Inumaki to the ground! Stop dicking around!”

“Sorry!” Yuuta yelled back as Toge ever so eloquently flipped her off. Yuuta turned back to him with a smile. “Sounds like it’s time to get back to work.”

Toge nodded and lowered into a ready stance. Yeah, he could deal with sparring for a bit longer.

“God…dammit…Inumaki!” Yuuta shouted through labored breaths. “You don’t think…you could have set your alarm…a bit earlier?”

“Mentaiko!” He returned, one hand currently swinging with baggage and the other busy with sprinting.

The two sorcerers were just outside the train station with approximately 3 minutes until their ride departed. Toge recognized that, of course, Yuuta was right, but he was never going to admit it. After all, it wasn’t really his fault if he forgot to reset his alarm on a weekend and usually got up around eleven, or left a good bit of packing for the morning they were planning to leave, was it?

(Yes it was.)

Together they rushed to the doors of the station, not wasting a minute and pushing past anyone necessary to get to the nearest turnstile. While it was certainly not appreciated that they disregarded the formed line, they had somewhere to be. Yuuta still apologized to everyone they passed, of course. He was still Yuuta.

They scanned their tickets and pushed through. Toge all but sprinted down a flight of stairs and towards the platform on the other side of the station, which absolutely fucking sucked, of course. He called out a quick “Tsunamayo!” in case Yuuta was lagging behind, and continued to book it. Just as the last calls rang out on the speakers, they reached the entrance to the car, the doors closing only a few, sacred, blissful moments after they hopped onto the train.

Toge breathed out one of the biggest sighs he had ever experienced in his life, silently cursing himself for deciding to wear jeans for his casual outfit today. He started heading down the aisle of the surprisingly busy end car, up to a more deserted area. He saw Yuuta catch up with him, also panting from the strain. He stuck his larger bag into the open shelf above him and rushed to grab the window seat, placing his backpack onto the seat next to him and taking his mask off just to smirk at his friend.

“Hey, mean!” Yuuta said once he looked down from stowing his own luggage.

“Oh no, there’s no more space in this row! Whatever shall we do?” Toge signed, staring directly into Yuuta’s eyes, smirk remaining.

“I guess,” Yuuta said, heaving Toge’s bag out of the seat, “we’ll just have to make some then.” He continued to then drop the bag onto Toge’s lap, pushing a wheeze out of the smaller boy and sitting down in the aisle.

It was quiet again as the two settled into their spots and the steady momentum of the train started to build. The silence was comfortable, as it often was between them. Toge stared out of the window at nothing in particular, just happy to be moving forward, and Yuuta pulled his phone from his pocket to begin scrolling mindlessly. Both of their breathing levels had calmed, but Toge still heard the soft inhale and exhale next to him, reminding him that he wasn’t alone in this. It felt nice.

“So,” Yuuta began softly, slipping his phone away again, “I just want to go over the plan one more time.” 

Toge sighed. “As far as I remember, we’ve talked it through about ten times in the last week,” he signed, not quite mad or exasperated, more just resigned to his fate.

“Humor me?”

“Sure, sure. Once we get to our destination in a few hours, we’ll walk to the hotel. It’s only a few blocks from the station, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Right, right. I knew that.” Of course he did, he had repeated it endlessly to Toge. He even caught his classmate muttering everything below his breath at one point, which he had to admit was impressive dedication.

“Tell you what,” he signed, an idea dawning on him. “You tell me what you remember and I’ll fill in any gaps, though I’m sure you know it by now.” This was absolutely not a ploy to hear Yuuta ramble and was strictly for practicality. Of course.

“Alright. So we left off at arriving at the hotel…”

“Right.”

“Okay,” Yuuta said, “we need to check in at about 3 or so, then we have around a half hour to get settled before we head out for the mission. There’ll be someone there to cast a veil for us, right?”

Toge nodded, and Yuuta continued at that. “Alright, so the mission will take…however long it takes, depending on whether or not the person who assigned it actually understands what’s there. I swear, there’s never a dull assignment anymore.”

He went on after a small pause to think. “After the mission, it’s back to the hotel and an overnight stay. The next morning and afternoon will be pretty much free, although I wouldn’t put it past you to sleep through the former again.”

“Hey,” Toge defended. “I told you to shut it about that.”

“And of course I never will. Anyways, a few hours before the meeting, we need to get back to the room and get changed and everything, then we’re escorted to the Inumaki estate, which is still a surreal set of words for me.”

Toge chuckled, which prompted a smile from Yuuta. It was always nice to see Yuuta smile, and he’d been doing it a lot recently. His trip to Africa had really done him some good, it seemed.

“Once we get there, we’ll exchange pleasantries. You’ll tell them all to fuck off and we’ll get back to the hotel, sleep there one more night, then get back on the train to Tokyo the next morning.”

“I really hope it goes as smoothly as you make it seem, especially considering the whole ‘you’re pretending to be my boyfriend’ part of the equation.” A brush of pink returned to Yuuta’s face after Toge finished signing.

“Right, yeah.” He turned away from Toge for a minute, who could tell from the bounce in his leg and the light drumming he was doing on the armrest between them that he wasn’t done there.

“Takana?” Toge asked. He could tell that Yuuta understood from the pause he took. What’s up? And, more importantly, what else?

“I have a few questions,” Yuuta said, almost spitting the words out as he turned his face back towards Toge.

“You know you can ask.” Yuuta nodded, and Toge returned the gesture. He nearly reached out to squeeze the taller boy’s hand, but decided against it. He really didn’t want to overstep right near the start of a three hour long train ride.

“Well…first of all, what exactly should I expect from your family?”

“From what I remember of the clan, they sucked. They were cruel in the name of strength and tradition. They can all go choke on a dick as far as I’m concerned. But my parents might be there, and some other relatives will be for sure. So if you hear anyone refer to me as anything other than my name, or even think they’re referring to me but don’t call me Toge, don’t respond unless I do. Typically my least favorite people there are the ones who have nicknames for me.”

“Got it. I’m probably going to avoid talking to anyone unless absolutely necessary in the first place, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Toge understood the sentiment. 

“If they refer to me as family, don’t push back unless I do. But feel free to back me up if I happen to start something. As a general rule, I’ll know who I’m starting it with.”

“Makes sense,” Yuuta said with a small nod.

“I can’t prepare you for much else at the moment, but I’ll keep you updated.”

“Cool, cool, cool, cool.” There was a pause between the two for a moment once again before Yuuta asked his next question. “So, um…how much, uh…familiarity are we talking about here? I don’t want to cross boundaries, but if you feel the need to play up the whole ‘I have a boyfriend now’ piece, I’m fine with that.”

“I haven’t exactly figured that piece out. I don’t think we need any sort of PDA or anything, so don’t worry about that piece. Just go with the flow of it, I guess. We can tell each other where our boundaries are if needed, but hopefully, we can just act almost like we do now.”

“Okay, good to know,” Yuuta replied, letting out a breath that almost sounded relieved. It hurt some piece of Toge, just a little. It was ridiculous, that he was sad that his best friend wasn’t going to jump at the chance to kiss or anything, and he knew that. Completely nonsensical. And yet his stupid little brain continued to turn its stupid little wheels about this stupid boy in front of him.

“I have one more question,” Yuuta said, his serious tone and sudden quiet snapping Toge out of his haze. “Why exactly…were you exiled?”

Toge stalled a bit before answering. “Like most things, it’s complicated and messy. For a while, I wasn’t fully in control of my cursed energy—although I’m still not—and there was an…incident. They didn’t want a liability among them disgracing the hereditary technique, so they dropped me.”

“That…” Yuuta said, pausing to think of a response. “That’s shitty. I don’t really have any other words for it. It’s just unbelievably shitty and you deserve better, Toge.”

If he hadn’t been wearing a mask, Toge was certain Yuuta would have seen that he was beet red all the way to his ears before he even finished the last word of his sentence. He looked away, surprised at the sudden familiarity. With his face towards the floor, he turned his body and signed towards Yuuta, “You called me Toge.”

“Ah,” The boy to his side began, “I did, didn’t I? Oh my god. Oh my god , I’m so sorry, Inumaki. I didn’t mean to breach—”

“Okaka,” Toge interrupted. He knew sign couldn’t shut Yuuta up this time, so he grabbed his attention with his voice. Once Yuuta was once again looking at him, he signed, “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. It’s nice coming from your voice. And so far, I’ve only really called you Yuuta with mine, so it’s fine.”

“If you’re sure…” Yuuta trailed off.

“I am,” Toge assured him. “Plus, it’s going to be confusing referring to me as Inumaki within a room of almost entirely Inumakis, so you might as well get used to it.”

Yuuta’s voice calmed, as he said, “Good point.” Thank god that had broken the tension. This was going to be long enough.

The two once again fell into the normalcy of the other’s companionship, a comfortable silence between them. It felt like sitting in Yuuta’s room at the end of the day or watering the garden together. It was just easy.

The air around Toge and Yuuta was cool. The sun was just on the horizon, still filtering bits of light through the changing leaves. Toge was incredibly grateful that their assignment was relatively easy for the both of them and didn’t involve any level of stealth or silence, since it was nearly impossible to avoid stepping in the fallen leaves on the messy path before him. (Also, it meant that he could step on any crunchy ones and the sound of a crunchy leaf was one of the best things in the world.) 

Toge always found it nice having Yuuta by his side. From their first mission together, his partner had proved that he cared deeply about Toge’s well-being, which had been quite a change of pace at the time. It wasn’t that Maki and Panda didn’t care, but when you went on solo missions as early as he had, you learned that you had to watch your own back. But then Yuuta appeared, and suddenly Toge had someone who took enough notice of him to always keep a bottle of his favorite flavor of throat medicine on hand.

The Inumaki clan thought accepting help meant you were weak, that you were relying on someone else to carry you through the tasks you should be able to tackle on your own. But if Toge had learned anything from Yuuta, it was that support wasn’t a crutch to be pushed away. It was a technique, just as powerful as the Snake Eyes and Fangs that made him a sorcerer. Support made you stronger.

“So, what do you think this building is going to look like?” Yuuta asked almost absentmindedly, breaking the quiet. “The description in the case was pretty vague.”

“Tsuna,” Inumaki said. He flicked on his flashlight—the sun having now dipped low enough that he needed it—and pointed it forward. Ahead of them, the walls of trees started to split and expand into a clearing which housed a broken down, overgrown mess of a structure. It was a jarring mix of wood and, strangely, concrete. The whole thing looked like it had been hastily demolished, supports and foundation still showing, but much of it had been covered by vines or ferns. All in all, it decidedly did not look like a place that should be found after a half hour walk through an otherwise empty forest.

 “Well, considering the case, it kinda makes sense in a weird way.” It was just as Yuuta said. A reclusive family had lived here years ago, just parents and a daughter. The parents were basically shut-ins, only visiting Toge’s hometown when they needed food or other similar supplies. The child, however, would make near-daily trips to go to school. One day, she returned to the house before school had even ended, covered in bruises, blood, and a deep gash in her chest. Not long after, she died from blood loss, her parents not able to reach the town with her in time to receive medical assistance. While it was undeniably a tragedy, it normally wouldn’t be enough to spawn a curse. But, according to the parents, her last words before collapsing were, “I want to go back.”

On top of this, the family was incredibly superstitious. So, believing that she might live on to haunt the home, they had it destroyed and moved into the town proper for a short while before disappearing. They stayed there for a bit, not long enough to really settle, but certainly long enough to spread the word and warn others against visiting the location. Toge figured this was what ultimately spawned the curse which had been sighted by many amateur ghost hunters, hikers, and kids looking to test their courage.

Toge tapped Yuuta on the shoulder to get his attention then handed him the flashlight.He signed, “We should be careful. Like you said, the file was vague. While we know sight triggers it rather than sound, we still don’t know how it’s going to react to us.” Yuuta nodded before handing the light back to Toge, moving to pull out his katana but pausing short. 

“Hey, the curse is only grade two, right?”

“Shake.”

Yuuta paused for a moment and slung the case he held his sword in back over his shoulder. This, in turn, gave Toge pause. Essentially every time Toge had seen Yuuta fight an actual curse, he’d used a weapon to channel his cursed energy. However, Toge hadn’t seen one of Yuuta’s jobs in a long time, what with his classmate being one of only four special grade sorcerers in existence. He didn’t exactly need support on his missions.

“I want to try something out,” Yuuta said, turning back to Toge and looking him in the eyes. “But you have to trust me.”

“I always trust you.”  

Yuuta nodded solemnly before beginning to walk into the wreckage ahead. The site wasn’t really all that big, all things considered. After all, it had just been a house when it still counted as anything but a hazard. Toge would have been able to see from one end to the other, if not for the thick greenery and shards of the original structure still standing tall. They made the area a maze with open walls, and there were plenty of corners for things to be hiding around.

Toge unzipped the collar of his jacket, revealing his mouth and the sigils indicating him as a user of Snake Eyes and Fangs. Yuuta didn’t seem to make any specific preparations, but Toge wasn’t sure exactly what those would look like for whatever new tactic he was attempting to use. The only thing Toge noticed was that he was fidgeting with the chain around his neck, the one that held Rika’s ring.

Of course. Rika, the queen of curses, the dead love of Yuuta’s life, and the source of his power, even after she had been exorcised. (Toge wasn’t entirely sure how that had worked out in the end, but he knew that she wouldn’t really manifest anymore unless called out. Thankfully.) In truth, Rika complicated things a bit for Toge, mostly because of that whole “love of Yuuta’s life” detail. However, there were two things that gave him a bit more hope for his otherwise tragic situation. One, while Yuuta still cared for Rika, it seemed that he had moved on a bit. Toge figured this was both lucky for him and  healthy development for everyone involved.

And two, Rika just wanted Yuuta to be happy. And if Toge tried his best in this life to do anything, it was to make Yuuta happy.

However, he also wanted to stay alive, and he didn’t exactly count “think about your love life while attempting to fight a curse” as a great way to do that. So when he felt a spike in cursed energy right near his and Yuuta’s position, he was snapped out of his thoughts and whirled towards the source of the building pressure. Their target had finally shown itself, peeking around the corner of the wreckage of a wall before them. Toge stopped dead in his tracks.

Only about twenty feet away from him was the curse. It looked like many curses did, a perversion of their original form, twisted with the emotions of those who feared or hated it, and thus created it. So of course, this one looked like a young girl, stretched beyond the limits of the human form. Elongated limbs, a not-quite-human face, and a mouth lined with jagged teeth on its chest, as the ghost stories had transformed her injury. Toge had seen enough curses like these to not be fazed simply by how they distorted the human form.

No, what scared Toge was that he knew that face. It was her.

The girl that plagued his every waking thought for years after he was sent away from the clan, the girl that haunted the back of his mind, the girl that appeared every time he might think he could possibly be a good person now. He had changed, hadn’t he? He was good now. He had control over the technique. He wouldn’t hurt anyone with it again. He would play nice. He would be good. And yet, once again, the girl that he had cursed, the girl that proved everything wrong, stood before him as a curse. 

They had told him that she was dead and gone for good. They had told him there was nothing he could do.They had told him he would never see her again and it was his fault. They had told him his friend had left him on his directions and didn’t come back.

The curse began to approach, and as it—no, she moved closer, Toge still found himself frozen to the ground. He needed to go. He needed to run. He needed to do something. No, he needed to curse her. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do it again. He had hurt her enough before and maybe it was only karma that she would curse him to death, just as he had done to her. It would be a fitting end, really, and one that he deserved. He deserved this. He deserved to die here.

There was a whisper right behind him that he didn’t quite make out, then both his ears were covered. He didn’t even react. Maybe this was it for him.

But the wave of cursed energy that followed simply flowed over and around him, accompanied by a single, muffled word.

“Die.”

As the curse disintegrated before his eyes, Toge came back to himself. The hands around his ears were gone and Yuuta was at his side. Toge didn’t have to turn around to know that he had released Rika, his already vast stores of cursed energy expanding and unfolding endlessly. Taking stock, Toge found that he could move once again. Although, every motion had a shake, a tremor that betrayed the sheer panic he had found himself in just moments before.

He turned to Yuuta and, for the second time in the past five minutes, was frozen. On his classmate’s face were sigils that he knew well. Two sets of concentric circles on the cheeks and lines leading to the mouth.

Yuuta had the Snake Eyes and Fangs.

Of course, immediately after this revelation, Yuuta proceeded to dismiss Rika, meaning his ability to copy techniques was gone, the sigils fading. And then, of course, he doubled over, hit with an aggressive coughing fit. It was something Toge knew all too well—an overextension of cursed speech. He rushed to Yuuta’s side, desperately pushing at his shoulder, not quite knowing what to say to make sure that the other boy was alright. Yuuta returned his touch gently, still coughing, but alive and aware.

Toge fumbled around with his jacket, looking through the pockets before remembering that he’d used up the last of his stash of medicine on his last job. Dammit, if only…

Wait. This was Yuuta. The Yuuta who would be overprepared until the day he died, the Yuuta who cared deeply about the people he called friends, and the Yuuta who carried throat medicine around just in case Toge might need it.

As soon as the coughs racking Yuuta’s body slowed, Toge tapped on his shoulder yet again. Yuuta seemed to get the message and looked up at him. His face was pained, but more than anything, concerned. Toge ignored the blatant lack of self-preservation his friend was showing and began to sign to him.

“Where do you keep your cough meds?” Yuuta cocked his head slightly, confused, but his eyes brightened a bit as he realized what Toge suggested. He dug through the inner pockets of his own jacket and pulled out a small bottle of the dark liquid, proceeding to screw off the top and down it in one go. When his face lowered again, Toge could see a tinge of disgust in his expression.

“God, how do you drink that stuff?” Yuuta asked, his voice sounding better in an instant, if still a bit scratchy. “It’s too sweet!”

Toge chuckled, saying, “Well, it’s still medicine. And trust me, that’s the best stuff you can get.”  

The two were quiet as they both recovered. Once he stopped shaking, Toge caught Yuuta’s gaze and asked, “Was that what you wanted to try?”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I was more thinking of just copying a technique in general. But then you just froze and your eyes looked so panicked and I guess I went with the one I knew the best.”

“You’ve used cursed speech before?”

“Yeah, it was one of the first things I tried once I learned I could actually copy techniques. I mean, I’d seen you use it a few times and neither Maki nor Panda really had anything tangible I could use for practice. Of course,” he continued, growing more flustered, “I guess I should have asked before, since it’s a hereditary technique and I really don’t want to cross any boundaries.”

“It’s alright,” Toge signed. “I don’t care about that kind of thing. I just want you to be careful, I guess. And I know better than anyone just how much damage cursed speech can deal back to you.”

“I will be. Despite that last move, I’ve actually practiced quite a bit with your technique. I know I’ve said it before, but I really respect your abilities, Inumaki. Or, Toge, I suppose.”

Toge often found compliments towards Snake Eyes and Fangs to be rather hollow, but the small addition of his given name at the end—and, of course, the fact that it was coming from Yuuta—made it feel more sincere, more real. He found himself smiling at the sentiment, despite the…well, everything that had just gone down.

“We should probably head back,” Yuuta said, moving to stand. “Copying abilities is more tiring than you would think.”

“Just take it easy on the way back, okay?”

“Of course.”

On the walk back to the hotel, a quiet chatter filled the space between them, underneath which was a layer of absolute exhaustion. Even if the curse hadn’t been a powerful one, it had still caused problems for both sorcerers. Toge was grateful to just have a bit of conversation to pull him away from the events of the evening.

This chatter was replaced in the hotel room by the comfortable silence that often followed the pair. It wasn’t an empty silence, no. It was filled with sideways glances and smiles when eyes met and the desire just to exist near someone else, nothing more. It was the type of silence that Toge could live in, the type that could carry his messages without a single breath.

As they both laid in the dark, too tired to sleep, Yuuta broke the silence once more that night.

“Are you alright?”

“Shake.”

It was a lie that Toge knew was going to break soon enough.

“Alright, I’m taking this,” Yuuta said out of the blue, snatching Toge’s phone directly out of his hands.

“Okaka!” He protested, reaching out for it with all his might, even standing up (an insane effort for eleven in the morning). Unfortunately, Toge was cursed with both short, stubby legs and a very tall best friend. And so, even as he stretched all of his limbs, the phone continued to be out of reach.

At this standstill, Toge knew there were two options for him. The first was puppy dog eyes. This option worked relatively well on Yuuta for reasons that evaded Toge, as well as steadily flustering the taller boy, which was always fun. But it always felt a little like giving up, like begging for mercy in an otherwise unwinnable situation. And today was a day for fighting.

So Toge took the second of his options. He proceeded to climb up Yuuta’s side and grab onto his arm.

Was it a good idea? No, of course it wasn’t. But Toge wasn’t in the business of good ideas—he fought to win, which in this case meant getting his goddamn phone back. He didn’t even know why Yuuta had taken it, all he knew was he couldn’t lose, even in this ultimately meaningless interaction.

Somehow, by some miracle, Yuuta stayed standing as Toge essentially climbed up him. He switched the phone from one hand to another before Toge had the chance to grab it, yelling, “Inumaki, no!”

“Shake!” Toge responded, which in this case essentially translated to Inumaki, yes!. About now was the time that he would be asking exactly why Yuuta had taken his phone, but his hands were sort of occupied with attempting not to fall to the ground, which made sign language sort of an issue. Also, he had committed to the bit.

As Toge continued to shift upwards towards the phone, stretching across Yuuta, he nearly lost his hold as the taller boy began to laugh, his whole body shaking with the sound. “Stop, you idiot! I’m gonna drop you!”

The idiot did not stop. Not until Yuuta moved his arm sharply, making Toge miss his target for another handhold and promptly topple to the ground with the wasted momentum. He groaned, the impact less painful and more disorienting, considering he was currently sideways on the floor in the relatively small space between the two beds of the hotel room.

He heard Yuuta begin laughing even harder, which was accompanied by the click of a camera app. The bastard had taken a picture. He had used his own phone, hence the noise—Seriously, who didn’t have their phone on silent twenty-four-seven, now? Was he an old man?—and Toge’s phone appeared to be stowed snugly in the pocket of his sweatshirt.

“Oh, Maki is absolutely going to get a kick out of that,” Yuuta said as he watched Toge stumble back to his feet and scowl at him. “Don’t look at me with that tone of voice. You may not be saying anything but your actions speak volumes.”

“Is this the point where you tell me what we’re doing and why you took my phone?” Toge signed to him, as both boys sat down on the beds, opposite each other.

“Well, actually, I was hoping you would do that.” Yuuta non-answered. Toge cocked his head, hoping for a little bit more explanation. “I mean, it’s your hometown after all. Is there anywhere you wanted to go while we were here? We can’t just sit here all day.”

“Well, I sure can,” Toge protested.

“I know as well as you do that if we just sat here all day, we’d both just worry about the event. I do it by asking questions and annoying you, and you do it by doomscrolling. You can’t tell me I’m wrong.”

Toge grumbled. He wasn’t wrong, which was the frustrating part.

“Seriously, Toge. I know it’s been a while since you were here, but there’s got to be somewhere that you enjoyed.” (Mental note, Toge was both flustered and overjoyed every time Yuuta called him by his first name. Why did he have to be like this? Best to just table the thought and come back later.)

It really had been a while since Toge had actually been in his hometown, which was a mix of being pushed away and actively avoiding everything to do with his old life with the clan. But there were a few places that came to mind. The local park might be weird, considering they were both in their late teens, and it had typically been filled with small children. There were a few restaurants, but frankly, all of them were either probably closed down or a bit too date-y for the situation. And this wasn’t a date. Totally not.

Anyways, no park and probably no restaurants—although they should probably still eat something considering it was nearly noon. Most of the other things that came to mind were out of season or too uncomfortable to suggest, all except for…

“I think I have something in mind.”

“Great!” Yuuta said. There was a pause as he looked straight at Toge. And continued looking at Toge. And fidgeted. And looked at Toge some more. “You, uh,” he started again, “you gonna tell me?”

Toge hummed, then simply said, “Okaka,” and grabbed his wallet, heading towards the door.

Yuuta groaned and followed, asking, “Will you tell me if I give you your phone back?”

Toge made a show of thinking about the question, then signed, “Maybe,” and left it at that, heading out of the room.

In the span of an hour, the two had left the hotel, walked in the general direction of Toge's intended location—which he still refused to disclose to Yuuta—gotten lost because Yuuta refused to give Toge his phone back and the smaller boy was absolutely horrendous with directions, walked back to the main town and gotten crepes. Now, they were finally heading the right way since Yuuta had given up the ghost of knowing what was going to happen next.

So now, after actually following the directions from Toge’s navigation app, they arrived at their destination.

“Is this a plant store?” Yuuta asked. It was a fair question just from the look of the building, which appeared to be made largely of glass, with walls of flowers lining the inside and blocking their vision of anything past the leaves.

“Not quite,” Toge signed back to him, approaching the signage by the entrance. “It’s a butterfly garden,” he said, barely containing his excitement. Turning around, he called out, “Tsunamayo!” Follow me!

By the time Yuuta caught back up with Toge, he had already gone inside to the admission counter and bought them both tickets. “Wait, Inumaki, hold on!” But it was too late, and Toge had already paid for the both of them. Really, it was payback, since Yuuta had taken it upon himself to pay for the crepes, a crime that could not be overlooked.

The person at the counter handed Toge the tickets, and he in turn passed one to Yuuta. “Ready?” he signed, motioning towards the door into the greenhouse with his head.

“Wait, I’ve never been to one of these before. What exactly are we doing here?”

Toge gasped. “You’ve never been to a butterfly garden before? Oh, thank god we’re here then. These places are absolutely amazing! It’s like a normal garden but…better.”

“I mean, I figured that, but is there anything I need to do in particular?” Yuuta fidgeted as he talked, which was how Toge knew that, for some reason, he was actually nervous about this.

“You really just walk around and look at the plants. And the butterflies, of course. Just don’t try to touch them on purpose. It’s fine if they move around or onto you, but just be careful.” Toge added a “You’ll be fine” when he saw the taller boy’s movement wasn’t changing at all.

“Alright.”

As they neared the threshold, Toge wondered exactly why Yuuta was nervous of all things. Like, why would he be nervous? It was butterflies, for god’s sake, what exactly could go wrong? Unless he was afraid of butterflies. Toge stopped short of the partition.

“Hold on, are you scared of butterflies?”

“No!” Yuuta squeaked, his face flushing. “No, I’m not afraid of butterflies.”

“Allergic?”

“Also a no,” he said. “This just seems like a really special place to you and I don’t want to mess it up.”

Toge sighed. “You won’t mess this up. Trust me.”

Yuuta’s face softened as he took a breath. “I always trust you.”

Finally, they continued into the greenhouse. Toge’s breath hitched in his throat and so did Yuuta’s from the sound of it. Even though he’d been to this exact garden multiple times in the past, it had been years since his last visit. Even now, in the middle of autumn, Toge was astounded by just how vibrant it was.

The flowers surrounding them were all in full bloom, thanks to the warm, humid air. It was a sea of green and pink and white and red and green, green, green. And then, of course, there were the butterflies.

They flitted from plant to plant in the air around them, not so many that it felt like a swarm but enough that you never forgot they were there. Most of the time they were white or brown, but they never felt dull or disappointing. They were real and fragile and, most importantly, alive.

“Whoa, Toge,” Yuuta breathed, breaking the relative silence. “I think I get it now.”

“Shake,” Toge responded quietly, moving further into the greenhouse. It was all vaguely familiar to him, the bends in the building and even the decorations and fences around certain areas of foliage. But much of it was new, a previous blur now sharpened in the reality in front of him. Everything he saw slotted together like a puzzle he had once finished but took apart, finally completing the image that replayed in his mind on the occasional rainy day.

Toge left his phone in his pocket, though he wasn’t using his hands for anything. For once, he didn’t feel like he needed to take a picture. He didn’t feel like the thing right before his eyes was going to disappear, like it was going to leave him without a word of goodbye. It was the antithesis to everything jujutsu sorcery, and it was the kind of thing that kept Toge sane.

He and Yuuta lingered in the same room for a while, one of the central areas. It was a large, rounded room with trees surrounding the edge, which were somehow a fraction of the size you would normally see in nature—science was truly a wonder. In the center was a group of shorter flowering plants, which in turn encircled a tiny, bubbling fountain. And every time you moved your eyes, you could see another butterfly.

Toge caught sight of Yuuta observing one of the plants towards the center, when the taller boy bent down to get a better look. Toge returned to his tree until he heard, “Hey, come check these—”

When Yuuta failed to complete his sentence, Toge did indeed look back towards him to find him in a squat before one of the bushes, with a butterfly sitting square in between his eyes. Toge burst into laughter and he could see that Yuuta was trying with all of his might not to move and disturb the butterfly. This was exactly what Toge remembered. No, it was even better.

He moved toward Yuuta slowly and reached to take out his phone. Scratch what he was thinking earlier, he needed a picture of this. Or several. Several wouldn’t hurt. How could he take a selfie without it looking like something Gojo-sensei would take? Ah, to hell with it, this was hilarious.

Unfortunately, just as he was positioning himself behind the front camera, the butterfly flittered off of Yuuta’s face and he let out what was perhaps the world’s biggest breath, literally collapsing to the floor. Toge laughed a bit more, leaning over his friend and signing to him, “You good there?”

“You are cruel and unjust,” Yuuta said, “and I demand you delete those images at once.”

“Not until you delete the pictures of me on the ground from earlier,” Toge signed. “Come on, idiot.”

Yuuta grabbed the hand offered to him, grumbling slightly (something about how Toge was a bad friend and a traitor, etc.) as he made his way back onto his feet. “Hey,” he started, “can you pull up the pictures, actually? I didn’t get a good look at the butterfly, believe it or not.”

Toge nodded and swiped back through his gallery for a picture that clearly displayed the butterfly. It was a relatively small thing, but its wings were a gorgeous patchwork display of black, white, and a deep, rich purple. It was miles away from the white butterflies that filled most of the area.

“Huh, I wonder what kind it is,” Yuuta said, leaning in for a closer look, before Toge slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“Whatever species, it was brave, for sure,” Toge signed. “I went here all the time and I don’t remember a single visit where a butterfly did anything more than land on my hand for all of a second. Even that was rare.” 

“Wow. That’s…really neat, actually.” Yuuta turned to the room again, contemplating the rest of the area around them. “How did you find this place?” He asked, turning back to Toge for a response.

“I ran away from home a good bit as a kid. Never very far, and never for long, but each time I’d go a different direction. One day, I happened upon this place. It was smaller than it is now, but it was quiet and calm. Being surrounded by essentially all of your extended family every second of every day was a lot, so it turned out quiet was what I needed.” The words simply seemed to flow out of Toge. He had never actually told anyone about the garden before, now that he thought about it, but it felt right. It felt like Yuuta was the person to share it with.

The rest of the visit was covered in a blanket of near-silence. It was once again the silence that Toge wished to live in for the rest of his life, the kind that wrapped around his mind and soul, the kind that said, you can rest now. The kind that only came in moments like these, surrounded by plants and butterflies and memories and Yuuta, the boy who he loved like no other.

“Okay, but you can’t tell me that you knew we had a national butterfly,” Yuuta said, facing the mirror and failing horribly to arrange his tie in some semblance of a proper form.

“Okaka, tsunamayo mentaiko,” Toge said. I didn’t, but to be fair, you didn’t either.

“You were supposed to be the one who knew all about this stuff, right? I mean, you were basically quizzing me about what we saw on the way home.”

“Ikura.” Oh, hush, you.

It was honestly painful watching Yuuta struggle. Seriously, it makes sense that you wouldn’t know how to tie a tie if you didn’t have to do it often, but the mess he had made it into was impressive. In a horrible way.

Toge walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Yuuta’s hands stilled at his sides and he looked at the shorter boy through the mirror. “Let me help,” Toge said. It didn’t come through in his signing, but he was basically pleading at this point.

“It’s alright, I can get it if I keep—”

Toge placed his hands on the other sorcerer’s shoulders, spun him around, and took hold of his tie. It took him a good few minutes just to undo the damage that Yuuta had done, but once the fabric was looking somewhat straight again, Toge began to go through the motions of tying it. In about half the time it took to untie the thing, it was looking acceptable, finally.

Toge backed away and looked up towards Yuuta again. His face had grown a bit red. Toge frowned and signed, “Too tight?”

“Huh? Oh, no, it’s fine. Thanks,” he stammered. Toge started to catch on.

“Dude, you don’t have to be embarrassed about not knowing how to tie a tie. Most people don’t, it’s chill.”

“No, that’s not—I’m not embarrassed, I just didn’t want to bother you.”

“I was more bothered watching you butcher that thing.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Toge turned to the other side of the hotel room, walking into the bathroom for its larger mirror. He was wearing all black, a dress shirt and pants, nothing really special, except that he wasn’t wearing a mask. His jacket was in the other room, but he wasn’t all that sure he was going to wear it. While it was cold outside, he would love to see the looks on his family’s faces if he wore an incomplete suit and rolled up his sleeves while he was there. Still, he had to admit, the outfit looked a bit bland without the tailoring of the jacket.

After fixing his hair (which basically entailed combing it down a little and then letting it do what it wanted), he walked back out, to see Yuuta in his completed outfit. It was fairly similar to Toge’s but in white—a bold move. He could pull it off though, and damn if he didn’t do it well. His hair had been slicked back to show more of his face and the black tie was well secured within his own white jacket. Toge had told him multiple times that he really didn’t need to go to these lengths, but as he had said, he didn’t want to be causing more trouble than he needed to.

Yuuta was now poking around his luggage. He looked up at Toge when he reentered the room, who signed, “Looking for something?”

He frowned, and responded, “Yeah. I brought a pocket square to put in the jacket, but I can’t find it.”

Toge cackled. Yuuta had to know this was over the top at this point, right? A goddamn pocket square? To an event where Toge was going to be telling his family to fuck off and essentially nothing else? He really was an old man.

“Hey! Don’t laugh. Even you can’t deny this is a bit…monochrome.” It was, Toge could give him that. Still, it didn’t stop him from laughing.

“Oh my god, Yuuta. You always find something to worry about.” Toge smiled, and continued, “We can pick something up for that sad, barren pocket of yours along the way.”

“Hey, you knew what you were getting into when you invited me to come along.”

“If I remember correctly, you were the one who asked.”

“And you still said yes!”

They continued bickering for a while like this. Toge always found it fun to mess with Yuuta because while he couldn’t quite take it in stride—which was the part that made it fun to begin with—he didn’t seem to mind it and could dish anything right back. One-sided teasing was never quite as fun to Toge, and no one could match him quite as well as Yuuta. Of course, there were Maki, Panda, and the first years, but Maki was vicious, Panda oblivious, and the first years were their own bundle of trouble. Nobara was downright deadly at times, and Yuuji and Megumi were…well. They were Yuuji and Megumi.

As promised, before the two met up with their driver to the Inumaki estate—which was unnecessary, considering Toge knew exactly where it was, and it was only a fifteen minute walk away from the edge of town—they stopped to get something for Yuuta’s outfit. They found a small flower shop on a corner and Yuuta talked Toge into getting them matching flowers to pin on each of their jackets. The ones they decided on were a deep purple, almost blue. Toge had to admit, the pop of color really worked well for the taller boy’s outfit and even on his as well.

There was a chill in the air as they made their way to the pick-up location. Maybe Toge would wear his jacket after all.

Toge found it strange, more than anything, to be on the Inumaki estate again. It was the place that he lived for his entire childhood, the place that he was supposed to feel comfortable. And yet, of course, it was the one place he was told he would never return so long as he was alive. But here he was, standing in the foyer with Yuuta, only a few rooms away from the entire clan.

In no uncertain terms, Toge was terrified.

However, he had to admit, it was nice to have someone to take it all on with. Yuuta seemed as scared as he was, if not more, but his presence still brought Toge a feeling of security that never existed when he was alone with his family. It was them against the world, one awful jujutsu clan meeting at a time.

It was relatively empty in the front room of the estate, with barely any furniture, and nothing but a few paintings adorning the walls. Of course, Toge still remembered that those paintings had cost an exorbitant amount of money for something that people were only going to look at for a few moments before continuing through the door in front of them. Along with the surroundings, there were a few members of the clan who were stationed at the front to direct any guests to the main meeting room. It wasn’t like there were many guests in the first place, but the important families always loved to play up any situation.

While Toge didn’t really recognize the people at the door, they certainly seemed to recognize him, all of them nearly recoiling from the sight of him—hopefully from surprise, but honestly, fear wasn’t out of the question. The reaction continued to a lesser amount in regards to Yuuta, likely due to his status as a special grade. They didn’t actually say anything out of place to either of them though, simply fixing their faces and telling them which of the many winding hallways to take.

“Hey,” Yuuta said quietly as they were walking together. “Do…do your relatives talk? Because I’m fairly sure I saw at least one of the people in that front room had the sigils for your technique.”

Ah, right. In his rush to bash everything about his family, it seemed that Toge had neglected to tell Yuuta about, oh, just the basic things he needed to know. “Shake,” he said, still walking beside the taller boy.

Before they reached the doors into the main room, Toge poked Yuuta on the arm, who turned to him. “I’m gonna hold your arm. More convincing. I hope. Don’t be weird about it.” He signed this all, of course, as he was currently being weird about it. He stopped himself short, trying not to think any more about it, and just did as he said he would, interlocking his arm with Yuuta’s. It was comfortable, being beside him. He could get used to this.

Oh god, this was going to be awful.

Toge swallowed down his nerves and took a breath. All he had to do was reach out. He could take it from there. In one smooth motion, he pulled the door open and walked into the room before him, dragging Yuuta along.

They always said crossing a barrier of some kind had significance in the world of jujutsu sorcery, and never had that been more true for Toge than now. As soon as he went through the door, the air around him froze. Every molecule of every living and nonliving thing before him just stopped for a moment and turned towards him. Faces and bodies and fangs and eyes, all facing his way. Just like the people at the entrance, the whole room seemed to be slightly shocked and possibly afraid of his presence.

And then it all resumed. The conversations in the room continued their trickling flow, the air moved through with a chill, and Toge and Yuuta were free to find their seats.

The hall looked a lot like a venue for banquets or parties with an array of small, circular tables and place settings for the general clan members and any of their guests, and a long table on a raised platform at the head of the room for the clan leaders. However, it carried a similar sense of understated wealth as the entrance had. While Toge had never been allowed in this room before—since he hadn’t been an actual sorcerer quite yet—he knew how much money the family higher-ups were willing to throw at something just to make it fit their ideal. The silverware alone had likely cost them a fortune.

While they were walking around the room for the first time, Toge found his arm shaking. No, that wasn’t right. His arm was…being shaken. He found, as he looked to his side, that Yuuta’s arm was shaking. And a short glance at the other boy’s face betrayed that he seemed petrified. Honestly, it was really more his brand than Toge’s, and the clan could be quite intimidating from the outside, but he still wasn’t the one that had to tell all of them to fuck off. Then again, this was Yuuta, a boy that nearly cried when he stepped on someone else’s foot and got scared when he had to give criticism.

As the two found their seats—at a currently empty table, thank god—Toge unhooked his arm from Yuuta’s and put a hand on his shoulder. Frowning, he signed, “You okay?” He always knew the answer when he asked, but it really meant, what can I do?

Yuuta took in a rattling breath and let it out with a nervous laugh. “I should be fine, honestly. This is your battle.” He paused for a moment, gripping the back of the chair in front of him, then continued in a whisper, “Why do they all look so scary? Like, seriously, they all looked like they were going to kill me there when they walked in.”

Toge chuckled, and responded, “You and me both.”

“Okay, but this will genuinely help—what can you think of now that you didn’t tell me before? Because judging from the questions running through my brain right now, there’s a lot.”

“It wasn’t on purpose, I swear.” Toge took a second to think before replying further. “There are a few things, I think. First of all, like you asked earlier, basically all of the fully-fledged sorcerers with my technique have learned to talk normally. That doesn’t include any kids, but there aren’t many now, and none will be here tonight. After that, there shouldn’t be much you should have to worry about, but know that the people who will be sitting at that front table are the clan leaders. Like the rest of them, they’re assholes, but I find it’s best to humor them. I’ll let you know if any try and talk to us.”

“Okay. I can work with that.”

“Also, not everyone in here has cursed speech, as is probably evident from the lack of seals on some of the people around you. And lastly, if anyone looks afraid, it’s either because I’m next to you and someone spread some rumors while I was gone, or because you’re a special grade. Both are equally likely, so just keep it cool. Try to act like a human person.”

“No promises,” Yuuta grumbled. After another breath, he released his iron grip on his chair and ran a hand through his hair. While Toge recognized it was likely another nervous gesture of his, he had to admit that oh god it was hot. He could allow himself to have gay thoughts for a moment. He deserved it.

“You ready to go pretend to be boyfriends?” Toge signed.

“Yeah." A pause from Yuuta, followed by, "Not really, but I’m going to anyway.”

Turning back to the rest of the room, the two headed out into the crowd. It was time to go play nice.

“So, how did you two meet?”

It turned out that they were not, in fact, ready to pretend to be boyfriends.

The past thirty minutes or so had gone relatively smoothly. Toge and Yuuta had wandered around the room together, saying polite greetings to the family members around them, and maintaining some semblance of patience for the negative reactions they continued to get. It took Toge an extreme amount of restraint not to simply melt to the floor every time he saw a familiar face in the room, and he was surrounded by them. Basically everyone around was an aunt or an uncle or a cousin, or something along those lines, and most seemed to remember him. It was hell, to put it bluntly.

But he endured. He had Yuuta, and if he had learned to do anything through his years living with the clan, it was to hide his emotions. And occasionally, he’d see a person that he had considered a genuine friend while growing up, and they all seemed happy enough to see him, which was a nice surprise.

Of course, that was until one of these friends—a second cousin, although Toge remembered his lack of an innate technique, but not his name—asked them the question at hand. Now, the initial question wasn’t a big deal. They did have a legitimate explanation for how they met, and honestly, Toge’s first meeting with Yuuta, and by extension Rika, made for a pretty good story. No, the real problem came with the question immediately after.

“And how did you get together?” This came with an incredibly obvious wink and an attempt at a nudge, which turned into almost more of a shove, considering he was standing directly across from Toge.

Toge and Yuuta had not prepared this far. Toge barely thought he would have to introduce the other sorcerer to anyone, thinking his special grade rank might make them keep away a bit. And yet, there they were, with no consistent story.

Yuuta seemed to recognize this as well and began stuttering. “Well, um, you see, it was…”

“He confessed to me while we were training one day,” Toge signed and nudged Yuuta’s side. “I was actually about to do it myself, but he asked before I got the chance to.” He was really hoping that the taller boy would recognize he was riffing off the way they had decided to go to the event together.

“Right!” Yuuta yelped, face reddening slightly. He really needed to get better at not being so obvious when he was embarrassed about something, but it was fine. 

His relative nodded, leaving the question there to pose another one.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why Toge here?”

Toge, in an effort to get out of the conversation, turned his head to find…alright, look. He couldn’t say that he didn’t expect this to happen, but he had still pushed away the eventuality every time it popped up in his mind. He really wished right now that he had actually thought about what to do in the past two weeks, because maybe he would have been prepared for when his parents showed up.

But of course not. So now, here he was, standing in front of his parents who disowned him years ago, with nothing to say. Well, that was a lie, he had plenty of things to say. He had been thinking about this all for years, but he couldn’t say most of it in front of the rest of his family. Not yet, anyway.

“Toge?” His mother asked. Neither of his parents had the Snake Eyes and Fangs themselves, but she was the one he inherited the technique from. His father had married into the family, deciding to take on the clan name, so obviously it wasn’t in his lineage.

“Hello.” Toge signed, quick and curt. He didn’t want to waste any words on the conversation if he didn’t have to.

“I see you’re still using those silly little signs,” his father said. “I really thought you would have learned how to speak normally by now, but oh well.”

Growing up within the clan and inheriting its technique meant that his parents had been equipped to deal with his abilities. Of course, what they knew to do was what the elders told them, and the elders were the ones perpetuating the past ways of the clan. So, his childhood had looked like a lot of pushing to learn how to “talk like a person,” and many, many painful accidents on Toge’s part. Even when he found a solution—use sign language when he could and use the rice ball language he had come up with as a kid when he couldn’t—his parents simply looked disappointed, even if they did agree to learn for him.

“Oh! Is this your friend?” His mother sounded genuinely more happy to see that Toge had brought someone than she had about him being there at all, but that was really par for the course at this point.

“Shake,” he said with a nod and motioned to Yuuta.

Yuuta took the cue to introduce himself. “Yuuta Okkotsu, ma’am. I’m your son’s boyfriend.”

(And now for a Gay Thoughts Interlude, courtesy of Toge’s brain—it felt surreal hearing those words coming out of Yuuta’s mouth. That may have just made the entire night worth it for him.)

“Okkotsu? As in, special grade sorcerer Okkotsu?”

“The very same,” Yuuta said with a smile. Despite his nerves before, he really seemed to fall well into the role of a guest here.

“Toge, why have you never told us about him?” His father said. It sounded teasing, but coming from him it could have been a genuine reprimand.

“I’m not quite welcome when it comes to communication with the clan.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, dear. After tonight, we’ll all be back together. After all, look how you’ve grown! A semi-first grade already, eh?”

“Sure.” They were acting like nothing had happened. Already. It really did sound like they were never going to acknowledge the past. To be fair, Toge wasn’t planning on bringing it up any sooner than was needed that night, but he still fumed internally at the friendly tone his parents had towards him.

Standing on the side of the conversation, Toge’s cousin cleared his throat. “Um, apologies, but I was about to ask Okkotsu a question.”

“Of course,” his mother said, “don’t let us stop you.”

“So, why Toge?”

This really couldn’t be much worse, could it? Looking over the situation, it was an absolute clusterfuck. He was in a room full of people who had disowned him but were intending to ask him to return, and he was planning on saying no, so that made it weird. More directly, near him were his parents who he hadn’t spoken to since said disowning, and a cousin who was asking his fake date a question that would have already been incredibly invasive for a real date. On top of everything, said fake date was terrible at improvising. Toge prayed to god that this would end soon.

He saw Yuuta fidgeting, but as he began to speak, there was surprisingly little worry to his words. “Well, we’ve been classmates for about two years now, and Toge is…amazing. I don’t have many other words for it. I mean, of course he’s attractive, that’s a given, but it’s more than that. He’s kind, kinder than anyone realizes. He’s funny, for someone who doesn’t say a word out loud. And he’s strong. Not just in his technique either, he’s mentally and morally strong. It would take a lot for me to sway him on something he’s made his mind up on and I respect that.”

The thing about Yuuta’s words that rattled Toge was how absolutely sincere they sounded. He must have practiced some responses on his own beforehand, which was the most Yuuta thing that Toge could imagine. But now, he’d managed to put so much meaning behind his response that, for a moment, Toge thought it was all real.

It was a nice moment.

Before his relatives could respond, there was a call from across the room for everyone to make their way to their seats as the actual meeting would be beginning soon. While this wasn’t enough to make Toge forgive whatever beings put him in this situation to begin with, it was a relief, and right on time.

He and Yuuta did as asked of them and returned to their table, although it was all a bit awkward after what the taller sorcerer had just said, and generally the uncomfortable situation they had just escaped. Still, hopefully, it wouldn’t be much longer now, and after that, he was absolutely prepared to berate the fuck out of the clan then bolt. It would all be smooth sailing after that.

Their table was…empty, except for them, which felt strange. With their location near the center of the room, it almost felt like they were being put on display. He wondered if this was what all of their guests had to deal with or if it was a sort of special treatment for them, a snake and a special grade. Whatever the reason, it put Toge on edge. Yuuta seemed to be feeling the same way—he always seemed on edge, of course, but the contrast to his chatty guest persona earlier made it especially evident.

As the rest of the family settled in around them, the leaders also filed into their spot at the front of the room. As he had always remembered, the table was made up of old men, most with the sigils for cursed speech. The former was the standard for the big clans of the jujutsu world, and the latter was the standard for the Inumakis in particular. Now that he thought about it, nothing had really changed since Toge was gone and it felt nearly uncanny. Sure, a few people had grown up, but it was all in essence still the same. The realization, though small, shook him to his core. They had all moved on without him.

Toge felt a nudge at his shoulder. He looked over to Yuuta’s once again worried face. “You alright there?”

“Shake,” he whispered, lying. “Just a bit nervous.”

“Hey, you can absolutely get through this. Just…do what you’re going to do. I’m sure you know it by this point.” Toge nodded. As vague as they were, Yuuta’s words were still comforting, in a way.

The front table was now filled. An attendant to the side began the meeting announcements. They were really quite mundane, nothing too different from the opening remarks at a normal organizational meeting anywhere else. Of course, the clan leaders themselves weren’t saying anything—why leave the boring things to the people in charge? Still, their eyes were scanning the room, often finding rest on Toge and Yuuta, which really did feel like they were there to simply be observed.

“First order of business,” the attendant began, breaking the rhythm of opening statements, “is the reentry of Toge to the Inumaki clan. I now hand this topic off to you, sirs.”

After a pause, the person sitting in the center of the front table responded. He said, “Thank you,” and cleared his throat. Toge braced himself. His mind was racing with honestly so many different things, between what to say and when and what exactly the reaction from the room was going to be. There were so many variables that were just now dawning on him, clouding his mind.

And then the clan elder began to speak again. “Toge has been separated from his clan for some time now, but we’re sure you all remember him. He inherited the Snake Eyes and Fangs and although when he was younger he had poor control over his power, his status now as a semi-grade one sorcerer at only seventeen says to us leaders that he deserves a place back in his family. So, Toge, from all of the Inumaki clan, welcome back.”

Toge’s mind was still clouded, but a tunnel had formed through the fog. At the end of that tunnel was nothing but absolute rage. Years. It had been years since he had been here and they had the gall to not even ask if he wanted to return? No, of course not, they would always assume what they thought was best. And they thought, since he was stronger now by their standards, that of course he would want to slot back into his old life. He was tired of this shit.

“Okaka.”

Toge had stood up from the table now, with his arms crossed in front of his chest to make his meaning explicit.

There were murmurs across the entire room. “What do you mean?” One of the leaders said, clearly confused.

“Okaka,” Toge repeated again. “I mean no,” he signed after that. “I’m not rejoining the clan, and I never will.” He heard a few gasps across the room, but mostly it was continued murmuring. Only one or two of the leaders at the front seemed to have any sort of reaction to what he just said.

The leader sitting at the center of the table spoke again, saying, “Toge, we need you to speak whatever you’re saying out loud.”

That’s when it dawned on him. They didn’t know what the hell he was saying because they didn’t know sign language. It wasn’t much different than what Toge remembered from when he was living here, but still, it angered him to no end. This was a whole group of people who existed around others—especially around children—that couldn’t speak without the possibility of harming those near them. And yet, they didn’t make a goddamn effort to understand what the hell those children were saying without making them speak.

“He said he’s not rejoining the clan and he never will.”

Yuuta. He was standing now as well, looking towards the higher-ups. His face was neutral, which was rare in these kinds of situations—being very expressive for the most part—but certainly helped, due to the whole resting murder face thing. Yuuta was generally a lot more intimidating than Toge was when neither was saying anything.

Yuuta looked back to Toge and squeezed his shoulder. “You keep going,” he whispered, “and I’ll interpret for you. No censorship.” Toge nodded and shook out his hands, the equivalent of a breath before a rant for him. He could do this.

“I’m not coming back,” he began, hearing his words echo back to him. “You all abandoned me for years and I’m not going to forget that, like you all seemed to have done.”

“Of course we haven’t forgotten,” one of the clan elders responded, “but we’ve grown past it. We thought you might have done the same.”

“Grown past it? Past the fact that my own family abandoned me in the course of a day with no help and sent me off to strangers? I’ve grown stronger while I was gone, I’ll give you that, but I have not grown more submissive.”

“But we can make that right, you can be a part of the family again!”

“No. None of you are my family anymore. Maybe once, but that time is long gone. And—make it right? What happened to ‘What you did is unforgivable’? Have you moved on from that as well?”

“No, of course not. But you know better now.”

“You don’t think I knew better then? You’re telling me you looked at me, sobbing and asking for forgiveness, telling you it was an accident, that it was my power that you knew I couldn’t control, and decided that I didn’t know any better? That because I was young I meant to kill that girl? Are you saying I killed Minori on purpose?”  

Toge could feel the hot prick of tears behind his eyes, but he blinked them back. He couldn’t show weakness, he couldn’t show weakness, he—

“Toge?”

Yuuta sounded breathless, like he had just been knocked to the ground. Toge looked up to his face and he seemed…scared. Or worried. Or maybe both.

“What do you mean kill?” the taller boy whispered. And Toge shattered.

It was a miracle that he remained standing. His knees felt like they were about to buckle, his hands were shaking so badly that they were nearly bringing the table with them, and his arms were trembling. There was no holding back anything at this point, so a slow trickle flowed from his face, leaking through the cracks in his eyelids.

“I’m leaving. Don’t expect me to come back.” He walked as quickly as he could to the door to the room, and after he passed the threshold, he could hear Yuuta passing the message on to the rest of the clan, followed by footsteps rushing towards him.

Before Toge could round the corner away from the doors, he heard them slide open again. He refused to look back, but he could hear Yuuta yell to him.

“Toge, please wait, I’m not—”

“Leave me alone.”

And then he ran.

Toge’s actions only really sunk in when he was back on the edge of town. As he was blindly stumbling forward, he realized four things: he left Yuuta alone to come back to a place he didn’t know, he had used his cursed speech on his best friend, his throat hurt like hell , and he was really, truly alone. He knew that he felt…something. It might have been sadness or grief or anger or simply fatigue, but he didn’t really feel it in his body. It simply hung in his mind, waiting to finally make impact. In that way, it was a lot like a cursed womb.

It was fitting. After all, Toge was nothing but a curse.

When he gained a bit more lucidity, Toge surveyed his surroundings. The streets weren’t completely dead, but they were certainly dead quiet. The only sounds around were his steps in a thin layer of crumbling leaves and the rustling of those still on the trees. The buildings around him repeated in similar shapes for a few minutes, until one side of the street opened to a wide, flat area covered in grass.

The public park. Like the rest of the town, it had been essentially abandoned. Toge turned towards the open space and began walking on autopilot to the small playground not too far from there.

Toge both felt and looked pathetic, sitting on the too-small swing set. His jacket had been abandoned onto a bench, although he had removed the flower to fiddle with. His sleeves had been unbuttoned and uncuffed and his shirt was untucked, making it obvious it was just a bit too large. The light movement of the swings was soothing, but it didn’t help the numbness that had taken over Toge. That emotion was still simply hanging, not absorbing into him. He was just a bit grateful for it.

Toge could hear what sounded like a voice in the distance. He couldn’t decipher what it was saying, but it was probably just someone returning home late from a hike or something of the sort. The town still seemed to be full of woodsy types, so it wasn’t too out of line for someone to be in the forest around now. He was sure they knew their way around.

Even when he began to hear their shouting and how frantic it was. They would be fine.

Even when he could hear their footsteps pounding across the line from gravel to pavement. It was all okay.

Even when he recognized the voice. Nothing was wrong.

Even when Yuuta called his name from across the park and came running.

It was only when Toge turned around to see him that the bubble popped, a weak “Yuuta…” escaping his lips before he broke down, the emotion hanging in his mind finally filling up his body and his heart. He was drowning in frustration and anger and sadness and so many things, but most of all, guilt.

“Toge!” Yuuta yelled, rushing to his side, kneeling to face him. “Hey, hey, talk to me,” the boy said, his voice much softer now. Toge couldn’t see him very clearly through the tears, but his face seemed to carry the same kind of softness as his voice. It was comforting.

Toge searched for something to say to him, and just signed his first idea. “Your pants are gonna get dirty,” he said, hands shaky but still able to get the point across. He let out another sob.

“Don’t worry about me right now,” Yuuta responded. “Tell me what’s wrong. Tell me what I can do.”

“Why do you still want to help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I used my technique. I pushed you away.” Another wave of that strong guilt washed over Toge, his actions piercing through his mind once again after he actually signed them.

“But I came back,” Yuuta insisted. “You can’t keep me away that easily, Toge.” After a pause, Yuuta reached out to Toge, making a motion to hug him but stopping just short.

“Can I?”

“Please,” Toge responded. And as Yuuta wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, he felt that softness, that patience, that care that Yuuta had used in his voice, in everything. He held Toge like he was all at once afraid to break him and afraid to lose him. Another sob racked Toge’s body, the contact breaking through a wall he didn’t know he had up.

For quite a while, the two just sat there, Toge in Yuuta’s arms, crying the years’ worth of tears he had stored since leaving the clan, the rest of the world on mute.

When Toge’s body had stopped shaking, Yuuta backed up a bit from him. His hands were still on Toge’s arms like he was scared to let go. “Hey,” he whispered, “can you tell me what happened? What you meant in there? You don’t have to, of course, and it sounds incredibly personal, so it’s your choice. But—”

“It’s alright,” Toge signed with wide eyes, “you deserve to know.”

“You seem scared.”

“Yeah. I don’t want you to hate me.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Toge’s elementary and middle school experiences had been fraught, to say the least. His early education was all done within the safety of the clan estate. After all, what would be better for an aspiring cursed speech user than being within the care of more cursed speech users? No one else would understand him, in the end.

Except that not even his family really cared to understand. It was a lonely existence, to grow up with only people who want to fit you into a mold of their making. They didn’t want Toge Inumaki, they wanted the perfect Inumaki. And when he disappointed them, they simply jammed the square peg he was into the round hole of their expectations even harder.

Toge’s petitions for his parents to let him attend the school in the town nearby began after the second time he ran away. He didn’t even remember why he had run for the first time, he was only about eight or so at the time. What he did still remember, though, was the park. He had left in the middle of the day on a weekend, so parents and children were populating the open green. Toge wanted so badly to run out to the other kids and play with them, to see what it was like to be a kid outside of the clan. But when he realized that would involve talking, he decided to simply sit on the edge of the tree line and watch instead.

It was definitely better than being in the Inumaki estate, that was for sure. The park had a sense of energy and freedom that even the other kids at home never provided Toge. For starters, the grass was soft. He didn’t know that was possible—all the grass on the lawn of the estate was short and scratchy, if a bit greener, but laying down on the ground here felt like a blanket.

On top of that, there was a constant chatter. Toge found that many factors of the Inumaki clan came in extremes, and noise was certainly one of those factors. Either he was isolated and silent, or he was surrounded by his relatives who never seemed to stop talking. But right now, it was a quiet buzz keeping his mind occupied without being painful or tiresome.

What Toge still wanted more than anything was to be a part of it, but he knew why he had to be away from it all. Can’t go around cursing people just because you want to have a conversation, right? So he was still alone.

That was until a part of the crowd came to him instead.

On his second adventure out into the park—again, for a reason Toge couldn’t recall—a girl about his age came up to him as he was sitting and picking at the grass.

“Why are you alone?” She had asked. And honestly, Toge didn’t have a good answer to it. Even if he did have an answer, though, he wouldn’t have been able to give it. So he simply looked up at her and shrugged.

Instead of leaving him alone like most people in the estate would have, the girl simply sat down next to him and started talking. She wasn’t even really worried about a response, she just. Talked at him. And the more Toge listened to her talk about her life, the more he realized how strange his life was. He didn’t go to school, he didn’t have friends, and he didn’t get to do fun things or get rewards when he did well. He was just…pushed. In every aspect of his life.

Before Toge left to return to the estate that day, the girl asked him something.

“My name’s Minori. What’s yours?” 

Skimming around himself, he realized there was no writing implement he could use. But that day, he said his first non-cursed word to someone outside of the clan.

“Toge.”

It took a bit of pushing to get his parents and the elders to agree to him going outside the safety of the clan on a daily basis, but with enough pushing and whining—and too many instances of him running away to go to the park or the butterfly garden—they finally caved, and Toge was enrolled in public school.

He loved it there. The teachers were kind to him and the classes held his interest far more than those he was getting at the estate. He would have done just about anything to stay in the town forever. But things were…different from what he had expected of a school. It was a lot lonelier.

The questions started with innocent curiosity on his classmates’ part. What’s that on your face? Why do you live in the woods? Why don’t you talk? And Toge would answer, writing his responses on a pad of paper for them to read. But he could never say specifics because his family always told him that other people wouldn’t understand. Unfortunately, the other kids didn’t know that.

Their words turned from innocent to malicious with what seemed like the flip of a switch. All of a sudden, Toge was known as the “freak” of the school, someone who wouldn’t talk even if he was capable of it, who had no good reason not to say a word, who clearly must have thought he was too good for the world. Toge wanted nothing more than to tell them the truth, to talk to them about curses and cursed energy and why he couldn’t speak unless he wanted to hurt someone.

But he had Minori.

Minori was a bit of a social outcast as well. She lived in the woods, sort of like Toge, although she simply lived with her parents. She had been seen as weird and annoying for most of her life, and the student population seemed to hate her, but she didn’t really notice, or if she did, she didn’t care. Toge deeply admired her ability to simply carry on with her life, despite the disdain she was met with around every corner.

And of course, outcasts had to stick together.

So the two would eat lunch together, be each others’ partners in any projects where they would otherwise be the leftovers, and spend as much time together as Toge could manage. His parents didn’t like him forming such a deep connection with a non-sorcerer—they always said that normal people weren’t worth making friends with because they didn’t know about the world of curses. But for once in his life, Toge didn’t care.

Minori was actually the one who helped Toge communicate. The way that he explained his situation was that he couldn’t say normal words since they would make people do things. Instead of prying further, she simply said, “What about words that can’t make people do things?”

From that, the two brainstormed ideas, branching off Toge’s favorite food, rice balls. She was the one who suggested a yes and no system with any other words used to fill in. Once again, his family hated this—the elders especially—seeing it as a crutch. But it made talking with Minori a whole lot easier, even if he didn’t use it with anyone else. It felt good to be able to use his voice for once without worrying about hurting someone.

Until he did hurt someone.

One day, Toge got beat up. It wasn’t too out there for him and it had happened before, but this time was especially bad. The pain he shouldered, the bruises that now littered his body, they weren’t even really the worst part of it. He was starting to get sick of all of this, and that scared him. He had said he could deal with anything to go to school away from the estate. He could handle anything for just a bit of freedom.

But he was starting to lose his grip on this problem. He wished he could just let loose a little, to finally use those words of his and just show everyone that he shouldn’t be messed with. It was a terrifying thought, to someone who had been trained his whole life to stay quiet when talking to humans and only use his cursed speech on monsters.

But what if humans were the monsters one day? What then?

So Toge sat in the empty stairwell and cried. He wanted to be strong, but damn was it hard to be tough when he was a small child, afraid of the very kids he went outside to befriend.

And then there was Minori. She stood right in front of Toge, without an ounce of fear, and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

In that moment, millions of things went through Toge’s mind. Why was she here? Would the kids be back for her? Why wouldn’t she leave him alone? Would he be left alone again? What did she want to hear? What did she need to hear?

But one thing came to the forefront of his mind, pressing through the seams, surrounded by fear and despair:

“Leave me alone. Go home.”

As the words slipped out of his mouth, nothing but a whisper, Toge felt his cursed energy escaping at a rapid pace, ripping through his throat and tongue on its way up. It was sheer pain, but Toge pushed it away for a moment to look up at his friend. He only saw her back, walking down the stairwell, with the faint sound of crying.

And he didn’t see her again. He never knew her full fate. Not until the job they had taken on just the day before.

Toge was kept at the estate for the following days to heal, and though he was expecting some sort of punishment, all he got was…silence. No one really came to see him unless they were giving him meals or checking on his wounds. A pressure built in the quiet as Toge stayed in bed and tried to think about anything other than Minori—a futile effort.

The last thing he really remembered from his time with the clan was his parents entering his room. Their faces looked cold and almost emotionless which sent shivers running through Toge. He braced for the worst but never could have really known what his mother was about to tell him.

“The person you cursed is dead. We’re sending you away from the clan. You can no longer remain here as you are and you can not return.”

Yuuta was quiet for a while after Toge finished signing. He hadn’t entirely stopped crying, but he felt calmer. There was an emptiness in knowing you had just ruined something great, something you loved, and there was nothing you could do. It was a silence that rang through Toge’s mind and body as he stared at Yuuta.

Eventually, Yuuta looked up. “Toge…”

“Okaka,” Toge interrupted, figuring the coming blow would be softer if it came from his own mouth. “You don’t need to try and accept this. It was awful and I know that, to this day. I killed someone, Yuuta, and I don’t expect you to think of me as a good person anymore. Even if it wasn’t my intention.” He looked down.

“No, Toge. I was about to say I’m sorry.”

Looking back up, Toge wasn’t entirely sure he had heard that correctly. But seeing Yuuta’s face, full of concern and kindness as he had seen it so many times, he was shaken. “What?” he signed, although he figured the face he was making would have been enough of a message to the other sorcerer.

“Yeah. I’m really sorry you had to go through all of that.”

“If this is pity, I don’t need any.”

“No, not at all,” Yuuta said, as it seemed like he was staring through Toge’s eyes and into his soul. “I’m serious. That’s an awful thing for any kid to go through. I mean, your best friend died. And maybe it was because of something you did, but trust me, you are not a bad person, Toge. If your past actions decided who you are today, then I suppose I’d be just as bad as you. I did curse Rika and kept her in this world for years after her death, after all.”

“That’s different though.”

“Is it really? Because maybe I didn’t kill her directly, but I certainly did something that hurt her—and a ton of other people—in the long run.”

Toge took a shaky breath. In, out. In, out. Yuuta was right, he supposed, but it just felt…wrong to forgive himself for what he did. “I promised I’d remember,” he signed.

“You can remember a wound without keeping it from healing. Let yourself scar, Toge.”

“But I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want to just brush it aside because it’s been a while or because maybe I have a bit better control now.” He paused, fighting off more tears. “Everything in my life is fake. My family was fake and my feelings seemed fake—they still do. God, even my first relationship is fake.”

“Can I tell you something?” Yuuta asked, moving to stand up and pulling Toge with him. As the two stood parallel, he reached his hands up to grab Toge’s face, but hesitated. Toge nodded.

He leaned into the touch as Yuuta cupped his cheeks, wiping the tear stains off his face. “I was never faking a thing,” Yuuta whispered. “I love you, Toge, scars and all.”

Toge’s eyes shot open. Yuuta began to pull his hands away, saying, “If you don’t feel the same, I understand, but—”

Toge grabbed the taller boy’s hands, returning them to his face. He went to shake his head, or to sign a response, but he didn’t want to let go. No, that wasn’t quite right. He couldn’t let go. Not again.

“Yuuta,” he began, slowly and methodically, working to stem his flow of cursed energy as he spoke. “I…love…you…too.” And in a moment of bravery, Toge leaned into Yuuta and finally kissed him.

It was so much better than he could have imagined even if he had been daydreaming of it for months now. The way they sunk into it, fit to each other like they had been molded just for this. Toge moved his hands from on top of Yuuta’s to around his waist, desperate to pull him just a little bit closer, hold him just a little bit tighter. Because for once in his life, he knew he had something that was real.

The two parted, both breathing deeply. The only annoying part about kissing was the whole lack of fresh oxygen thing. Before Toge had the chance to go back in, Yuuta asked, “How can that be comfortable for you?”

Toge cocked his head to the side, essentially asking Yuuta what he meant.

“I mean, I know I’m bending down a little, but standing on your toes has to hurt,” he answered with a laugh. Toge hadn’t even realized his current position, but now that he had, Yuuta was right. His feet were already aching from standing up at the meeting, and this sure as hell wasn’t helping the matter.

“Come on,” Yuuta said, grabbing Toge’s hand and pulling him over to the grass. He sat down, crossing his legs and motioning for the smaller boy to sit on his lap. Toge happily obliged and put his arms around Yuuta’s neck. As soon as he did, he could tell Yuuta was certainly embarrassed, considering the heat nearly radiating from his face. Of course, Toge couldn’t say that he himself wasn’t feeling the same, but he really didn’t care if he was blushing or not.

As the two continued their kiss, Toge was nothing but happy. It was simple, and incredibly unlike what he had been feeling just minutes before. The night had certainly taken a turn, but honestly, he couldn’t care less. Because as he sat with Yuuta, the boy who he loved like no other, and who loved him just the same, he finally didn’t need anything else.

You only really realize how much something meant to you after you had left and come back. So now, being back on the Tokyo Jujutsu High campus, Toge was figuring out just how much the place had really become his home. It was the place that he knew all the way to his bones, that he could navigate blindfolded. He certainly had a new appreciation for it after the weekend he had.

Also, this was the first time he was there with a boyfriend. So that was pretty cool.

As Toge and Yuuta walked to the open central field—holding hands, Toge might add—they could hear the distant shouts of both their classmates and the first years. It seemed that, with the absence of the two boys, the rest of the second years had resorted to training with their underclassmen, and from the sound of it, it was going swimmingly.

“Panda, I swear to god if you don’t put me down—” came the voice of Nobara, her statement cut off by a shrill scream. Ah, yes, falling practice. Toge knew it well. They crested the hill on the outside of the field to see Maki sparring with Yuuji, of all people. Maybe she’d gotten tired of fighting Megumi, who was just sitting to the side looking on. Yuuji attempting to fight a weapon user with his bare hands was certainly an interesting sight. And, of course, there was Nobara laying on the ground on her back and Panda cackling a few feet away.

“Konbu!” Toge called out, running down to the rest of the students, still holding onto Yuuta’s hand.

“Toge, slow down,” Yuuta began, before promptly tripping over his own feet and rolling the rest of the way down the hill. Toge stopped short, letting out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a laugh. In his defense, it was both surprising and incredibly funny.

He rushed down to the taller boy, who was currently in a bundle on the ground, not looking too different from how they saw Nobara a moment ago. He stood above Yuuta, and signed a quick, “You okay?” before offering his hand.

Yuuta groaned and took it. “This feels somewhat familiar.”

Toge unzipped his collar and pressed a quick kiss to Yuuta’s forehead as he was helping him up. “I mean, you knocked me on my ass when this all started, so it’s only fair that I do it to you when it ends, I suppose.” Yuuta laughed at that, and the noise made Toge almost giddy. Everything Yuuta did had that effect now. Well, it all had before, but especially now.

“Oi, Okkotsu,” Nobara yelled from across the yard. “If you’re so eager to be on the ground today, come take my place!”

“Not a chance!” Yuuta yelled back as the two continued walking toward the rest of the group. Yuuji and Maki had paused their sparring, the former waving to the pair and the latter staring with an emotion that Toge couldn’t quite make out from their distance.

The whole group met near the stairs that Toge and Yuuta had neglected to use, with Yuuji, Megumi, and Panda sitting on various levels, and Maki standing, one hand holding her polearm and the other arm around Nobara’s shoulders.

“Welcome back, Inumaki!” Maki said. “Please tell me you sufficiently fucked with those bastards.”

“Sure did,” Toge signed. “Yuuta helped quite a bit too.”

“Honestly, I just translated and talked politely for a bit. All the real work was Toge.”

“Oh?” started Panda. “First name basis?”

Toge turned to Yuuta, asking, “Do you want to tell them or should I?”

“How about I just…” Yuuta said, trailing off as he unzipped Toge’s collar for him this time, bending down to place a quick kiss on his lips.

“That works,” Toge said with a smile—mostly to hide the light blush that still showed up on his face every time Yuuta so much as breathed near him. Damn that boy.

“Oh god, you two are going to be insufferable, aren’t you,” Maki groaned.

Yuuji gasped. “Inumaki, Yuuta, I never knew you liked each other! Congrats!”

“Seriously? It’s been obvious for a while,” Megumi said.

“You’re expecting too much of him, Fushiguro,” Nobara teased.

Megumi smiled at that and responded affectionately with, “Ah yes, his chronic brain cell deficiency.”

“Hey!” Yuuji protested with a slight pout. “I may be an idiot, but you love me anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” Megumi said.

“Hey, what about Rika?” Panda asked. It was…a very good question.

“Don’t worry, she’s fine with it,” Yuuta said.

“This is the first I’m hearing of this,” Toge signed. In truth, Rika had sort of slipped his mind between the confession and now.

“I asked her while you were asleep this morning. She seemed surprisingly on board, honestly.”

“We love an ally,” Toge said, laughing.

“It really has been long enough,” Maki said to the two. “Okkotsu, you have no clue how long I’ve had to listen to Inumaki pining for you. It was actually ridiculous.”

“Okaka!” Toge said, pulling on his collar to hide his face further. Yuuta laughed and ruffled the shorter boy’s hair.

“Oh, hey,” Maki continued, “since you’ve officially left the clan of your own accord now, what should we call you? Because I’d figure Inumaki isn’t in any longer.”

Toge considered the question a bit, before signing his answer. “I’ve gone by it so long outside of the clan that I kind of separated the name from the people, if that makes sense? Like, I’m not an Inumaki, but I’m still Inumaki . So I think I’ll keep it.”

Maki smiled at him. “Cool. Sounds good.”

An incredibly loud gurgling noise came from the stairs. Toge glanced over to see Yuuji clutching his stomach, looking away from the rest of the crowd. “How about lunch?” He squeaked.

Yuuta smiled. “We can tell you what happened over some food.”

“I’m glad to be back.” Toge grabbed Yuuta’s hand after he was done signing and signaled for him to lead the way this time.

As the group was walking to the kitchens, a small butterfly flitted next to them onto a tree. It would have been easy to miss, except for its dark purple, almost blue hue. And Toge Inumaki knew exactly what to expect as soon as he saw it.