Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You practice resurrection every night

Raising the dead under the moonlight

And in the gloaming, I start to cry

You're a perfect pearl hung in the sky”

“Daffodil,” by Florence and The Machine

Stop doing that. 

Toge watches Yuuta squint from across the room. He blinks furiously at the page in front of him, trying desperately to make sense of the new letters that have appeared in his book. They’ve already faded by the time he scrubs his eyes back open, and with them, so have the rest of Toge’s hopes for peace and quiet. 

It’s not often that the library is empty the way Toge prefers it. The other students are only invited into the village for the day once every month, and Toge has learned to savor every moment of their absence. He can lay his hands on any book he wants as the dust collects around him, unworried about catching glances or whispers while he reads about everything from alchemy rituals to zodiacal applications. It hadn’t been easy for Toge to get into this school. Now that he's here, he’s going to scrape as much information from the archives as he possibly can.

He’s been prepping for today all week. Toge is going to graduate at the top of his class of course, just to thumb his nose up at the admissions board for ever doubting him. That meant learning to be responsible about his thirst for knowledge. If he’s dedicating a day in the library solely to personal enrichment, that means all of his assigned work has been done well in advance. 

If it hadn’t been for a last minute problem sheet in their mystical statistics class, he’d already be reading for pleasure. It’s easy enough work, at least. All he’s meant to do is calculate the probabilities of how likely certain potions are to succeed when difficult to come by materials have been omitted. Toge already knows most of the answers just from paying attention in class. All he really needs to do is copy them down from his notes and his day can finally begin.

It would be simple, if not for Yuuta Okkotsu and his incessant knee bouncing. 

The heels of his dark loafers thud mercilessly against the mahogany floors. The stained glass windows chatter and shake in protest. The monotonous staccato bounces off the vaulted ceilings, thriving in the void. On a normal day, with other students bustling about and ignoring the courtesy of a quiet study space, it probably wouldn’t bother Toge. Today, it commands the entire space. Nothing else exists besides Yuuta Okkotsu and the continual thunk. 

Toge eyes the offending shoes with a silent scowl. They’re black, just like everything else Yuuta wears. At first, Toge thought that was just another enigmatic affectation of his. Yuuta had always been just gloomy enough to make people lean in and take special notice. It took Toge a little while to realize that the monochrome was less of an aesthetic choice, and more a way for Yuuta to hide the fact that he can’t actually dress himself properly. The design was clever enough. If every article of clothing Yuuta owned was one color, that meant his outfits would always match. 

Today it’s black dress socks, a high waisted pair of dark slacks, and a midnight sweater that melts over his shoulders like it was made just for him. Perhaps it was. Knowing Yuuta though, he’d probably just found it in a bin somewhere and shrugged it on to discover a perfect fit. Yuuta always seemed to simply fall into ideal situations like that. Even from the day they first met, it was clear to Toge that Yuuta was kissed by the golden lips of luck. 

It must be nice. All fashion mishaps aside-

Your knee is bouncing, Toge tries again. He needs to distract himself from the bitter bile creeping up his throat. It isn’t Yuuta’s fault that he stumbled into the life Toge spent so many years fighting to achieve. Your knee, he scribes once more. Please stop.  

This time, Yuuta doesn’t even stir. Perhaps he wasn’t reading that book of his so carefully, after all. That makes matters even worse. If he’s not absorbing the words of the massive anthology he’s dragged out of the resource room, then what was the purpose of his presence here? If he’s going to be a perpetual distraction, he at least ought to be learning something. 

Toge changes tactics for what must be the tenth time since he wandered in and set down his mug of lavender tea this morning. Yuuta hadn’t even looked up at him then, so involved in his reading that his lips twitched with each word. Toge thought he’d announce his presence by softly clearing his throat, but there was no reaction. He tried to stop worrying about it after that, but the foot tapping has only gotten more persistent. Toge tried a little knock on the table to get his attention. Nothing. He graduated to a loud stomp on the hardwood. Still, Yuuta was completely engrossed. 

It was only by complete necessity that Toge brought his magic to the surface, closing his eyes and imagining a neat, scholarly font to insert on the pages of the book in front of Yuuta. That seemed like the gentlest way to interrupt him. 

This time around, Toge ditches the pretty font. He’s done being subtle. He’ll do whatever it takes to finally garner Yuuta’s attention. 

Yuuta Okkotsu. Look up. 

Toge watches him innocently mouth the words until he suddenly gasps, shooting backward and nearly tipping his chair over. A yelp rings out as he flails to keep himself upright, catching the lip of the table just in time. 

Jeweled blue eyes snap to Toge. 

As always, it’s the only color on him. The stark contrast of Yuuta’s eyes against his ghostly, black and white form is no less alarming to Toge than it was the first time. His eyes aren’t nearly as arresting as Gojo’s, but they’re a close second. Probably something to do with the clan resemblance. It only makes sense that the second most powerful wizard in the Gojo family would have an echo of their signature glowing eyes. The darker color suggests something a bit more sinister, though. Secretly, Toge has always suspected that there was a jagged edge somewhere beneath the perpetual curve of Yuuta’s friendly smile.

Not that he’d ever been close enough to check. Yuuta is the golden boy of Jujutsu Academy. Powerful and connected and unquestionably kind, Yuuta seems to have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand. Every person at school is desperate to be in the glow of his presence, teachers included. Toge likes the guy well enough, but he’s not anxious to start throwing elbows just for a chance to talk to him. Yuuta is in high demand and Toge is far too busy with his studies to wait in line. 

For that same reason, it’s admittedly a little strange to see Yuuta at the library today. The only way he’d have been barred from attending the excursion into town was if he had a detention to serve, and Yuuta has never misbehaved a day in his life. He’s too anxious to please. So what is he doing here, then? All of his friends are out sifting through the shelves of the local consignment shop and stealing sips off of Kirara Hoshi’s iced rosehip latte. By all accounts, he should be there with them. 

Besides, Toge has never even seen Yuuta in the school’s library before the last week or so. Now he sits at the same table every day, just a couple over from the one Toge usually favors. Something major must have happened to inspire that change. Is he failing a class?

“Toge,” Yuuta finally greets, breathless. “You surprised me.” 

Toge blinks, still trying to adjust to the scrutiny of such clear blue eyes. He’s having trouble focusing on anything else.  

“What are you doing here so late?” Yuuta asks him.

Trying hard not to be a jerk about it, Toge creaks his neck over to the windows and gestures to the mid-morning sunlight streaming through. It isn’t late. If anything, it’s still early. 

“Oh,” Yuuta remarks, following Toge’s gaze. He looks embarrassed, but not particularly surprised. “Well… shouldn’t you be with the group? Today is the village visit, yes?” 

Toge purses his lips, deciding on how much to let on. Clearly, no one has informed him of the severity of Toge’s situation. The question is innocent enough, but the answer won’t be. 

Instead of a written response, Toge quickly taps on one of his cheeks and shakes his head. Yuuta is smart enough. He’ll figure it out. 

“Wait.” Yuuta’s jaw drops. “Are you trying to say that you’re not allowed?” 

Toge fights off a flinch. He’s surprised that Yuuta doesn’t already know this. It’s not exactly a secret in the world of magic that Toge’s family isn’t well received. While it isn’t a written rule that Toge isn’t allowed in town, he does know that he wouldn’t exactly be welcomed there either. When Iori was passing out the permission slips at the beginning of their first year, Toge watched her face fall when she arrived at his desk. Before she could say anything, he put her out of her misery and politely declined. 

Yuuta fixes a righteous look on his face, looking ready to march into battle. Toge waves him off, fighting embarrassment. It’s really not a big deal. He’s used to it. 

“That’s ridiculous, Toge,” Yuuta informs him. “We have to do something about this. We should talk to Go-”

The name of their best teacher dies in his throat. Perhaps he’s realized that Gojo isn’t capable of doing anything to fix the situation. That, or he’s realized that Gojo is part of the reason that Toge is even in this position in the first place. Whatever the case, Yuuta throws his hands up into the air, grasping for something that isn’t there. 

“We’ll sneak you in, then.” He nods his head, resolute. “What about a glamour?” he floats. “I’ve actually gotten really good at glamours recently.” 

Toge can’t help but frown. No, he hadn’t. Yuuta is terrible at glamours. Just last week he’d made a complete fool of himself in class, turning his clothes a garish shade of bright mustard when he was meant to be coming up with a proper civilian disguise. Everyone laughed, but Yuuta apologized to their teacher profusely. Clearly, it had been a mistake rather than a practical joke. 

Now that he thinks about it, Toge isn’t even sure how it would be possible for Yuuta to make a mistake that vivid. When Toge’s castings have gone poorly in the past, they’ve turned out blurry and flashing, not wrong. And Yuuta is good at magic. How could he not be, when he possessed an uncanny amount of it? It would be practically impossible for Yuuta to screw something like that up so badly unless he was trying to. So what reason could he possibly have for throwing the assignment on purpose?

The answer hits Toge all at once. 

We should ask Go-

Gojo. Yuuta cut himself off earlier before speaking his relative’s full name. Suddenly, that information means something to Toge.

Gojo’s presence on campus has been incredibly sparse as of late. He hasn’t taught a class in weeks. Whispers of his whereabouts have spread quickly through the halls, rumors flying. But every time those whispers start to transform into something louder, Gojo will suddenly appear from out of the ether to dispel them, almost as if he’d heard their gossiping. He pops his head into classes and strides down the rows of the dining hall, making his presence as widely known as possible before promptly disappearing again. 

Those visits have all been extraordinarily brief. They don’t even leave enough time for Gojo to snitch jam-filled cookies from the ends of dining tables or announce his presence with a joke when he enters a classroom. In fact, this Gojo doesn’t say anything at all. While an expertly-cast glamour could capture a person’s likeness faultlessly, it would never be able to replicate their voice. 

It hasn’t been him, then. All these weeks, Gojo has had an imposter walking in his place. 

Toge can’t help but make the connection. Gojo’s presence is an illusion. Yuuta has suddenly become confident enough in his glamour work to think that he could successfully sneak Toge into town for an entire day. If those two facts go together–

“What am I saying?” Yuuta backtracks, watching Toge’s eyes widen. “I’m terrible at glamours. I don’t know who I’m trying to fool! You saw me in class, just last week. You saw me, right? I did a terrible job. I was absolutely-”

Toge snaps his fingers and the book in front of Yuuta slams shut. Yuuta lets out a squawk, the false smile plastered on his face dropping in an instant. Toge storms over to Yuuta’s table, eyes fixed to the face of the hardbound book that Yuuta has been glued to all morning. Just as Toge’s about to read it, Yuuta launches his hand up and spreads his fingers over the title. 

“Nothing!” he bursts, doing himself absolutely no favors. “This is nothing! Just homework!” 

Toge cocks his head. Really? As if there was a single book in this entire library that Yuuta would need for his homework that Toge wouldn’t recognize immediately. They’re in all the same classes, except the weaponry class Yuuta takes with Maki while Toge is busy with his independent study. Unless magical tools were suddenly coming equipped with gold-foiled, multi-volume anthologies as instruction manuals, Toge is catching Yuuta in a fairly obvious lie. 

Yuuta is staring up at Toge hopefully, checking to see if his excuse has landed. He’s so invested in the success of his ruse that he doesn’t even notice Toge’s finger flick. The book is instantly propelled out of Yuuta’s grasp.

“Wait,” he calls. “Don’t look!” 

It’s already too late. Toge has a clear view of the cover now. Advanced Trajectories of Dimensional Magic, Vol. 4. On-Tr. 

Toge sucks in a breath on reflex. This isn’t just a forbidden book that Yuuta has, it’s a forbidden topic. Dimension shifting is insanely dangerous, not to mention illegal. It’s such a volatile subject that it’s not even allowed to be discussed in their classes. If done wrong, shifting doesn’t just mean death or dismembering for the caster, it also endangers the stability of both realms involved in the transfer. One wrong move could disturb the workings of their entire universe irreparably. 

How did Yuuta possibly get his hands on a book like this? Why would he even want it?

No. 

Toge’s eyes slam shut as the pieces start to connect with one another. Yuuta is studying dimensional magic and the world’s strongest sorcerer is suddenly nothing but a glamour cast by his teenage nephew. There’s no way those two things are a coincidence. 

“You can’t say anything,” Yuuta implores. Then, immediately, “Sorry.” 

It wasn’t as if Toge had never heard words like those before. Don’t speak. It scratches at him, but it doesn’t quite break skin anymore. The only person who looks truly upset about the unfortunate turn of phrase is Yuuta. He lets out a full body sigh, letting his shoulders sag forward.  

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he says simply. Toge believes that, and nods to let Yuuta know that he’s set it aside. 

Deflated, Yuuta rubs at his eyes with the heel of his hand. He looks exhausted. There’s always been a spattering of charcoal gray beneath the blue, but Toge’s noticed it growing several shades darker over the past couple of weeks. He thought he’d been imagining at first, or that maybe he’d just caught Yuuta on a string of off-days, but now there’s no denying it. Yuuta’s eyes are so tired that they practically look bruised. 

No wonder, Toge realizes. 

Yuuta is a lot of things- mainly, talented as all hell. He’s cunning, gifted, and dashing: the very face of the future of magic. Book smart, however, he is not. He couldn’t be. From what Toge has heard, Yuuta didn’t even know about the magical world until just a year before his admittance to the school. If Gojo hadn’t discovered his existence, he may have lived his whole life among mortals, completely ignorant to the world he truly belonged to. 

Even years later, there are still things Yuuta wouldn’t be privy to. Dimension shifting is high concept magic. It isn’t just something you stumble across. It's an extremely delicate science, requiring careful calculations from the user and a complete mastery of the subject at hand before it can even be considered. Toge knows with great certainty that Yuuta is not capable of achieving that mastery. 

He’s not so stupid as to attempt something like this carelessly, though. If he’s researching this, it’s not without reason.

Which leaves the thought Toge has been desperately pushing down to finally fight its way to the surface. He uses the face of Yuuta’s book as his medium, brazenly asking a question that he is quite sure he won’t like the answer to. 

Where’s Gojo?

Yuuta lets out a raspy breath, not meeting Toge’s eyes. 

“Whatever it is you think you know, Toge,” he says carefully, voice low. “You cannot tell a soul.” 

Toge’s heart sinks. 

So it’s true, then. Gojo is gone. Lost in another dimension, probably. It’s the worst possible news. 

Yuuta’s whole body clenches. His shoulders curl over darkly, as if he could physically guard the truth. Clearly, he hasn’t realized that Toge has figured it out already. It’s not like Yuuta was doing a particularly good job of hiding it in the first place. He’s openly sitting at the center of the library with a banned book on an extremely controversial subject. He’s basically asking to be found out. 

No. He’s basically asking for help. 

If the situation is as dire as Toge is thinking, there’s no way that Yuuta can wriggle his way out of it alone. He needs help. Toge knows within an instant that he will be the one to provide it.  

Call it ego, but of the many doubts Toge has in this life, his own ability has never been one of them. Toge has always had complete confidence in himself. Perhaps that comes from years of studying and hard work, or perhaps it comes from a lifetime of knowing that the only person he can trust in this world is himself. Whatever the case, Toge knows that he is the perfect candidate to help with this. He’s smart. He’s capable. He’s good under pressure. 

And above all else, he won’t tell a soul. 

What happened? Toge asks, already itching to collect information. He lays his magic on thick this time, shifting the embossed letters on the cover of the book to spell his words. Yuuta stares at it helplessly, shaking his head.

“You don’t want to get involved in this,” he says firmly. “No- I can’t let you get involved in this. It has to be me, Toge.” 

Toge rolls his eyes. Now isn’t the time for Yuuta to be concerned with morals. Even the strongest sorcerer alive isn’t able to fix this situation on his own, or else they wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Yuuta is going to have to learn to accept some help here. 

Before he can think better of it, Toge reaches for Yuuta’s hand and squeezes it tightly. The gesture surely belongs to someone much bolder than Toge has ever known himself to be, but right now it doesn’t register. All he knows is that he can’t let Yuuta deal with this on his own for even a moment longer. 

Toge can feel Yuuta relaxing under his touch, letting the tension in his body be kneaded away. He’s getting ready to give in. It's time for Toge to play his final card. 

“Yuuta,” he whispers, locking their eyes together. They both know full well that Toge is not to be speaking on campus without supervision or express permission. If he’s doing this, it’s serious.

The single spoken word is all it takes. Yuuta breaks. His breath hitches and tears spring up, welling in his eyes

“I didn’t know,” he says desperately. His lips tremble and his voice barely grazes a whisper. “I didn’t know what he was asking me to do, or I wouldn’t have done it.”

Toge’s heart sinks. Gojo didn’t just get himself into trouble with dimensional magic- he made Yuuta help him do it. 

It makes sense. The only real safeguard against dimension shifting is that it requires so much base-level magic that it takes more than one person to successfully cast. You’d need an entire group of willing magicians. So if you’re Gojo, why go to your colleagues who would surely have the sense to talk you out of it, when you could go to a teenager who wouldn’t know any better? Yuuta probably had more magic than all of Gojo’s allies combined, plus he wouldn’t ask questions. The answer is obvious. 

“Now it’s been weeks,” Yuuta whimpers, squeezing his eyes shut. Toge’s stomach lurches. Weeks? That couldn't be good. “He wasn’t supposed to be- he didn’t say-” 

Yuuta trails off, voice breaking. He sounds so small. For as long as Toge has known him, Yuuta Okkotsu has always been larger than life. Now, Toge feels as though he could cradle him with just one palm. How long has he been dealing with all this alone?

Toge raises his other hand to Yuuta’s shoulder and Yuuta crumbles beneath his touch. This burden was far too much for him to handle on his own. He barely even knows Toge, yet he’s willing to fall apart in front of him like this. He takes a deep breath, finding the strength to keep going. 

“I- I didn’t- he-” Yuuta sputters, still unable to find the words. Finally, he gives up altogether, shaking his head and sitting straight up. He swipes at the fallen tears on his cheek with a clutched sweater sleeve in an attempt to get a hold of himself. “We can’t do this here.” 

Toge nods, understanding immediately. They might be the only two students on campus today, but any witch, wizard, or sorcerer in good standings can come and use these facilities. It would be very unwise for them to have a conversation of this nature here. 

“You can come to my room,” Yuuta decides. Suddenly he is back to his usual self, swift and cool. “Just let me return this first.” 

He grabs for the book and Toge takes a sharp breath, trying to decide the best way to proceed.

It makes sense to him now, why Yuuta has been holed up in this library for the last week or so. This is the only place he can go to study this information. Or at least it should be. 

Tengen’s library is a marvel of perfect planning and infinite resources. That much is undeniable. It’s also ancient. It hadn’t taken Toge long to realize that while its rules are immutable, they also aren’t regulated. No one is watching to make sure you’re following them, nor are there any custodians of this library to check if inventory has been removed. Why would there be, when it’s impossible to remove a single book? 

The system fascinated Toge, though. He slowly began experimenting with the parameters of it, just to get a better understanding. He couldn’t walk out with a book. He could pass the threshold himself, but the book would stay stuck at the door. The same went for the windows and air ducts. Toge thought that was the whole of it, until a few days later he noticed something important. What he could do was bring an outside book into the library and remove it without any trouble. That would mean that not every book was tethered by this set of rules, just the ones that formally belonged to the library. 

Toge did a little research, which yielded the entire submission process for books in the library’s collection. Before a book can be added to the circulation, it must be directly handled by Tengen for something described as “magical processing.” Then, after the book is rebound, it’s finally added to the shelves. So only after the book is touched by Tengen does it become unable to leave the barrier. 

Once he knew that, it didn’t take long at all for Toge to realize that it wasn’t the pages of a book that contained traces of Tengen’s magic, but rather the binding. Books in the world of sorcery often came with their own magical properties. In order to preserve those qualities, Tengen had to limit his influence on them to just the outer cover. So if you’re clever about it, important information actually can be taken out of the library. All it took was a little doctoring. 

Toge figured this out during their first year and hasn’t told a soul since. If more than one person was sneaking things in and out of the library, it’s more likely that someone would discover what’s going on and find a way to close the loophole. Toge values his extra study time far too much to risk that. 

But with Yuuta… it’s different. Toge is resistant to tell him, of course. There’s no guarantee that Yuuta won’t expose him for breaking the rules. But given the situation, how can he not? This information is invaluable right now. 

It’s only fair, really, that Toge reveal himself in some way here. Yuuta is about to let him in on an incredible secret. Maybe it will put him at ease if Toge offers up one of his own. It’s not exactly an equal exchange, but it’s an exchange nonetheless. Giving something to get something else. If you squint, it’s almost like they’re entering into a contract with one another.

Toge picks up Yuuta’s book wordlessly, checking in every direction to ensure their privacy before bending down and crawling beneath the table. Toge can practically feel Yuuta’s alarm. “Wait, what are you—“

He cuts himself off as he watches Toge get situated, sitting cross-legged and getting to work. The amount of effort needed on Toge’s part to accomplish this task is so little that it should be illegal. Technically, it is. Toge catches the trim of his scarf with his index finger and tugs it down gently. Balancing the body of the book in his lap, he pulls back the cover flaps and presses his lips against the binding. “Unseal.”

The cover peels itself from the spine without protest, happily complying with Toge’s command. Tengen’s system may be a masterpiece, but his security is truly a laugh.

By now Yuuta has bent over in his chair, hanging his head upside down for a better look. It’s one of the few times that Toge is grateful for his small size. Yuuta, only a few inches taller, would never fit down here comfortably. Toge rests the newly exposed volume in his lap and leans back, pushing the edges of the book’s cover up against the underside of the table.

He’s opening his mouth to speak again when he remembers Yuuta’s presence. He eyes the other boy nervously, worried about the possibility of his command spreading and going awry.

“Oh!” Yuuta jumps, realizing. The startled motion sends his head right into the rim of the table with a dull crash. Toge gasps as Yuuta reaches to rub his head, embarrassed. He offers Toge an expression that is part cringe and part sheepish smile, eyes crinkling. “I’m okay,” he promises, scooting back his chair to give Toge room to work. Toge leans back in. 

“Seal,” he wills, causing the threaded binding of the cover to glow around the edges as it fuses itself into the dark wood. Easy. As long as they reunite both pieces one day, no one will ever know that the book was gone. 

“Will that really work?” Yuuta asks as Toge crawls backwards on his elbows to pull himself out from under the table. 

Toge nods. It’s not the kind of thing they want to be caught doing, of course, so he has to work quickly. He jumps to his feet and strides across the room, carefully tucking the stolen pages into his old leather messenger bag. They should be safe there. 

Yuuta lets out something between a groan and a sigh of relief. “That’s so much easier,” he complains. “You’re amazing, Toge.” 

If there had been a table rim above Toge’s head, surely he’d have rammed his head into it as well. He’s so unused to praise that doesn’t look like the markings of the letter A that it actually spooks him. Uncomfortable, he brushes it off, pretending not to have heard it at all. He pulls at the sage green scarf around his neck, tightening the loop so Yuuta won’t be able to see his face anymore. He’s not supposed to walk around the halls with the sigils exposed anyway. 

He starts collecting his things so they can get going. His tea, long forgotten, he’ll find a way to dump out on the way there. When he’s about to hook the strap of his bag over his shoulder, Yuuta steps forward.  

“Let me carry it,” he insists. “I don’t want you getting caught on campus with a book like that.” 

Toge frowns. He’s the one who’s stealing it, after all. Yuuta would be safe if not for Toge’s involvement. But Yuuta is persistent, holding his hand out and refusing to budge until the bag is deposited in his hand. Toge realizes quickly that denying him is pointless, and the surest way for them to get caught would be to keep quarreling about it. 

Yuuta takes the bag from him and shrugs it over his head, the well-loved leather on the brown bag completely clashing with his crisp, black style. Somehow, though- and probably because it’s Yuuta- the effect actually isn’t terrible. As they walk out, Yuuta exchanges a nervous, knowing look with Toge before sliding through the door to the library. A wicked smile spreads onto his face as he passes uninterrupted. 

I’ve corrupted him, Toge realizes. It seems that that’s happening a lot with Yuuta, lately. First with Gojo’s antics, now with Toge’s. Despite his pureness, he’s being dragged hand and foot into the underbelly of their society. He doesn’t know- at least, not like Toge does- how dark it can be there. 

As Yuuta leads them down the halls, it occurs to Toge that he actually has no idea where Yuuta’s dorm room is. He was too relieved to hear the offer, since his own dorm room wouldn’t be very useful to them. Toge figures it’s the smallest one on campus, which makes sense. Most people are assigned roommates, but they couldn’t very well force anyone to live with an Inumaki, so Toge had lucked into a single. It was the only backhanded benefit of his situation. His dorm was the furthest down the last hall of the east wing, a long haul from all of the classrooms and amenities, but at the very least it was peaceful. 

The girl who lived across from him couldn’t agree less. Miwa, a mortal-born girl who didn’t know better than to be wary of Toge’s company, has a room that’s practically a mirror-reflection of his. When she moved in, she actually cried about her placement. She knocked on Toge’s door, completely bereft and devastated to be so isolated from all of the other girls in her class. Toge tried his best to be sympathetic, but secretly, he thinks it’s a blessing. There’s no one to distract him there. 

But Toge does stray from his quarters from time to time, so he has a pretty good idea of where most of the people in their class reside. He’s frequently in Maki’s room, and the room she shares with her sister Mai is quite central. Even an unfavored Zen’in is a Zen’in. Their room was spacious and overlooked the grounds with a big picture window. Yuuta’s room must be even nicer, considering how esteemed he is. 

“Sorry it’s so far,” Yuuta apologizes, just as Toge is starting to feel uneasy. They’ve ventured into an area of the academy that Toge doesn’t recognize. It’s strange, considering that Toge has spent plenty of time exploring. He thought he had every curve of this building committed to memory by now. “They moved me in before I was old enough to start classes, so I had to be elsewhere,” Yuuta explains. “Then it just sort of… stuck. You’ll see.” 

Wait. Does Yuuta not even have a roommate then? Toge was sure he knew the assigned roommates for everyone in his class, but he supposes he’d have heard about it if someone was living with the Yuuta Okkotsu. Toge figured he was the only boy in their grade to have a single, but it makes sense that Yuuta would be given special treatment as well. It’s two very different sides of the same coin where the word special is concerned, though. 

Yuuta keeps looking over his shoulder as he leads, like he’s afraid Toge is going to slip away. Even from a few steps behind, Toge can see him chewing his lip nervously. Toge is starting to feel a bit nervous himself. He’s completely lost perspective of where they are in the building. Certainly nowhere near his own quarters, or anything else for that matter. It’s no wonder Yuuta always seems to be running late to class.

“It’s just down here,” Yuuta promises as they turn the final corner. It’s a quiet hallway with cloudy, thick glass windows lining one of the walls. Toge scans it quickly, eyes glossing over cobwebs. There’s only one door at the end of the passageway. Yuuta has his own hall? 

He looks back at Toge one last time before they approach the wide, wooden door. Toge holds his breath in anticipation as Yuuta pulls it open, but it doesn’t reveal a dorm room. There’s nothing but darkness inside and the murky smell of last night’s rain creeping in from between the stones. Certainly no one lives here. What even is this place? 

“I’m back!” Yuuta calls. Several sconces on the wall roar to life, illuminating a spiral staircase that stretches into the sky. Toge can’t even see the end of it as he cranes his neck, unable to keep track of the amount of candles as they take up flames. Had Yuuta gone to the trouble of spelling them to respond to his voice? It would be a tedious thing, spelling a candle on each and every step, but if he was using it frequently, Toge supposes it might be worth it. 

As they start the ascent, Toge is surprised to find that it just keeps going. Yuuta has more stairs than Toge has floorboards. 

“It’s a pain, I know.” It certainly doesn’t look like a pain, not the way Yuuta is bounding up the steps at a running pace. Toge is in pretty good shape, but he can already feel himself losing breath as he pushes himself to keep up. “Almost there,” Yuuta promises. 

When they finally reach the top, the door to Yuuta’s actual room creaks right open. Strange. Yuuta isn’t the type to use silent magic, not like Toge is. It’s something that takes practice and refinement. Yuuta’s magic is undeniably powerful, but it’s extremely brash. Toge hadn’t even felt it spring up. 

“Um,” Yuuta pauses before they cross the threshold, a worried look crossing his face. “Just, uh…” he trails off, looking towards his room. “Well. It should be fine. Stay close.” 

Stay close?

A million questions run through Toge’s head, but the most important answer becomes clear the second he enters the room. Finally, he understands where they are.

There’s a castle-like tower in the northern wing that looms above the rest of the building. It’s a defining characteristic of the building’s architecture. Toge has stared at it at least a hundred times, always wondering what was at the top of it. He’d even gone so far as to find the building plans in the library, but all of them conveniently left out any information that could’ve led him here. Eventually he’d given it up, figuring that it housed some great secret he wasn’t meant to uncover- sensitive books or magical heirlooms or a portal to somewhere dire. The real answer was more spectacular than he could have imagined. This whole time, it’d been Yuuta up here. 

The room is breathtaking. Toge is greeted with three dark-paned windows carved into curved, ivory-stoned walls. The outer two act as window seats, sunken out with velvet tassled cushions tucked onto their shelves. The slightly larger one in the middle centers a great oak desk. It’s a perfect match to the bedroom set, all the pieces etched with intricate designs and made from the same cut of glossy dark wood.

There’s a slight hum in the air, almost as if magic itself lived here. Toge knows that certain kinds of vintage furniture were infused with magic, but this was completely different from the dusty lilt found in the office desks of some of the more influential teachers on their campus. This was bright and alive, like electricity skimming Toge’s skin. It coats the gems on the chandelier overhead, clings to the emerald tinted rug beneath Toge’s feet, and glitters from the shiny gold handles of the clawfoot tub nestled against the western wall.  

Toge would be shy about it as well if he lived somewhere like this. Despite its small size, it’s unbelievably grand. 

But that’s not why Yuuta was embarrassed to bring Toge here. Yuuta is embarrassed because the place is a mess. His bed hasn’t been made, and probably hasn’t been in weeks judging by the mussed bed sheets sliding off the mattress. Pieces of Yuuta’s uniform are strewn across the floor and the furniture. The desk is piled high with so many loose papers that you can’t even see the face of it. 

Yuuta trudges in, undaunted. His eyes don’t even flicker to the pile of shed clothing next to the bath, almost as if the idea of Toge seeing it doesn’t startle him at all.

Instead, he goes straight to the desk and ducks out from the strap of Toge’s messenger bag, pulling their stolen book free. He stares at it as he lets it slam against the desk. Toge wonders how much of a difference a simple trick like book thieving could have made on his efforts here if only he’d known it sooner. Yuuta turns around, offering Toge a tight smile. 

“Sorry about the heat. It gets hot in here sometimes with the sun,” he explains. Toge fiddles with the brown buttons of his nubby cardigan, deciding whether or not to take it off. He’s used to being hot, especially donning a scarf most days, but it’s admittedly stuffy in here. 

Yuuta is already shrugging off his crewneck, revealing a very wrinkled button-up beneath it. With a tinge, Toge realizes it’s the shirt to his uniform. Toge had sort of suspected that Yuuta had spent the whole night in the library, but this would confirm it. He didn’t even take the time to get changed after classes, and Toge doesn’t remember seeing him at dinner. Has Yuuta really been working that long? 

He throws the discarded sweater over the back of his desk chair and sits down, shifting his focus back to the book. “It’s here somewhere,” he explains, flipping through pages frantically. “The place Professor Gojo told me he was trying to go to.” He pauses, running a hand through his inky hair. “At least… I think it is.”  

Toge approaches cautiously, trying to peer over Yuuta’s shoulder for a better look. The print is really too small for him to glean anything useful from this distance. Getting ready to settle in for the long haul, he reaches to set down his ceramic mug on the one patch of desk that isn’t papered over. 

“Wait!” Yuuta startles, eyes widening. “I wouldn’t–” 

The second Toge releases his grip, magic seizes the air around him and the cup goes flying off the table. Toge hasn’t even had time to drop his jaw by the time it’s halfway across the room, starting a trajectory that will lead it straight into one of the stone walls. Luckily, Yuuta is quicker to react. He calls on his magic instantly, lifting his hand and wrestling with the unknown force without hesitation. 

Toge’s cute, ceramic cup hangs in the balance as Yuuta struggles, a deep frown falling on to his face. “Rika, no.” 

Rika? 

There’s a firm but chiding tone to his voice, almost as if he were scolding a child or a pet. Whatever he’s said has seemed to work, though. After a one last moment of tension, the strange presence skitters back into the walls and the cup is free. Yuuta floats it over effortlessly, dropping the mug into Toge’s outstretched hands. His heart beats furiously as he catches it. He hadn’t realized his attachment to the object until the moment it had been dangling in mid-air, poised to break into pieces. 

Maki picked it out for him on her first trip into town when they started at school. She’d been resistant to go, not wanting to leave Toge behind, but Toge insisted. He wouldn’t be the reason her fun was spoiled. To encourage her, he gave her a task. He told her she had to go into town because he was desperate for a new tea mug and wouldn’t be able to pick one up himself. It wasn’t true of course, the ones their school provided worked perfectly fine, but Maki’s whole face lit up when she heard the request. She loved a mission. 

That night, she returned with a brown paper bag and a smug smile. The mug she’d chosen for him was well-sized, a touch bigger than the ones in the dining halls that Toge always seemed to drain too quickly, and around the rims and handle were delicate, hand-painted flowers. Pale pink peonies and lavender sprigs, tied together with flicks of light green for the stems. 

Toge practically cried when he saw it. He expected Maki to come back with the first mug she saw, and was perfectly content to let it collect dust on his dresser until he could get rid of it. Instead, she’d toiled with it, looking deep into his soul and somehow finding its exact match. No one had ever done something like that for him before. No one had even known him well enough. 

It’s how Toge knew that Maki was a friend for life. He’d assumed her early interest in him was an act of defiance against her clan. Toge was displeased to be used like that- he wasn’t interested in being befriended for the sole purpose of pissing someone off- but he’d let it happen anyway. It wasn’t like anyone else was knocking down his door to be friends, and Maki turned out to be remarkably good company. He’d grown fond of her snarky and contrary ways, even when he found himself on the wrong side of them. He figured he’d enjoy their friendship while it lasted, since surely it would crash down on him someday. It never did. 

He swallows, the tender memory making him unexpectedly emotional. His chest tightens, but he ignores it. He can’t let himself get distracted with that right now, not when Yuuta is staring up at him expectantly. 

“Toge,” he ventures. “Do you believe in ghosts?” 

Toge nods awkwardly. Of course he believes in ghosts. It wasn’t really something to be believed in or not- ghosts were real, and that was an undeniable fact. There were books about them, and Toge has read a good amount of them. 

“Well, then.” Yuuta coughs, shifting in his seat. “Would you like to meet mine?” 

He doesn’t look over for Toge’s approval, but he must assume he already has it. Yuuta raps lightly against the wall and the magic beneath it starts to stir. Toge had felt it retreat there after being scolded. Now it’s rising up to the surface again, hovering atop the floorboards like morning fog blanketing the grass. Toge gets gooseflesh as it closes in, skin crawling. This magic- it has a heartbeat. How could it possibly belong to someone no longer alive?  

“Rika, come say hi.” Yuuta’s voice is gentle and smooth, fit for a tamer of great beasts. “And be nice to our guest. He’s a friend of mine, understand?”  

Yuuta has grossly overestimated Toge’s bravery here. He’s never met a ghost before and has never once had a desire to. The uneasy feeling settling over him, hot breath spreading against the back of his neck, is not one he’d like to get familiar with. Whatever is looming over him, it feels as though it could snap at any moment. He’s never felt more in danger. 

Then it all shifts. The presence- Rika- is done taking a sniff at him and has decided to move on. The threatening magic pulls back from Toge and transforms into something playful and jubilant. It does a sweep of the room, every object in sight briefly shaking, a flourish not unlike fingers being dragged down the keys of a piano. A cool breeze rushes against Toge’s cheeks, a result of her dancing across the room. Hair rustling in the wind, Yuuta chuckles beneath his breath. It’s slightly strained, but it's still the happiest he’s seemed all morning. 

“Rika is a friend of mine,” he explains. “Or at least, she was. We were close when we were kids and then she died unexpectedly. If she’d been friends with a mortal, she’d have passed over without issue, but since she was friends with me…” 

Toge can figure out his meaning easily enough. Only people who possess magic are able to see ghosts. That’s why they’re so common in the magical world. Without someone to perceive them, there’s no real reason for a ghost to stay on this plane. If Rika had been friends with someone ordinary, she wouldn’t be here now. There’d have been no one else to attach herself to. But with Yuuta around, she could stay tethered to earth indefinitely, especially since Yuuta wouldn’t have known how to help her pass the way any other sorcerer would. 

From what he remembers though, Toge is pretty sure a ghost can only stick around for long spells if they have unfinished business to attend to- a promise they were meant to keep or a vengeance they were determined to carry out. What was Rika’s?

“We had it in our heads at the time that we were going to get married,” Yuuta reports. “But obviously, it wasn’t meant to be.” He rubs his shoulder, as if tending to a sore spot. “I didn’t know how to help her. Or at least, I didn’t until I met Gojo. He showed me how to help her finally find peace. That’s why we can’t see her anymore.” 

Wait. This was the presence of a ghost that had already passed on? Toge had thought it was strange that he wasn’t able to see her, but he thought that perhaps she was choosing not to reveal herself to him quite yet. 

“Apparently, a bit of my magic fused with her spirit. Her soul has crossed, but her will…” Yuuta gestures to the room around him and the windows rattle in response. “It’s still iron strong. She’s not going anywhere.” 

Toge always has trouble believing rumors he hears around school, but suddenly he harkens back to a few he’d been told about Yuuta. Those always seemed to be the most outlandish, almost as if someone was purposefully trying to knock him down a peg. Toge had mostly disregarded them.

But once he’d overheard someone, speaking in a hushed voice, saying that Yuuta had been something of an outcast in the mortal world. Supposedly he’d done unforgivable things, and that’s why he was always shrouded in darkness. Toge didn’t believe that for a second. Yuuta was so obviously incapable of causing hurt. 

A temperamental and misunderstood ghost on the other hand, could do a lot of damage. Toge wonders if that’s how Gojo wound up stumbling upon Yuuta in the first place. If a vengeful ghost was wreaking enough havoc in the mortal world, it would warrant a powerful wizard being dispatched. There’s really no other explanation for how Yuuta would have been plucked from obscurity.

“When I moved in here, so did she,” Yuuta continues. “I don’t think I could switch rooms even if I wanted to.” He scratches the back of his neck shyly. “Which, I guess isn’t the worst thing in the world- it’s not like this place is a dump or anything. The council is a little pissed about it, though. Gojo wasn’t supposed to be letting me live up here in the first place.” 

That makes sense. Gojo adopts a dangerous kid from the mortal world, throws him up in a tower where the council wouldn’t find him, and trains him til he can no longer be denied. It certainly sounds like something their teacher would do. Maybe the rumors Toge has heard over the years were never rumors at all. Maybe Yuuta really had been a menace to the mortal world, even if by proxy alone.

“She’s friendly though,” Yuuta assures. “Well… mostly. I’d hold on to your valuables, just in case.” 

Toge looks down at the mug in his hands. He knows in an instant he will never leave it vulnerable to Rika’s whims ever again. Toge has never been quick to trust, and this spirit- this thing he cannot even see- is no exception to that rule.

There’s a moment where Yuuta looks lighter, relieved to have gotten this secret off of his chest, but the levity is gone as quickly as it arrived. Yuuta’s gaze flicks back down to the book in front of him, and the weight of the world is on his shoulders once more.

“Sorry for bothering you with all that.” Yuuta shakes his head, pulling the book closer. Toge finds that it wasn’t a bother at all to be confided in like that, but it doesn’t really seem necessary to tell Yuuta that. “You didn’t come here to listen to me drone. You’re here because you’ve figured it out.”

Gojo is missing, Toge supplies. Yuuta catches the spot on the page Toge has chosen to infiltrate almost immediately. He nods solemnly. 

“He summoned me to his chambers one night for dinner. I’m close with him and his family, so it didn’t strike me as odd. But his family wasn’t there. It was just the two of us,” Yuuta recounts, squinting as he tries to remember. “He kept smiling. I didn’t think anything was wrong. And when he said he needed my help with something… it seemed simple.

“I’d send him somewhere, he’d take care of some business, and he’d be back in a couple days. He laid it all out like it was nothing. And I believed him. Of course I believed him.” 

It all seems foolish to Yuuta in hindsight probably, but Toge can see exactly how easy it would be to be tricked by Gojo. Gojo lived on a plane of existence somewhere above the rest of them, godly and all-knowing. Toge is wary of everyone he meets, yet even he is unable to resist one of Gojo’s easy smiles. When Gojo says something, it becomes law. Every bone in your body believes that it's true. 

But Gojo is calculating. He’s clever and knows how to work around every rule that this world has ever known. Yuuta is far too trusting to begin with, and deceiving him would be child’s play for someone like Gojo. He’d known exactly what he was doing. There was something he wanted, and he knew how to get it without a single person on this planet being any the wiser. 

“I didn’t know it was illegal,” Yuuta says in a tiny voice, seeped with guilt. “I was so stupid. I didn’t even pick a book until he’d already been gone for over a week.”

Yuuta stares out the window, eyes tracing a grayish sky. His thoughts far away. Toge has to guess that Yuuta has spent the last few weeks replaying every detail of his last encounter with Gojo in his head, searching for clues. Toge can only hope his memory can be trusted. Gojo is fierce and confident, but he’s also not the type to leave things up to chance. If he was getting involved in something this dangerous, there’s no way he didn’t set up some sort of failsafe. 

He wouldn’t be stupid enough to make Yuuta that failsafe, though. Right? 

No. Not when Yuuta didn’t even know the first thing about dimensional magic. There’s a trail of breadcrumbs here somewhere, Toge is sure of it. They just have to find it. 

Yuuta is still gazing across the lawn, so Toge changes his medium. He wiggles his fingers and a layer of frost covers the glass, a perfect receptacle for Toge’s message. Did he say where he was going? Toge asks, the letters coming out about as neat as they would have if he’d written them with the warmth of his finger. Drippy condensation leaks down, threatening to cover the message almost as fast as Yuuta can read it. 

“He said it was a place where magic doesn’t exist and time doesn’t pass,” Yuuta answers thoughtfully. Toge wonders if those were Gojo’s words exactly. “I know. Why would he want to go somewhere like that in the first place? I asked him and he said it was preventative. I still don’t know what that means. I should have asked more, I should have–”

Toge shocks Yuuta into silence as he yanks the book away, his brain starting making sense of Gojo’s words. A place where magic doesn’t exist. A place where time doesn’t pass. Toge has read about that before, he’s sure of it. He flicks through the pages, passing the rest of the O entries in the anthology and moving on to the P. Now that he has the right information, It doesn’t take him long at all to find what Yuuta’s been looking for. 

Prison Realm. 

Toge spots the phrase on the top of a page and raises his finger to it, poking the words anxiously. Yuuta squints as he follows the trail, a small gasp escaping as he reads the brief description beneath it. 

“That’s it.” He pulls the book closer, clasping both sides like the information might slip away. “Toge, that’s it.” 

Before Toge can process the ramifications of that- of Satoru Gojo being trapped in the prison realm- Yuuta’s shoulders start to cave. He lets his head droop forward, pressing his forehead to the face of the page as he lets out a deep, ragged sigh. 

“I’ve been looking for two whole weeks,” he reports. “I’ve been in the library every night, going through the entirety of the first three volumes of this anthology page by page. And you found the answer in less than a minute.”  

Toge is glad that Yuuta’s face is too buried in his book to see Toge’s expression, because he can’t hide the cringing look of pity he’s giving Yuuta right now. It wasn’t fair. That’s an extremely niche piece of information that Toge happens to know. There’s no way someone like Yuuta could be expected to know that. 

But still. It had taken him two, technically three weeks, to even figure out where Gojo had gone to? Toge already knew that Yuuta was in over his head with all this, but he’d really underestimated the scope of their woes here. In two weeks of trying to solve this by himself, Yuuta arguably has not made any progress at all. Time is ticking, and even with Toge’s discovery, Gojo is still as missing as he was a minute ago. 

“I need help,” Yuuta realizes. 

My help, Toge’s mind finishes. It’s true. Toge’s better read than almost anyone at their school. Better grades too, both in written work and practical exams. Between Toge’s know-how and Yuuta’s sheer power, the two of them comprise the perfect team for bringing Gojo back. 

This is sensitive information. That’s why Yuuta hasn’t told anyone about Gojo’s predicament. If the council were to figure out that he trifled with dimensional magic, Toge knows without a doubt that they would punish him to the fullest extent possible. Gojo will be cast out of magical society, and with him will go any and all hope for progressive change- change that no one would benefit from more than Toge. In a way, that makes Toge the only person Yuuta can trust with this. He’d never sell Gojo down the river. 

So it’s just the two of them then. Against all odds, the two of them have found common ground in the immeasurable desire to save their mentor. He’d rescued both of them, in a way. Obviously, Yuuta had been physically saved by Gojo- dragged into this world by his own two hands- in a way that Toge hadn’t, but Toge didn’t have to analyze things too deeply to know that he’d never have gotten into this school without the influence of someone like Satoru Gojo. Gojo is just as much to thank for Toge’s life as he is for Yuuta’s. 

It had never seemed like a debt before, because the idea of repaying it had always seemed so glaringly impossible until today. Now, Toge finally had the chance to prove his worth to the person who vouched for him. He can only hope he’s up for the task. 

Yuuta isn’t. At least, not right now he isn’t. His face is stuck to the pages, skin pulling away from his cheekbones as he sinks deeper. If Toge didn’t know better, he’d say Yuuta has fallen asleep.

“Mmm,” Yuuta rustles, lifting his head. He shakes out his hands, an attempt to ward off the exhaustion gripping at him. “We have so much work to do. Where to start? I’ve read that we–”

“Yuuta,” Toge tries, hoping to distract him. It’s safe enough for him to say names, so long as he’s careful. Proper nouns don’t have the propensity to twist the way that other words do. 

He abandons the book immediately to look at Toge. After only a few minutes of working together, he already trusts Toge’s mind more than his own.

Perhaps, he shouldn’t. 

“Sleep.” 

Toge has no interest in working with Yuuta when he’s too tired to function. He clearly hasn’t slept in days. It’s probably beyond the pale, but Toge doesn’t care. Yuuta is going to need rest if he’s going to be of any use to anyone. If he refuses to take care of himself, Toge is not above doing it for him. 

The command travels quickly, stretching between Yuuta’s ears and latching inside his brain. Toge can feel it gripping at him, a taut thread between them. Yuuta will succumb any moment now. 

“That’s not fair,” he counters, though his lips are curving into a smile. Toge can feel him trying to fight off the command, but his lids are already growing heavier and starting to drift shut. His head lolls to one side, collapsing against his shoulder as he struggles to keep himself upright.. “Mmm… I can’t fight this off, can I?” 

Not without notice, he can’t. There are certain workarounds a person can use to protect themselves from cursed speech, but they’re only applicable if you know what’s coming. Yuuta’s weakness- his lack of knowledge- makes him uniquely susceptible to Toge’s bidding. Still, he’s been able to fight it off longer than most individuals would. Toge suspects that if he were at full capacity right now, he might actually be able to muscle his way through. 

Today though, he is putty in Toge’s hand. 

“Rika,” Yuuta whispers. “Help me out here.” 

Toge startles, worried that Rika is about to join the fight, but her energy is light and buoyant- completely unlike the looming darkness of before. The chair Yuuta’s sitting in starts dragging itself across the room. Toge watches in bemusement as his bed makes itself, blankets and sheets smoothing themselves effortlessly and then folding back to accommodate their dweller. 

Unceremoniously, the chair is lifted into the air and Yuuta’s body is dumped onto the mattress. He lands face down on his pillow and makes no effort to adjust. Rika yanks off both his shoes, gently lowering them to the floor and placing them neatly beside each other. Oh, Toge thinks with salt, so she is capable of treating something with care. 

Yuuta isn’t asleep yet, though. Toge can still feel his command in the air, still as influential as it was at its birth. It won’t lose power until its subject surrenders.

“You’re quite talented,” Yuuta mumbles, a quiet muffle into his sheets. Does he have to be so nice all the time? Toge is literally infringing on his free will right now. Shouldn’t he at least be annoyed about it? He puffs out one last breath into his pillow before he gives in. “Okay, then. Just… just for a little.” 

The second he’s finished speaking, it’s all over. Yuuta is out cold and Toge’s magic has cleared the room, leaving a vacant feeling in its wake in spite of Rika’s overwhelming presence. 

Thank you, Toge thinks. He knows Rika cannot hear inside his brain, but he hopes she will understand the sentiment. Yuuta will be much more comfortable due to her involvement. Sleep is sleep, but now it will feel more like something resembling real, honest rest. He ducks his head in thanks, clutching his mug with a little less vigor than before as he collects his bag from beneath Yuuta’s desk. 

While Yuuta is resting, Toge will go back to the library and start digging through information. It’s probably for the best that he be left alone for a few hours to get some research done and get caught up on everything. This was a productive choice. The misuse of his given ability was justified. Just as Toge is starting to feel good about it all, he goes to let himself out.

And the doorknob won’t turn. 

He tries it again in hopes that he can force it open, but the brass knob doesn’t waver. It’s completely stuck shut. When Toge turns around and sees all the papers on Yuuta’s desk gently fluttering, he recognizes immediately who’s waving to him. 

Rika. This is her handiwork. 

Pleased with herself, her energy retreats cheekily back under the floorboards where Toge can no longer reach it. He turns back to the door, wondering if he might pry it open with cursed speech. This is ghost magic he’s dealing with, and Toge hasn’t the slightest idea how that functions. Plus, a noisy attempt would likely stir Yuuta, and Toge isn’t about to undo all his effort here.

Back pressed against the door, Toge sinks down to the floor in defeat. He’s stuck here then. There’s nothing he hates more than being useless, but other than re-reading the single paragraph in Yuuta’s reference book, he doesn’t see what other option he has. It’s no wonder Yuuta isn’t sleeping much these days. Each second that passes by feels like a missed opportunity. 

A soft snore cuts through the silence. Toge’s eyes flick over just in time to see Yuuta rustle in his sleep. His head turns on the pillow, exposing twitching eyelids and parted lips. Toge stares just long enough to see a bit of drool collect in the corner of his mouth. He’s kind of adorable like this, Toge thinks. It makes him forget, for a moment at least, just how fierce Yuuta really is beneath it all. Toge is sharing this room with a sleeping beast. The most popular person Toge has ever met, the boy with more magic than anyone else alive. 

What has Toge gotten himself into here? Who does he think he is, trying to be useful to someone like that? Yuuta is a prodigy and Toge is nothing but a scrappy runt, a future black mark in the academy’s pristine chronicles. A badly-bred nobody who flagrantly walks through hallowed halls. 

You’re quite talented.  

Toge still hasn’t processed those words yet. He wonders if Yuuta has any sense for the truth of what Toge is.

Surely he’s heard the stories, but there’d have been no one to explain the specifics to him. Toge’s magic isn’t like other people’s. Noritoshi Kamo, in addition to his regular magic, can manipulate blood. Momo Nishimiya can control the airflow around her in order to take flight. Satoru Gojo can perceive the world at a rate far beyond what anyone else can imagine, and then some. 

Sorcerers are often born with their own trademark- things they could do that no one else’s magic could mimic. It would be easy enough for Yuuta to mistake Toge’s power for that. After all, that is how speech-based magic started. It’s been a long time, though, since anyone regarded Toge’s magic for anything other than what it really is. 

A curse. 

The Inumaki clan has carried it for centuries. Some spells, Toge has learned, can never be broken. Cursed speech isn’t a power. It’s an affliction. If Yuuta knew the history behind it all, he’d be far from amazed.

It takes hours before Yuuta finally stirs. Toge has no concept of how long he waits except for watching the sun finally sink beneath the windows. The final embers of the day are still brightening the backs of the clouds, freshly set. Toge stretches out his back, stiff from the odd positioning, as Yuuta finally starts to wake. 

“You waited?” he asks, still bleary. He pushes himself up slowly, still weighed down by the grips of sleep. Toge manages a smile, but beneath his scarf, he doubts Yuuta can interpret it. “You didn’t have to do that.”  

Oh, I really did. Unsure of how else to convey his meaning, Toge sneaks his gaze above his head, sheepishly gesturing toward the door handle with a tilt of his head. Yuuta blinks at him.

“No,” he realizes. “Oh my god, Rika. Did she lock it?” Suddenly he’s wide awake, pushing himself all the way up. “I am so sorry,” he tells Toge genuinely, face flushing and feet stumbling to find shoes. “Rika, you unlock that door right–” 

Before he can finish his thought, the faucets on either side of the clawfoot tub flick on. The stream of water spurts out at full blast, noisy and aggressive. 

“Nice try!” Yuuta yells, ignoring the sound completely. He charges toward the bathtub, turning his back to Toge. “I know you can hear me! Let. Toge. Out.” 

Without warning, the door behind Toge shoots open, shattering his sense of balance. He falls backwards as the door flies out from under him, elbows knocking into the hardwood as he catches himself. Ow. He rights himself slowly, rubbing at the back of his neck as it cries out from the whiplash. Yuuta’s back is still turned, one of his hands raised to his face, but Rika’s presence is nearly gone completely. Perhaps Yuuta’s stern tone scared her off.

The pain subsides instantly. Despite his earlier annoyance, Toge almost feels a little guilty for getting her in trouble. Clearly, she had no intention of ever disappointing Yuuta. She’d just gotten caught up in the game, and Toge really saw no harm in indulging her. 

“Are you okay?” Yuuta asks him, his eyes still pointed towards the windows. Perhaps he’s scanning the room for any sign of her. 

“Mmm,” Toge manages, too frazzled to attempt anything else. 

“I can’t even tell you how sorry I am,” Yuuta assures. He wipes at his face before turning around, his expression painted with shock. “I didn’t mean- she didn’t mean to–” 

Toge waves him off, yanking down his scarf so Yuuta can see his smile for sure this time. There’s no need for him to fret. Toge is fine, no harm no foul. Rika can go back to her mischief unchided. Yuuta pauses, still seeming a bit worried, but eventually he moves on. 

“I’m surprised she wanted to keep you here,” Yuuta sighs. “She must like you.” 

Toge cocks an eyebrow. This is what Rika does when she likes a person? Yuuta shakes his head immediately, realizing the connotation. 

“No, I know, I just mean… she doesn’t really like people?” Yuuta tries. “Like. Really doesn’t like people. Her actually wanting someone here that isn’t me… believe it or not, it’s a pretty big compliment.” 

Despite the fact that Rika is a literal ghost, the thought of it makes something bubble in Toge’s chest. It’s nice, being wanted. 

Yuuta lets out a throaty laugh, voice still crackly from sleep. “Why are you making that face?” 

What face? Had Toge been making a face? He shakes his head, brushing it off. He hadn’t meant to have a reaction to that. 

“It’s a relief,” Yuuta tells him. “That means we can work here more often. If you’re up for it, that is.” 

Toge watches as Yuuta’s whole demeanor shifts, back to stoic and serious. The little interlude of chaos that Rika had thrown them into is officially over. It’s time for them to get back to work. Already, the glow of rest has faded from Yuuta’s face. 

“Dark already. I can’t believe I slept that long.” He frowns, eyes flicking back over to his window. You’d think that someone as sleep deprived as Yuuta would be grateful for a stretch of sleep like that, but instead, he seems genuinely disappointed. “I should go. Make an appearance at dinner.” 

It takes Toge a moment to puzzle that out. Is Yuuta really so popular that people will miss him at the dining hall, even on a slow weekend night after a village visit? Of course, that isn’t what he’s referring to. He’s not making an appearance tonight as himself. 

“You can critique my glamours,” Yuuta says with a grimace. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been getting the height wrong. It’s different every time. ” 

Toge jumps up from his seat, ready to answer the call. He lifts both his hands and calls his magic. Toge is good at glamours, always has been. Most types of magic require an incantation unless you're well practiced- which by now, Toge is- but glamours are all about intention and visualization. It’s the one class that he effortlessly bests Yuuta at, even when Yuuta was attempting it in earnest. He’ll be happy to be useful. The whole point of his involvement here was to take some of the strain off of Yuuta.

“Oh, you don’t have to!” Yuuta startles, realizing Toge’s intent. “I have plenty of magic- like too much of it- and I really do need the practice.” 

Toge lowers his hands, trying hard not to feel dejected. Of course. Yuuta doesn’t need Toge’s magic. Admittedly, if things were the other way around, Toge probably wouldn’t want anyone doing something like that for him either. Magic is a personal thing, and doing it for someone else would imply that the other person was incapable. Yuuta is anything but. 

“Thank you,” Yuuta says quietly. “For offering.” 

A little smirk plays on his lips, and then Toge feels electricity clutch the air as Yuuta’s magic crackles to life. It’s just as invasive as Rika’s, maybe more so. Right before Yuuta closes his eyes, getting ready to picture the image he’s trying to embody, Toge throws up a hand to stop him. 

“Yeah?” Yuuta’s motions still, but his magic doesn’t. It’s still revving, ready to cast at any second. Toge has no idea how he can keep at that level without strain, but he’ll be quick enough Yuuta doesn’t have to sustain it for much longer. 

Toge focuses his magic in his right hand, rubbing his thumb and index finger with a spell he’s guessing Yuuta doesn’t know. It’s an easy one, practically child’s play- something they’d all learned as kids. Maybe Yuuta doesn’t need help with his glamour, but he does need help with his disguise. If this works the way Toge thinks it will, Yuuta’s act will be much more believable. 

He steps forward and gets ready to pass his magic over. Yuuta’s eyebrows crease, but he doesn’t shy away from Toge’s touch. He lets Toge reach up and sneak his fingers right to his lips. Slowly, careful not to spook the other boy, Toge pinches at one of Yuuta’s teeth- completing the conditions of the spell. 

Sweet Tooth. It’s a silly little spell, more made for practical jokes than anything else. Toge is actually quite pleased with himself for finding a meaningful use for it. 

Toge pulls his hand back swiftly, stopping briefly to wipe the small shine that’s transferred to his fingers onto Yuuta’s shirt. Immediately, he’s horrified at himself for doing it. That was gross of him wasn’t it? But it was Yuuta’s spit. And Yuuta’s shirt is dirty with two days of wear anyway. It would have been weirder to wipe it on his own shirt, yes?

When he peeks up to see Yuuta’s reaction, the other boy just tall enough that Toge genuinely has to crane his neck, Yuuta hasn’t seemed to notice at all. He’s staring down at Toge’s face, his eyes dancing with bemusement as they meet Toge’s. 

“What’d you do?” 

Toge shrugs. He’ll see soon enough. He forgets for a second that his scarf is still pulled down, and the secretive smirk he’d allowed himself is actually on full display. By the way Yuuta is staring, he’s clearly noticed it. 

Hating that he’s been caught, Toge takes a big step backwards, nearly stumbling on the heel of his boots. Embarrassing, but Yuuta doesn’t seem concerned about it. 

“Okay,” he warns, magic still roaring around him. “Now, then.” 

Yuuta’s eyes are closed for less than a second before a crack rings out and a puff of smoke surrounds him. Yes, Yuuta had definitely been downplaying his abilities during their classes. If Toge hadn’t watched Yuuta accomplish it, he’d have claimed it was impossible to cast a glamour that quickly. It should be impossible to cast a glamour that quickly. Apparently, the rules don’t apply when you’ve got as much magic as Yuuta Okkotsu does.

When the smoke clears, it’s not Yuuta standing before Toge, but Jujutsu Academy Professor Satoru Gojo. “Did I do an okay job?” Yuuta asks, eyes obscured by their teacher’s signature, midnight black blindfold. Better than okay, Toge would like to say. He settles for a nod instead. Yuuta breathes out a sigh of relief. “Good.” 

It’s unsettling to hear Yuuta’s timid, unsure voice pouring from Gojo’s lips, especially when their teacher has never been anything but cocky a day in his life. Yuuta will definitely have to keep his mouth shut if this is going to work. Surely, Gojo’s friends have already grown suspicious. Maybe Toge can look into voice modifying magic to buy them some time. 

“I’ll be twenty minutes at most,” Yuuta promises. He steps toward Toge- or rather, towards the door behind him. Can he see like that? Toge eagerly sidesteps to get out of dodge. “Seriously. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, come looking for me.”

Toge chuckles, imagining Yuuta getting cornered by Nanami or Ieiri in the hallways and trying to shimmy his way out of it. He raises a hand to his face, attempting to hide the laugh with his sleeve. 

Yuuta’s hand reaches the doorknob, freshly unlocked, but he turns back to Toge before opening it. “And when I get back… you’ll help me, right?” 

Dumbfounded, Toge stares up at his favorite teacher’s form and tries to separate it from the voice beneath it. Yuuta sounds so nervous to be asking, as if he really doesn’t know the answer already. Of course Toge was going to help him. Why else would he still be here? Toge nods quickly to reassure him.

“Cool,” Yuuta breathes. When he finally swings open the door, he has to hunch and duck Gojo’s whole head just to get through it. Hmm. Perhaps he had gone a bit too tall. As long as no one’s looking too closely, it’ll probably be fine. “Twenty minutes,” Yuuta echoes as he slips away. 

It takes a few seconds for Toge to realize that he’s just agreed to wait in Yuuta’s room alone. 

Well, not technically alone. The faucet is still dripping ever so slightly, which Toge assumes is Rika’s way of making her presence known. If she decides to misbehave again, he’ll have to find out once and for all if his curse works on her. 

Toge stares down at his fingers, still glowing with warmth from the magic of his spell. No, that’s not right- they’re glowing from the magic of Yuuta. Just one touch while Yuuta was at his full output was enough to leave a film. Restless, Toge wanders over to Yuuta’s window and takes a look at the campus.

It’s breathtaking. For the first time since he can remember, Toge actually finds it beautiful. The expanse of green before the forest, the lights of the greenhouse twinkling in the night, the dreamlike quality of the dusky haze stretching out over the grass. This place- his home- it looks so peaceful, so perfect. It makes Toge want to live here forever. 

It’s a confusing observation, seeing that Toge hates this place. 

He hadn’t always hated it. Actually, he’d spent the majority of his life thinking this place was the closest thing to a fairytale he'd ever find. Getting accepted here was the best thing that ever happened to him. No longer would he be held down by the restrictions of his clan and his curse. Instead, he’d be at the only place on this planet dedicated to the study of magic. To Toge, it was a dream- one he never thought he’d grasp. 

He was so happy that first week. He didn’t even mind it when they asked him to cover the sigils, because it would mean he wouldn’t have to stop himself from smiling wider than he ever had in his life. And for a while, he did. Every experience, from the food to the books to the teachers, made him so exuberant that he couldn’t contain himself. 

It didn’t last. Maybe part of him always knew it wouldn’t, and that’s why he’d soaked as much happiness from it at the beginning as he possibly could have. It was always going to come caving in on him. 

The first few remarks hadn’t done it. It was clear to him that the whispers he’d caught in the halls from time to time were meant for him to hear. Even when they reached his ears, they never went past them. He didn’t care what other people thought of him. He was here whether they liked it or not. He’d gotten into this school, same as any of them. He was worthy. 

Or, at least, he was. The one thing that kept him going was knowing that he was just as capable as any of his classmates. It had only taken one run in with Naoya Zen’in to ruin that. 

It wasn’t really a fair fight. Naoya was in his last year, and Toge was just barely in his first. They’d already be mismatched, but it was made worse by the Zen’in trademark: quick draw. Naoya could get a spell off faster than other sorcerers and had the ability to shield himself with time in a way Toge had no way of understanding until he was faced with it directly. Toge hadn’t even heard the spell. In fact, he hadn’t even realized that Naoya was anywhere near him. 

One moment he was walking the halls- big, stupid smile fixed on to his face- and the next, he was coughing. It wasn’t like the sting that came with overusing his speech. Toge knew that feeling better than anything else in this world, especially after having spent so many years testing and expanding the limits of it. This was something entirely different. Almost like something was caught. 

One cough turned to two, and then to a fit. Toge fell to his knees, gripping his throat. Something was definitely stuck in his throat, and Toge could feel his airway rapidly closing on him. Even when the grassy taste started poking at his taste buds, he didn’t figure it out. His mind was too cloudy with panic to work out the details. Even when he looked up to find Naoya hovering over him, it wasn’t immediately clear. 

“What’s wrong Inumaki?” The Zen’in child sneered. “Go on- use your words!” 

The second he finished speaking, Toge’s mouth felt the prick of thorns. Whatever Naoya had done to him has moved past his throat, growing upwards. It didn’t take long at all for the weeds to finally come spilling out of Toge’s mouth, filling his whole body with terror as he caught sight of them. Nothing had been stuck in Toge’s throat after all- it had been rooted. A mess of dandelions and thistle and knotweed burst through his lips, vicious and unruly and still growing.

In that moment, Toge didn’t even think about magic. He didn’t think to save himself. The only thing he could think to do was start ripping fistfuls of the weeds from his mouth, trying desperately to carve a path for air to get through. It only made the spell angrier. Each weed he pulled free grew back within an instant, stronger and more unforgiving than how it started. He was only making it worse. 

Tears poured from Toge’s face as the vines surrounded him. When he looked down at the ground, it was covered with blood-tinged grass. He was tearing pieces of his own throat out, and he hadn’t even felt it. His neck twitches, the instinct to cry out more overwhelming than ever before, but all that comes out is a dreadful, strangled wail. 

Toge remembers having one single thought as his last resort bottomed out on him. I’m going to die. 

After that, he stops pulling. He doesn’t have the energy anymore. His body hits the ground, shoulders slamming limply against the wood. He watched the wilds continue to grow, covering every patch of ground as he choked involuntarily. It wasn’t lost on him, the irony of this- his throat brimming with something noxious and unwanted, just in physical form instead of spoken words. At least Naoya had been clever with his terribleness. 

“Naoya! What did you do?!” Maki’s voice was one of the last things Toge heard that day. He never saw her. His vision was already spotty and black from the lack of oxygen. There was one last thud, and then it was all gone. Nothing existed. 

Toge woke up in the infirmary the next morning. He doesn’t remember feeling any pain or any grief about his situation. He just remembers being shocked. He couldn’t believe he survived the ordeal. It was a hollow sort of feeling, seeing that at the end, Toge couldn’t remember really caring all that much if he lived or died. 

Ieiri called for Gojo, and the two of them pulled up chairs to his bedside to explain what had happened. It was anything Toge didn’t already know. He’d been targeted, of course, because of his family’s past- because of his curse. He’d known it would happen one day. The surprise and disappointment on their faces was almost offensive. If Toge had seen this coming, why hadn’t they? 

The two of them assured him that Naoya would be punished properly, but of course, he wasn’t. He was back in classes a week later like nothing had happened. At the very least, he left Toge alone after that. In fact, pretty much everyone else did too. Things were better that way. It allowed Toge to focus on a new set of goals without distraction. 

He’d be a model student. He’d soak this school for every drop of knowledge it had. He’d never give anyone any excuse to doubt him. And most of all, he’d never be weak enough to be picked on by someone like Naoya ever again.

After the incident, his deal with the school wasn’t a fairytale. It was a contract. Toge would get everything he could out of it, and that was it. There was no whimsy or wonder to the place like there’d been when he arrived. This was simply a place he lived- a place where he slept, learned and studied. Nothing else. 

But for a minute, staring at the campus from up high- from Yuuta’s vantage point- Toge is struck by it all over again. 

He spent the last few years of his life proving his worth to this school. Days, weeks and months of hard work and worrying. Now, he finds himself in the unique position of realizing that this place actually needs him. Before today, he never could have imagined a world where that was possible. 

The last gasps of the day’s sunlight are long faded now, but Toge’s work for the day has only just begun. 

When Yuuta returns a few minutes later, back in his original form, his eyes are manic and he’s wearing a generous dusting of crumbs. His fists are full of stolen cookies. Toge was right. An affinity for baked goods was the exact thing that Yuuta’s disguise was missing. 

Chapter Text

“And I would say all of this

But I don't wanna ruin the moment

Lovely to sit between comfort and chaos”

“ceilings,” by Lizzie McAlpine

“Where are you running off to?” Maki accuses, green eyes glinting as they narrow. 

Toge swallows, the last bite of his roast potatoes suddenly seeming glued to his throat. Clearly, he hadn’t exactly been subtle about jumping to his feet the second his plate was clear. Maki zeroes in on the pair of dinner rolls Toge has just stuffed into both of his pockets, eyebrows flicking up with interest.

“Hungry?” she probes.

Toge freezes. No, he isn’t- but Yuuta probably is. Toge’s learned that he barely eats, barely remembers to. If bread is left in front of him though, he’ll eventually get distracted enough to start picking at it. Toge will never understand how someone already so tall and still growing manages to eat like a bird, but he’ll continue sneaking carbohydrates into Yuuta’s room and hoping for the best. 

Instead of offering Maki an answer, Toge pretends to be busy chewing. It’s a horrible attempt at an excuse really, but he’s run out of good ones at this point. Maki has been on to him for days now. She rolls her eyes, giving up on the idea of getting any more information out of him.

“Well if you are going to eat something tonight,” she says sharply. “Then you should at least have something with a little substance.” 

He doesn’t argue with her. He’s not sure how he could without making things more painfully obvious than they already are. 

She snatches a a cloth napkin from an empty place setting and lays it out in front of her, beginning to load it up with a silver serving spoon. Two slices of roast, a scoop of rosemary dusted potatoes, and a generous serving of today’s vegetable- charred asparagus with lemon juice and flaky sea salt. Before Toge can find a way to ask what her plan is here, she yanks out her massive leather tote bag from beneath the table. 

The soles of her chunky lace-up boots scrape gracelessly against the floor as she goes, pulling glares from every direction. If she notices, she doesn’t care. Toge’s a bit embarrassed to be caught at the center of it, but his attention shifts the second she pulls open the bag. It’s a thing of wonder. Inside of it lies troves of magical trinkets and all of Maki’s most important effects. Peeking inside it is as close to looking into her soul as a person could get, and she guards it closely.

Maki can’t use magic, at least, not like Toge and Yuuta can. It won’t drip from her fingers, no matter how often she calls for it. It’s quite an anomaly, seeing she comes from such a prodigious lineage, but not one that holds her back in the slightest. She’s more useful than most sorcerers Toge knows- quick and clever and immeasurably resourceful. 

Toge leans over her shoulder, creeping forward onto the balls of his feet to catch a better look at the bag as she shuffles through her belongings. He spots the fabrics of at least two different back-up sweaters, despite the fact that today she’s already wearing a patterned knit over a long sleeve turtleneck, as well as the shiny silver etchings from the handle of her enchanted dagger. His eyes have snagged on something rusty with spikes protruding around a pentagram- surely a relic that Maki’s hands should not be on- just as she pulls something free and starts stashing the bag away.

In her hands is a crushed velvet box, rectangular and just a touch too big to carry a ring. She fiddles with the latch and lays it out on the table. 

“It’s enchanted,” she explains, as if that much wasn’t obvious. 

She gently folds the white edges of the napkin over the portion she’s just made, making a neat little package. Toge doesn’t have to watch to know what comes next. She lifts the meal with tactical, slender fingers and within the blink of any eye it’s been sucked inside the box, reducing its size to practically nothing. When she’s finished, she holds out her hand expectantly. Toge sheepishly deposits the dinner rolls he’s been hoarding and she adds them to the bounty before snapping the box shut.

“I’ll be wanting this back,” she informs Toge. He knows well that she means it. He borrowed a cigarette box from her once that would keep his herbs fresh for a few days while he was waiting to reserve a cauldron room. She knocked on the door five minutes into his session, outstretched her hand, and left wordlessly the second Toge pressed it into her palm. 

She holds out the velvet box to Toge, the floppy sleeves of her sweater draped lazily across the backing of the wooden chair. She’s got a similar sickness to Yuuta in the sense that she only ever wears the darkest colors. It’s not solid black at least, but it may as well be. Today it’s deep emerald layered over graphite, matched with her signature high-waisted black slacks. 

Toge pockets her box, already able to imagine the childish look of distaste that will spread across Yuuta’s face when it’s presented to him. He’ll force himself to take one bite of the meat to be polite, but he’ll be unable to hide the grimace on his face while he does it. The greens and potatoes stand a chance though, and that’s better than nothing. 

“And Toge?” Maki calls as he starts to depart, not bothering to keep her voice down at all. “Make sure you eat something tonight, okay?”

Toge swallows a cough and nods staunchly. She totally knows. 

He turns away swiftly, not wanting to be caught under her gaze for even a second longer. He swears, the more Maki looks at a person, the better she’s able to read them. She’s like a jungle cat sizing up her prey, waiting carefully for the perfect moment to take them down. If Toge sticks around she’ll unravel everything he’s been keeping to himself over the last couple of weeks. That is, if she hasn’t already. She’s certainly been trying. Toge can feel it. 

The weight of her eyes grinds against his back until the second he passes through the doors. It’s funny to him now that Yuuta’s tower once seemed so out of reach. These days, Toge can get there as easily as he would his own dorm room. He’s just about to turn the final corner when someone calls out to him.

“He’s not there! I already checked.”

At the end of the hallway, no doubt fresh from a clove cigarette break with Hakari, stands upperclassman Kirara Hoshi. She’s wearing an astronomically short school-girl skirt and above the knee socks so high they might as well be stockings. She walks over to him, letting her charmed platform loafers clomp against the dull wooden floors. 

“Are you that kid he’s tutoring?” she asks, hooking her fingers into Toge’s. She swings their hands back and forth, causing the cropped sweater she’s wearing to come sliding off her shoulder. Toge tears his eyes away from the painted lines of the strappy black bralette it reveals. 

Wait- did she say tutoring? Is that what Yuuta has been telling people to excuse all the time he’s been spending with Toge lately? As if Toge would ever need Yuuta’s help with his studies. It’s quite the opposite. Toge is doing homework for both of them right now, that’s how incapable Yuuta is.

“No,” another voice rings out, emerging behind Toge. This one, Toge recognizes right away. Hakari Kinji, the biggest loudmouth to ever walk the halls of Jujutsu academy- and perhaps, depending on who you asked, one of the most talented. Toge feels his jaw clench as he strides closer. Was Toge about to get in trouble for holding hands with Hakari’s girlfriend?  “That’s not him. You’re thinking of the kid with the weird hair.” 

He doesn’t seem bothered by the contact. In fact, he doesn’t look over at Toge at all. 

“Weird hair I like or weird hair I don’t like?” She frowns, trying to figure it out. In her defense, weird hair could refer to quite a few people at the academy. 

“Is it the pink hair you like?” Hakari asks, beginning to lose Toge completely. They may as well be speaking their own language. After some careful consideration, Kirara nods yes. “The other one, then.” 

Kirara juts out her lips as she thinks about it, face lighting up as she finally comes to a conclusion. “Ohhhh!” she exclaims. “That kid. The pouty one!”   

She unlatches herself from Toge and throws herself head first against Hakari’s chest, laying her hands across the exposed stitching on his ill-fitting suit jacket. There’s no way its unfinished panels are up to the standards of the dress code, but Toge has definitely seen worse interpretations. 

Hakari wraps a hand around her little waist and leads her away, continuing their conversation as if Toge had never been a part of it in the first place. If Toge didn’t know better, he’d think Hakari was from a major family and had a grudge against him, but he’s seen enough to know that no one exists to Hakari until the exact moment they become useful to him. In a way, it’s a relief that Toge doesn’t fit that bill tonight.

He waits for the two of them to clear out before he keeps walking. The door to Yuuta’s tower might not open for Hakari and Kirara right now, but it will for Toge. Yuuta spelled it that way. 

It’s already dark when Toge reaches the entry- a result of shortening days as winter starts to close in on them. The sconces that illuminate the stairwell haven’t been lit for the night yet, and Rika has clearly already figured that out. The candle on the closest stair starts to flicker, either a warning or a wave hello. Toge can never be sure when it comes to Rika. 

When he doesn’t move right away, the twinkle moves from the first step to the second, beckoning Toge closer. When he steps up to meet it, Rika yanks it up another stair and forces him back into the darkness. They’re playing a game. Every time Toge quickens his pace, Rika teases him by notching it up and leaving him in the shadows if he doesn’t spring up to meet it. She must be feeling impatient today for whatever reason. 

When Toge finally reaches the top, so out of breath that he can’t even reach for the door right away, he watches every candle flare at once in celebration. Rika’s contest is finished, and seemingly, Toge has satisfied her by playing along. Next time, he’ll just settle for walking in the darkness. 

“Toge!” Yuuta exclaims when he finally lets himself in. “I was hoping you’d stop by soon!” 

Toge kicks off his shoes and frosts over the window- that’s his preferred method of communicating with Yuuta these days. He’s gotten better at controlling the amount of heat required to make a mark, preventing the message from dripping over too quickly and becoming illegible. 

Did you find something?

“Oh,” Yuuta says absentmindedly as he reads. Toge can practically hear the frown on his face. “No, but… I really need you to explain these calculations to me. Just one more time, I promise.” 

Toge started some initial calculations for opening a dimensional portal. They’re nowhere near done- a gross oversimplification of the complicated science- but the two of them are going to have to start somewhere. If he’s being honest with himself, Toge would really like to ask someone other than Yuuta for help with this, but their options are limited. 

They’d thought about confiding in Nanami, the most sensible of all their teachers, but had ultimately decided against it. Their mystical statistics teacher, a thoughtful man who wore bespoke three piece suits with silk ties and matching pocket squares, was perhaps too sensible. Despite being perhaps the only person on earth both smart enough and capable enough to provide them with genuine insight, Professor Nanami is a known rule follower. Chances are he’d report them immediately for even considering getting involved with dimensional magic.

Still, when Toge runs into Nanami later in the day during his office hours, shed of his suit coat and grading papers through a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses, Toge starts to wonder. When he’s like that- looking more like an easygoing twenty-something instead of a terrifyingly strict professor- Toge believes he’s the kind of person who would do whatever it takes to get Gojo back. A revolutionary, just like them. 

For the sake of keeping up appearances, Toge went to him for help with one of his problem sets last week. Once Nanami realized that Toge already knew how to do all the problems, but simply hadn’t yet, a funny look fell on his face. 

“Mr. Inumaki, is there something going on I should know about?”

The question caught Toge completely off guard. Panicked, Toge shook his head frantically. Perhaps he’d been too obvious with his protest, but Nanami didn’t call him on it. Instead, he sighed and pulled off his glasses, taking his head into his hands. Like Yuuta, he looks tired lately. Surely he’s being affected by Satoru’s absence lately as well. 

“Very well. If you see Mr. Okkotsu, tell him he’s got a few outstanding assignments I’d like to collect.” Toge jumped straight out his seat, grateful for the reprieve. He didn’t realize the implication of the statement till much later. Clearly, Nanami realized the two of them had grown closer over the past few weeks. His face softened as he spoke of Yuuta. “But if he needs an extension… all he needs to do is ask.” 

Toge worried that this meant they’d been caught, but something important occurred to him as he scurried out of the classroom. To most people, Satoru Gojo is just the world’s strongest sorcerer- one of only two special grades in the world- but to others he is so much more. Comrade, friend, family. If Nanami is feeling the weight of Gojo’s absence, surely he knows that Yuuta is feeling it too. All at once, Gojo’s rescue becomes even more precious than it was before. Yet another reason to not risk its success by bringing other people into the fold. In Yuuta and Toge’s hands, it is safe. 

Still, Toge would have hoped that they’d be further along by now. They’d like to have Gojo back by the winter solstice at the absolute latest. 

“This is madness,” Yuuta complains as Toge tries gently explaining his numbers once more. At this point, simply checking his own work might be more beneficial, but the idea of following through on any of these calculations without someone else at least seeing them first makes Toge want to throw up. “You’ve met Gojo, right? There’s no way he did all this work.” 

Toge blinks at his worksheet. Yuuta is right. Gojo is not exactly known for his patience. Toge can’t imagine him toiling over all these numbers. But if there was another way of doing this, a way that relied on brute strength instead of intelligence, they’d surely have found it by now.

He gives Yuuta’s shoulder a couple of pointed taps, hoping that Yuuta will come to the same conclusion Toge has. By the way his eyebrows pinch when he looks up, Toge can tell he won’t. 

Toge shakes his head encouragingly. Yuuta’s lips curl into a perfect circle.

“Wait, you’re saying he did?” Once Yuuta’s made the realization, he’s immediately able to make the same leap that Toge has. Gojo had to make these same calculations. “Are you saying… you think his plans might be out there somewhere?” 

Toge shrugs, because it’s not a sure bet (nothing is, where Gojo is concerned- the man defies every rule of logic Toge has ever subscribed to) but it’s the closest thing they’ve had to a meaningful lead since they started all this. Every breakthrough they’ve had up until this point suddenly seems meager and insignificant. The idea that the exact calculations they need might already be out there, just waiting for them to find? That’s major. 

Of course, the stars have shifted since then in addition to about fifteen other variable changes that Toge can think of just off the top of his head, so even if these figures existed, they’d all have to be redone. Still. It would be like having a guide book. Toge won’t have to guess if he’s taken everything into account- it’ll all be right in front of him. 

Where would we look? Toge’s magic dances across the chilly window. 

“Believe it or not, Gojo actually has a desk,” Yuuta responds. “I mean, I’ve never seen him use it, but he has one, right? It’s gotta be there.” 

Admittedly, it does seem rather out of character for Gojo to have a workspace. The desk at the front of his classroom has never been used as anything other than a footrest or a perch for his hands as he fiddles with his silver, special grade ring. 

Can we go? Toge asks. He didn’t think it would be too forward of him to ask that, but a dark look settles on Yuuta’s face.

“Shit,” he curses. “We can’t. Gojo’s quarters are hidden deep in the faculty wing. There’s no way we can get in and out of there undetected. He can teleport in and out, but…” 

Yuuta’s face shifts into a deep frown as he trails off. 

He gazes out the window, a faraway look clouding over his eyes. Toge always feels a bit unsettled when he does that, since he’s normally such an open book. Yuuta usually has a tendency to say too much, not too little. When he goes quiet, it’s completely unnatural. 

Maybe Toge has asked for too much here. It would make sense for Yuuta to be protective of his relationship with Gojo. Toge normally wouldn’t infringe, but he can’t help but think it’s necessary in this case. If this information exists, it could be the difference between success and complete failure. Without it, they’re flailing in the darkness. 

“Wait,” Yuuta calls. He jumps out of his chair in excitement, his hands gripping at the air as if whatever idea he’s just come up with can be touched and grabbed hold of. “You said today is Tuesday, right?” 

No, Toge hadn’t. It’s Thursday, but close enough, seeing that their class schedules operate similarly on both days. Yuuta’s eyebrows furrow as Toge shakes his head. He starts doing some mental math, pointing at an invisible calendar as he puts it together. Toge bites the inside of his cheek sharply as he realizes that this is the same person he’s asking to check his work. They were definitely going to need Gojo’s notes. 

“Thursday,” Yuuta realizes. “That’s even better! Halloween is this Saturday and I happen to know that the faculty have a standing reservation at Star Plasma Tavern in the Village. Gojo told us about it last year. Apparently all the teachers go and drink so much they can’t stand. That’s why Hakari can get away with throwing that big party every year- there’s literally no one to tell him no.”

Which would mean there would be no one to patrol the faculty wing either. Yuuta and Toge would have a clear shot, and judging by the sound of things, it might be the only one they’re going to get. The teachers barely leave campus as it is, but all of them at once? That doesn’t even happen during holiday breaks. 

Toge nods enthusiastically, understanding Yuuta’s plan immediately. On Halloween, they would find a way into Gojo’s quarters and search his desk for clues. This is their shot.

“Hakari and Kirara’s party, though.” Yuuta groans, running a restless hand through his hair. “I promised I’d go. They’re already on my case and if I don’t show up at that party they’ll definitely know something is up.”

Hakari and Kirara’s Halloween party is lore around the academy. Toge has never been, but even so, he knows all about it. People look forward to it all year. Since mortals dress up as witches and wizards every year, Hakari’s whole thing is that he likes to dress up as a mortal. Last year, Toge heard that he and Kirara dressed up as cowboys, clad in denim and silly hats. But while the hosts play to the theme, the other students come in their very best outfits: sequin party dresses and velvet suit coats and ribbed corsets. Toge thinks he has more fun watching people strut over to the party than he ever would attending it. 

Of course Yuuta is meant to go. He’s close with the upperclassmen and that whole crowd. As inconvenient as it is, Yuuta is right. Him not going could have consequences. Yuuta is already acting strange and avoidant by most people’s standards of him, slipping away the second their classes end and steering clear of the dining hall. As trivial as it sounds, Yuuta skipping a party could be the final straw.

“It’ll be fine,” Yuuta decides, shaking it off. “We’ll just go for a little bit, yeah? Make an appearance to throw everyone off the trail and then head over to Gojo’s. That’s less suspicious anyway.” 

Toge is nodding his head in agreement till he realizes that Yuuta just said we. We’ll just go for a little bit. Yuuta’s already sitting back down at his desk though, settling in for a night of number crunching. The thought doesn’t phase him. 

He must know that Toge never goes to those things, right? Toge’s social calendar, aside from eating meals with Maki and making awkward hallway conversation with Miwa, is all but void. Other than Yuuta, he wouldn’t even have anyone to talk to at an event like that. There’s no way he could go. 

But Yuuta invited him so confidently. Either he expects Toge to be there or he wants Toge to be there. And it did make sense, logistically, for the two of them to leave and attend the party together- that would cut down on transportation time, since they wouldn’t have to meet up before heading to Gojo’s place. It’s a logical decision. 

What would Toge even wear to something like that, though? What is Yuuta going to wear? Toge feels as though he’s seen every garment in Yuuta’s closet. There’s no way he has party clothes that are acceptable for Hakari’s dress code. 

“Hey, you’re good at unsealing things, right?” Yuuta calls from the table, interrupting Toge’s thoughts. “There’s a… well, let’s call it a lock on Gojo’s door. I bet you could break it open no problem.” 

That really could be a problem. Seals are one thing, but locks are another. It’s not that Toge couldn’t do it, but he’s never tried. He’s not in the habit of experimenting with cursed speech in front of other people, not when he knows how wrongly it could go. 

Yuuta must sense his apprehension. “I know you can do it,” he assures. ”You’ve got your independent study tomorrow, right? Just practice then, you’ll be great.” 

Toge grimaces. His independent study doesn’t exist for him to practice harnessing cursed speech- it exists because Toge needs a safe space to practice his other magics. Most spells require an incantation, at least for the first few castings. You have to repeat them several times before working them into your body enough to not need the words. Since Toge isn’t allowed to speak on campus, his independent study exists to help him get to that point so he can continue his studies without vocalization. 

It means he can’t take any of the electives the school offers, but that doesn’t matter to him much anymore. He wouldn’t want to take the weaponry class anyway. Besides, Toge has grown sort of fond of the boarded up room he’s confined to twice a week while he practices. Maybe he can sneak in a few minutes of practice if he finishes his work early. Toge doesn’t want to get any hopes up though- especially since Toge doubts that there’s any lock that a blast of Yuuta’s concentrated magic wouldn’t completely obliterate- so he goes ahead and changes the subject, pulling out the box he pocketed earlier.  

“What’s this?” Yuuta asks as Toge places it gently on the table. He flicks it open and dinner rolls come spilling out into his lap. Luckily, the meal Maki wrapped up stays perfectly sound, the napkin unfolding on Yuuta’s desk. “Oh.” 

Toge stifles a laugh. He knows that’s not a good oh, but he could’ve predicted that outcome. Yuuta’s inability to hide his aversion is almost funny. It’s a good thing that no one probes Yuuta about this situation with Gojo too much- he’s a terrible liar. People would see right through him. 

Eat, Toge writes above his head. Before I make you. He’s teasing, of course, but Yuuta doesn’t need to know that. 

“Hey!” Yuuta protests. “I totally eat. I’m quite good at taking care of myself, thank you.” 

This time, Toge doesn’t even bother trying to hide his amusement. That wasn’t true at all. It’s actually a wonder that Yuuta is still alive, considering how incapable of fulfilling his basic needs he is. Toge is pretty sure he’d have died up in his room sometime in the last couple of weeks without Toge’s intervention. He’d certainly be flunking out of school.

“Besides, I’m uh,” Yuuta shifts in his seat. “I’m not really hungry anyway.” 

Again, Yuuta is a terrible liar, but Toge doesn’t bother calling him on it. Instead, he settles down on the floor with their homework for Iori’s class and gets to work. It’ll be a while until Yuuta has gotten through Toge’s initial calculations, so he might as well stay busy till then. If Yuuta takes too much longer, he’ll just go on a hunt in the library for more reading material. 

It wasn’t nearly as hard as Toge thought it would be to find forbidden books. Toge had always assumed they were hidden in some back room somewhere far out of reach, but Yuuta’s findings had proven otherwise. They were all hidden in plain sight, you just had to be willing to look for them. Toge really shouldn’t be surprised, knowing the way Tengen’s rules work. It wasn’t about security. It was about concealment. 

After Toge’s worksheet is pristine and Yuuta’s is scrawled with mostly correct answers for the sake of believability, Toge is about to head down the stairs to start scanning shelves. Just as he’s about to make his move, Yuuta starts hesitantly reaching toward the food. Toge keeps perfectly still as he plucks a piece of asparagus off the napkin and slowly brings it to his mouth. 

Success. Toge might as well stay for just a little longer then, so as not to spook Yuuta. He’ll stay for just long enough to make sure he gets properly nourished, then he’ll head to the stacks. 

“Miwa, as your upperclassman I cannot let you wear that.”

When Toge leaves his dorm room the next afternoon, en route to his independent study, Nishimiya and Miwa are across the hall chatting. Nishimiya is sporting a lacey dress with an oversized peter pan collar and poofy sleeves that gather halfway around her forearms. She fusses with the matching cream headband as she balances herself into the frame of Miwa’s door.

Toge doesn’t want either of them watching when he enchants his door shut, so he pretends to fiddle with the knob while they talk.

“Why not?” Miwa calls out to her. Even from a distance, Toge can hear the loud scraping of her dresser drawer being yanked open as Miwa roots through her clothes. “I saw Kirara yesterday. She said the theme was astronaut adventure!” 

“Honey, no.” Condescension drips from Nishimiya’s small frame as she shakes her head. “That’s their theme. The actual theme is moon and stars. We’ve talked about this. If you want to impress you-know-who you cannot be caught dead in that wretched ensemble. Think celestial goddess, not shapeless jumpsuit.” 

Toge shudders, not even wanting to imagine what Miwa possibly had planned for that ill-fated theme. He’s glad to hear that Nishimiya is intervening. He files away the information she’s just revealed about the real theme for later, thankful for the well-timed eavesdropping. He still hasn’t figured out what to wear to this party.

“I’ll come back later,” Nishimiya promises, tapping her foot with impatience. “Mai is waiting for us, hurry up.” 

Always eager to please, Miwa comes piling out of the door not even a second later. Instead of her normal uniform and her brown leather lace-up boots, she’s got on a dark plaid suit with a tapered waist. It’s a whole new look for her, but very sharp. Toge thinks she should dress like this all the time, she looks so confident. 

“Oh, hi Toge!” Miwa greets. Nishimiya looks over and startles as she notices Toge waiting in the corner. Obviously, she’d been completely unaware he’d been lurking about this whole time. She rolls her eyes and pushes herself up. She’s already halfway down the hall when Toge gives Miwa’s outfit one last glance. “Weaponry class,” she explains. “Professor Kusakabe prefers us to dress this way. Why you’d have to wear a suit to swing a sword, I’m not sure.” 

She shrugs and leaves Toge with a shy wave goodbye before chasing after Nishimiya. That made sense, now that Miwa mentioned it. Maki had this great, perfectly tailored space-gray suit with flared bottoms that Toge has seen her wear more than a couple times. It must be for that same reason.

He can’t quite imagine Yuuta in anything other than a school blazer, though. Toge will have to ask if he has a real suit. It might be something he could wear to the party. 

In spite of himself, Toge finds himself getting more and more excited about the prospect of tagging along. Hakari and Kirara are sure to be good hosts, and Toge had always wanted to take a peek at the upperclassman common room in the north wing anyway. This is definitely an experience Toge should have at least once before he graduates. Why not this year? 

It was perfect timing, in a sense. If Toge hated it, he’d have a sure out since they weren’t staying very long anyway. Plus, with Yuuta there, he’ll actually have someone to hang out with. He’ll probably still spend most of the time surfing the wall and avoiding eye contact with his classmates, but still. It’s better than graduating without ever having gone at all.

Toge’s independent study goes impossibly slow that day. The only good thing he can say about it is that the room doesn’t smell like fresh iron for a change. There aren’t many people on campus approved for independent study, but Noritoshi Kamo’s blood magic is so revered that he’s allowed to use the space whenever he likes. Toge, however, is only allowed his assigned hours- and it’s been made clear to him that if he doesn’t attend, he could face disciplinary action. For some reason, he doubts that Noritoshi is bound by those same rules. 

His next class is much worse. Professor Higuruma hands back tests in their Morals of Magic class, and to say Toge scored lower than he’d hoped would be a massive understatement. It’s the lowest grade Toge has ever seen on a sheet of paper with his name on it. In fact, Toge actually has to double check to make sure it’s in fact his handwriting on the page, that’s how unbelievable it is. 

It’s his own fault. Professor Higuruma’s tests are generally pretty easy, as long as you do all his reading. The answers are always hidden between the lines of textbooks and other additional reading assignments. Toge usually does so well on his tests that he wasn't worried, merely skimming the material instead of making an effort to absorb it. When he gets time next, he’ll reread it all and ask for a re-test. It’ll be harder than the first one, but he can handle it.

Toge can’t worry about it right now. He ignores the stinging at his eyes, folding the test neatly and stuffing it into his bag. Luckily, they were passed back at the end of class, so Toge can clear out of the classroom before anyone can see him wiping at his eyes. Even as the tears fall, Toge feels separate from them. He has too much going on to waste a second on something as common as crying. 

By the time he gets to the dining hall for dinner, it’s out of his head completely. He sits at his usual spot and keeps his eyes fixed on the door, waiting for Maki to come through. That’s his last big obligation for the day before he can hole up in Yuuta’s room and work on the Gojo puzzle for the rest of the night. 

When someone Toge wants to see finally pops in through the entryway, he’s shocked to find that it isn’t Maki. Yuuta strolls in, wearing an extremely fitted black turtleneck and a matching pair of dark slacks. In his hand is a rumpled suit jacket, answering Toge’s earlier question. Yuuta is scanning the room and yanking the sleeves of his shirt up to expose a pale patch of forearm. Toge wonders for a second what Yuuta could possibly be looking for, and it hits him like a punch to the gut.

He’s looking for me. 

The second their eyes meet, Yuuta’s face softens and he springs into motion. He strides across the dining hall with ease, not even so much as acknowledging anyone around him as he goes. His eyes stay trained on Toge’s the whole time.  

“Hey,” he breathes, sliding down on the bench next to Toge. It’s clear that he won’t be staying long, because he doesn’t swing his legs over to tuck under the table. Instead, he leans back and balances his elbows. “I wanted to ask you something. Will you do your trick on me tonight?” 

Toge’s eyebrows knit. He’s not exactly sure what Yuuta is talking about. Yuuta looks around, making sure no one is listening, and then scoots closer, bringing his lips to Toge’s ear. 

“The, uh… the sleep thing?” His voice is velvet in Toge’s ear, his breath warm and dry as he whispers. “Tomorrow’s gonna be a long night, so I think it’s smart for me to get some rest in. And well… I’ve never slept better in my life than when you helped me a couple weeks ago. Usually, I just toss and turn. You obviously don’t have to, but I was hoping–” 

Before Yuuta can get another word out, Toge nods eagerly. He should have done that a minute ago, the second it became clear to him what Yuuta was asking, but the randomly close proximity seems to be slowing Toge’s processing time. 

Yuuta sighs with relief, grateful for the reprieve. He rests a palm on Toge’s shoulder for a brief second before he gets up. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon, yeah?” 

Toge nods again, and that’s the end of it. Yuuta walks away, making his way toward the exit quickly so no one has the chance to flag him down. Toge watches him go, eyes still wide from shock. It was already surprising to see him here, but it was even more surprising to see him here as a friend. Usually, Toge just catches glimpses of him from across dimly lit tables, spacing out as Hakari and Kirara laugh and Aoi Todo talks at him. He’s never sat anywhere close to Toge before today. 

Stupidly, Toge realizes that he didn’t even make Yuuta take any food. He’d finally gotten him to warm, fresh sustenance, and Toge had completely spaced out on making him actually eat. He’ll have to remember that next time. Will there be a next time?

“What’s that look for?” Maki’s voice interrupts, appearing on the other side of him. 

Toge’s hands fly up to his face, making sure his scarf is still covering him. He only lowers it between bites, or when he’s safe in a dorm room. How could she possibly see his expression? What look is she talking about?

“Oh, come on,” she punches, clearly able to sense his panic. “You’re a lot easier to read than you think you are. What’s got you so starry-eyed?” 

Starry-eyed?  

Toge shakes his head, denying the allegation. Starry-eyed. As if. 

“Pff,” she contends, sliding down next to Toge and unbuttoning her suit jacket as she leans back against the bench. “Sure, Toge. You’re acting completely normal these days.” 

Suddenly, Toge feels the need to start filling his plate. He’s in desperate need of a distraction from this conversation. He doesn’t like lying to Maki, of course he doesn’t. She’s his best friend. But this wasn’t his secret to tell, even if he wanted to. 

He’d pitched telling Maki within a couple days of discovering Yuuta in the library that day. She had an extensive knowledge of deeper magics from years of being a fly on the wall at the Zen’in compound. Even if she didn’t have insight on this particular matter, she’s smart and decisive. She’d be able to help them for sure. 

But Yuuta doesn’t know her like Toge does. He heard the name Zen’in and that was it. Without a moment's hesitation, he decided that telling her wasn’t worth the risk. Toge briefly tried to explain that Maki wasn’t like the other Zen’ins, that she’d left the clan, but ultimately it was Yuuta’s decision and Toge had to respect it. It wasn’t his favorite choice, but he could understand the motives behind keeping this news as far away from the major clans as possible. 

“It’s fine,” Maki says chipperly, watching Toge busy his hands. “I’m going to figure out what it is eventually.” Toge thinks that she’s done, but then she leans in close and lowers her voice. “Or who.” 

Toge all but chokes on the piece of roasted cauliflower he’d stuffed into his mouth to avoid answering her. She gives him an enthusiastic slap on the back as he struggles, shocking him into swallowing it whole. He lets out a little cough, pulling back up his scarf so he can properly hide the red glow on his cheeks. 

“Don’t hurt yourself, Toge.” She grins wildly, very much pleased with herself. “I’m only teasing.” 

Knowing Maki, that’s extremely unlikely. He and Yuuta had better make some serious headway tomorrow night, because he’s not sure how much longer he can keep this up. Maki would not give this up easily. 

But much to Toge’s surprise, she shifts the conversation without any protest from Toge at all. She chats with him about Hakari’s party, telling him that she hasn’t decided if she’ll go or not. It seems as though the person she wanted to go to the party with hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about whether they’re attending or not, but she doesn’t say who. Toge thinks she’s waiting for him to ask, but he worries it’s a trap. He can’t really afford to start exchanging information right now. 

She is extremely excited to hear that Toge has been thinking about going. She tells him it's the best news she’s heard all week. 

“Toge Inumaki, at a party?” she tweaks, giving his cheek a little pinch. “About time. You’ll like it. Maybe I’ll see you there.” 

Rika is not nearly as impish with her stairwell antics that night. When Toge enters the tower, all of the candles are already flickering gently, glittering against the stonework. It’s slightly dimmer than when Toge is accompanying Yuuta, who Rika literally lights up for, but he’ll take it. He can’t say he minds getting to take the steps at a leisurely pace for a change. There are so many of them. 

When he gets to the top, he goes ahead and lets himself in. He’s reasonably certain that Rika tips Yuuta off in advance, since he always seems ready to greet him. Toge immediately recognizes something unusual in the air. Rika’s magic? Yuuta’s? The thick, steamy feeling that radiates from inside feels quite different from either of their dusky energies. 

It takes Toge entirely too long to realize that what he’s sensing- the sweeping aura of teakwood and fire coals and tingling eucalyptus- isn’t actually magic at all. 

“Oh!” Toge gasps, so surprised that he can’t even keep a handle on his instinct to stay quiet.

No, it’s definitely not magic. Yuuta is finally putting the clawfoot tub that inexplicably lives in the middle of his bedroom to good use. Toge had always assumed he used the small shower in the closet of his bathroom. Until this exact moment, he’d never even thought of the bathtub as functioning except for as a medium for Rika’s tantrums.

But Yuuta’s bare shoulders are stretched across the iron lip of the tub and his hands grip the sides. Soapy water slides off his slick black hair, dripping down the back of his neck and on to the dusty hardwood beneath him. By some grace of god, there are enough bubbles in the bathtub that Yuuta’s back is the only thing Toge sees, but somehow he still feels exceedingly guilty for looking at it. 

“Toge?” Yuuta calls, not sounding a bit embarrassed. Toge has already spun around in the opposite direction, his hands slamming against his eyes as he hides behind them. “Ah, sorry! I meant to be ready when you arrived!” 

A small squeak escapes Toge’s lips in lieu of a proper response. His mind is so frozen with panic that he can’t even entertain the idea of finding a proper way to communicate with Yuuta right now.

“Just give me a minute, yeah?” 

Toge shakes his head, ineffectively trying to tell Yuuta not to rush- he can just come back later, after all- but Toge can already hear the telltale slosh of Yuuta emerging from the bath. Toge’s whole body freezes up as he awkwardly realizes that Yuuta is standing naked in this room right now. There’s absolutely no way Toge should be here right now. 

Once Toge has heard the dull rumple of a towel, he finally regains the ability to breathe, blood rushing back to his head as he slowly starts to lower his hands. What’s he trying to stop himself from seeing, anyway? His back is turned. It’s not like he’d be able to discern anything anyway. 

As he starts to peek over the tips of his fingers, Toge’s eyes immediately connect with a small mirror perched on top of Yuuta’s dresser. Despite its small surface area, it’s pointed in the exact right direction. Toge has a full view of Yuuta’s suds-covered chest, his fingers lazily clasping a towel around his hips. A long silver chain runs halfway to his navel, leaving a shiny ring to rest squarely between his ribs. 

“Sorry about that,” Yuuta calls, giving his wet hair a shake. It takes Toge a beat longer than it should to cover his eyes back up again, so he sees the whole motion. “You’d think Rika would have locked that for me, wouldn’t you?” 

He chuckles under his breath, but Toge can hear a nervous edge to it. Of course. Rika. That’s why she’d coaxed Toge up so gently. She’d been luring him right into this. Why, he has no idea, but she’s certainly succeeded in her mission tonight. Yuuta and Toge are both thoroughly embarrassed.  

As Toge thinks of Rika, another mystery starts to unfold in his brain. Yuuta’s silvery ring. Toge had never thought of Yuuta as being the type to wear jewelry, so the chain had been a bit surprising until Toge remembered what Yuuta had once said about her. We had it in our heads that we were going to get married.

The ring he’s wearing must be from her. Toge has learned a lot about Yuuta over the past couple of weeks, so finding more proof that he’s sentimental is hardly a shock. Toge wonders how long Yuuta has worn that ring as a symbol of his friendship with Rika. If he keeps it hidden beneath his clothes at all times, he must not want anyone to ask. Toge will just have to act as if he’s none the wiser. He hopes, at the very least, that Rika is aware of his devotion. 

“Good thing I set some clothes out,” Yuuta says through a thin laugh. “Okay. It’s safe now, I promise. You can turn around.” 

With great apprehension, Toge lowers his hands once more. He makes sure not to make any contact with the mirror he turns to face Yuuta. He’s wearing a- surprise, surprise- black shirt and his hands are resting in the pockets of a pair of gray flannel pajama bottoms. It’s the lightest hue Toge has ever seen on Yuuta. It’s not a bad look on him, not at all. 

“I’m nervous, are you?” he asks Toge.

Toge quirks an eyebrow. Nervous? 

“Last time you used your voice on me I was out for an entire day,” Yuuta specifies. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept that long in my life. I’m actually kind of worried if I let you do this I’ll just sleep right through the party tomorrow. You promise to wake me, yeah?” 

Yuuta would have to sleep for a full twenty-four hours to miss Hakari’s party, but Toge assures him with a nod anyway. 

Wet hair sticks to Yuuta’s forehead as he wanders over to his bed, sitting on the edge. Rika tugs at the covers expectantly, turning them into a perfect little triangle that Yuuta will be able to pull back. Apparently, she wants Yuuta to rest as well. Toge hasn’t used his speech in front of Yuuta since that day, save a few library thefts. He’s only recommended that Yuuta get some sleep. He didn’t think Yuuta was actually listening to him though, not until he’d brought it up at dinner. 

Yuuta lies back against the bed, looking far too awake for someone who’s supposedly about to get the best night’s rest of their life. He really is nervous, Toge realizes. 

“I talked to Rika about it earlier and she promised to behave this time,” he tells Toge.

Rika behaving is hardly a sure bet without Yuuta around to supervise, but Toge agrees nonetheless. He doesn’t waste any time spelling Yuuta into slumber. It’s rare that he has an opportunity to use his magic like this- even rarer that someone actually wants him to- so he savors this brief moment of being useful.

“Sleep.” 

Yuuta doesn’t even bother with trying to resist. He fades almost instantly, Toge’s command sputtering out into the air as it’s satisfied. 

Once Yuuta is asleep, snoring and none the wiser, Toge knows he should head back down the tower and return to his own quarters for the night. He’s about to do just that, when something catches his eye- the discarded pieces of the suit Yuuta was wearing. They’re lying in a heap on the floor. He’ll have to wear those tomorrow, Toge thinks.  

He should at least stay to hang them up. If this suit isn’t clean, Yuuta won’t have anything to wear. It wouldn’t hurt anything if Toge just stayed a few extra minutes. Right? 

It starts out innocently enough. Toge digs a hanger out of Yuuta’s mess of a closet, but then he realizes that everything is wrinkled, and that simply won’t do. He runs a bit of hot water from Yuuta’s bath and steams it up with magic, allowing all the folds to fall away. 

That’s definitely where Toge should leave things for the night. Instead, he starts thinking about the theme Nishimiya was talking about. Moon and stars. All black really didn’t reflect that, did it?

Before Toge even really knows what he’s doing, magic is swelling at his fingertips. He’s not allowed into town to shop for anything new, so he’s gotten pretty good at making do with the clothes he already has with a little help from magic. It really wasn’t all that hard to change the stitching or the color of a certain article of clothing with a bit of effort. Revamping Yuuta’s outfit wouldn’t be a problem at all. If Toge is smart about it, he can put everything right again before his next weaponry class.

There’s a moment of hesitation before he starts work as he remembers a strange occurrence from last year. Yuuta came into class one day in a sweater vest sized to fit a child, his school-issued button bunched up and hanging out from beneath it. Apparently, Hakari and Kirara had played some sort of prank on him- sneaking into Yuuta’s dorm and using some tightly coiled magic to shrink all of his knitwear. Every sweater Yuuta tried to wear that week- tried being the key word- was treacherously small. 

Toge felt so badly for him at the time. He remembers Hakari and Kirara laughing up a storm every time Yuuta entered a room. Yuuta, being as good natured as he is, pretended to be amused by it all, but even then Toge could see he was a little hurt by the whole encounter. It got so pitiful after the first few days that Toge had actually done a bit of research into helping him reverse it. He’d planned on slipping a piece of paper with a counter-spell on it for Maki to pass along to him in their weaponry class, but the very next day Yuuta came back to classes with perfectly fitting sweaters, almost as if the whole thing had never happened. He’d figured it out himself. 

That, or Gojo had just bought him a whole new set. Honestly, Toge wouldn’t put it past him. He gets the sense that Gojo is responsible for every article of clothing in Yuuta’s closet. That would explain why all the cuts were merely echoes of things that Gojo would wear himself: the high waisted pants, the fitted shirts, the dramatically dark coloring. In fact, the clothing Yuuta wears is so nice that they might actually be castoffs from Gojo’s own closet. 

In any case, Toge realizes that his help might be unwelcome. He considers it as he unspools the thread from an abandoned navy t-shirt in the back of Yuuta’s closet. It looks impossibly small, so Toge figures it won’t be a big deal if he mangles it a little. Yuuta certainly won’t be wearing it anytime soon. When he’s finished, he casts a gentle sheen on the thread so it will glitter ever so slightly. It’s dark enough that it won’t be obvious, but just bright enough that it won’t blend in completely. 

Once he’s done, he uses a bit of easy, mindless magic to embroider a dark little moon into the right cuff of Yuuta’s suit jacket. Celestial goddess, Nishimiya had said. At least Yuuta would have a touch of that.

But when Toge looks at the revised outfit, he’s still not sure. It looks too much like what he wore to class on Friday, and this party was supposed to be a special occasion. Toge tugs the jacket back off the hanger and fixes his eyes on the dark turtleneck that Yuuta had been sporting earlier, rubbing the fabric between his fingers. 

It’s a simple cotton. Toge could dye it, no problem. The dark color might be troublesome to lift, but Toge has no other use for his magic tonight so he goes ahead. It’s a bit more tedious than he thought it would be, but when Toge is finished, the fabric is a perfect, glowing white. When it’s tucked beneath the dark jacket, it almost looks like a sliver of moonlight against the midnight sky. 

It’s perfect. People will be so surprised to see Yuuta in a color other than black that the outfit really will feel truly special. He hangs it all up carefully one last time and hangs it up on the inside hook on Yuuta’s closet door, where he’ll be sure to see it when he wakes. Before he lets himself out, he takes one last fleeting look at Yuuta. He’s still completely asleep. All of Toge’s fussing hasn’t disturbed him in the slightest. 

When Toge tries to turn the handle though, Rika resists him. Toge’s heart just about stops in his chest. A moment later, the door creaks open for him without prompting. Rika had just been toying with him. 

When he gets back to his own dorm that night, Toge starts working on his own outfit for the party. If Yuuta was going to be the moon, it only made sense that Toge’s look for the night reflected the stars. 

Yuuta usually beats Toge to the library on weekend mornings, but today he’s nowhere in sight. He must still be out for the count. 

The two of them are working slowly to scan through every section of the library, looking for anything at all out of place. So far, they’d found a few banned books on things they haven’t been looking for (which of course, Toge is noting the locations of, just in case he has need for them in the future), but still nothing prison realm related. So far, they’d only found one other book with anything related to dimensional magic, and Toge has already read it cover to cover three separate times. They needed more.

The next section mapped out in their hunt is a sleepy, dust-lined corner in the back of the library. Toge dutifully spends about thirty minutes tucked between the stacks before deciding to tap out. He’s starting to wonder if the information they’re searching for even exists. 

Defeated, Toge quietly borrows a textbook from Higuruma’s reference cart and settles in at a table by the window. It’s nice and gloomy out, so he won’t have to squint through the sunlight to make the words out. He half-expects Yuuta to come in and bust him for working on something other than the rescue efforts, but he never does. Apparently the only thing that clears out the library faster than a trip to the village are the promise of Halloween festivities. 

When it’s clear Yuuta isn’t going to join him, Toge stops at the dining hall and nibbles at a pumpkin muffin while he waits for his tea to steep. It’s empty there, too. Everyone must already be getting ready. Suddenly, the muffin doesn’t look so good to him anymore. His stomach is fluttering with nerves. Maybe this party is a bigger deal than he thought. 

He still has a few last minute touches to make to his outfit, but he doesn’t want to make them till right before. He’d be too embarrassed to walk around the halls like that. While he waits, he lies in his room and stares at the ceiling to pass the time, studying it as if it holds all sorts of dimensional secrets. 

Eventually, he drags himself up to get dressed. He’s selected a sharp pair of cropped slacks that stop just before his ankles and billowy button down that’s just a tad see through. Nice socks and pointed loafers complete the look. The ensemble would be fine as is, but Toge spent entirely too long doctoring one of his suit jackets last night to leave it behind. He lightened it from its original murky brown to a pretty gray color that almost resembles silver. When it’s closer to the event, he plans to enchant it with the same spell he used on Yuuta’s thread last night to make it shimmer like stars. 

When he leaves to go meet Yuuta, he’s relieved to see he isn’t overdressed. The hallways are flooded with students dressed in outfits far fancier and flashier than what Toge has planned. He does notice that he’s pulling stares from every direction, though. Perhaps people are surprised to see him dressed up? Is it that much of a surprise that he’s planning to go to this party? He wasn’t aware anyone thought about him enough to care either way. Toge speeds up his pace, avoiding eye-contact. Luckily, Yuuta’s hallway is as empty as ever, so as soon as he turns the corner, he’s safe again. 

Oh his way up the tower, Rika tries to force another chase up the stairs. Toge can tell he’s disappointing her by not playing along, but he’s already nervous enough. He really doesn’t want to get his nice outfit sweaty before tonight by running after her. To avoid the darkness, Toge kinders a small flame just above his thumb. It’s a miniscule amount of magic, but he winds up only needing it for a few seconds. Rika retreats back down the stairs when she realizes Toge has not followed her, glumly sparking each candle as he makes his ascent. 

This time, Toge is sure to knock before entering. He’d like to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s situation, thank you. 

“Toge!” Yuuta yells from the other side of the door, already knowing exactly who it is. The door flies open so quickly that Toge has to jump backwards to stop from getting hit by the swing. “I guess I have you to thank for–”

He cuts himself off, jaw going slack as he looks at Toge. It’s probably mutual. Yuuta is wearing the shirt Toge laid out last night, and it’s perfect. Even without the suit jacket, it looks exactly as Toge imagined it would. It brightens Yuuta’s entire face, offsetting his dark circles just enough that it doesn’t change the actual look of his face. It makes his blue eyes shine like jewels. 

All of Toge’s nerves are instantly replaced with giddiness. They’re really going to do this. They’re really going to a party. A month ago, Toge could never have imagined being excited about something like that, but Yuuta’s excitement is infectious. 

“Oh,” the other boy says softly. It’s only then that Toge realizes that Yuuta isn’t taking in Toge’s clothing. He’s looking at Toge’s face. Yuuta raises his hand absentmindedly and points to one of his cheeks. “You’re- you’re not wearing your scarf.” 

Toge clamps a hand over his face so swiftly that he actually hears a slapping noise. He’s too busy being mortified to feel the sting.  

That’s why everyone was looking at him. He just walked across the campus with the sigils on full display. None of the other students are supposed to see the sigils except for the unavoidable moments in the dining hall when he’s eating. Even then, before befriending Maki, he used to take his meals in his dorm room for the sake of privacy. He can’t believe he let himself get so invested in picking the right outfit that he’d forgotten the most important part. Toge’s not even sure he has a scarf that will match this. He’ll have to start from scratch. 

Lifting a second hand to his face for better coverage, Toge turns right back to the stairs. He has no choice to go back- to walk right past all of those same people while he hides his face in shame. He can’t be caught without a face covering for even a second longer. It’s so irresponsible, he can’t-

“It’s okay, Toge.” 

Toge’s mind stops in motion as Yuuta catches his arm, stopping his departure before he even makes it a step. When Toge looks over, his eyes are so kind- so bright right now- that Toge doesn’t doubt for even a second that he means it. 

“You don’t have to wear that in front of me,” Yuuta tells him. “You know that right?” 

He says it through a laugh, almost incredulous. Like he can’t believe Toge ever thought otherwise. Toge slowly removes one of his hands. The other one takes a little longer. He’s not used to being exposed like this. The only people who know this side of him are members of his clan, and Toge hasn’t seen any of them since he started school here. 

Yuuta must sense Toge’s hesitancy, gently tugging him inside and starting to look for a solution. “If you’re really worried about it, I know I have a scarf in here somewhere. You can borrow it, yeah?”

It’s rare for Toge to accept a favor, but he really doesn’t want to go back down there again. He nods slowly and begrudgingly lowers the second hand. Yuuta’s face explodes into a grin. 

“Perfect,” he declares. He’s so proud of his plan that he lets his eyes linger on Toge’s face for an extra couple of seconds. 

A few minutes later, as Toge watches Yuuta all but destroy his closet, he finds himself starting to doubt Yuuta’s confidence here. Half of his clothes are sprawled onto the ground (admittedly not so out of the ordinary, considering Yuuta’s general lack of neatness) and he’s no closer to finding the scarf. 

“No, I know it’s in here.” He’s been talking to himself like that for the past couple of minutes. Toge is pretty certain at this point that he’s no longer the one that Yuuta is assuring. “Seriously. There’s literally nowhere else it could be. It’s not like someone–” 

They both come to the realization at the exact same time. 

“Rika,” Yuuta accuses. Instantly, the quiet hum of Rika’s cursed energy starts to go frantic, like static running down a cat’s back. “Where’s the scarf, Rika?” 

She goes totally still, the air in the room going hollow and strange. From across the room, Toge can feel Yuuta’s magic turn stormy- the two of them making for a terrifying combination when they both get going. Yuuta has just started to open his mouth, ready to scold again, when Rika’s energy flops against the floor in defeat. 

There’s a rattle and a gentle creaking noise that draws Yuuta and Toge’s eyes to the center of the room as one of the floorboards peels back from its spot. The two of them exchange a quick glance before dropping everything to rush over. 

Toge lets out a low whistle. Yuuta just shakes his head.

The little cubby Rika has just unearthed contains a very impressive little nest of stolen things. Playing cards, pencils, even a set of reading glasses. Toge counts about four different socks- none of which go together- as well as a sturdy leather belt and, of course, the scarf. It’s folded neatly, almost as if Yuuta had placed it there himself with great care. 

“Rika Oriomto, you wicked girl,” Yuuta chides. If he’s trying to hold her accountable for her actions though, he’s doing a pretty lousy job of it. He can’t keep the amusement out of his voice. Even through his annoyance, he’s laughing about it. “Half of this isn’t even mine!” 

Yuuta pulls up the scarf and the belt first, handing the former to Toge. It only reveals more contraband. Papers, a cigarette lighter, a leather wristwatch, a single shoelace. Toge can barely tear his eyes away. If they didn’t have other ambitions tonight, he’d insist on pulling it all out and taking inventory. 

“I’ve been looking for this for ages,” Yuuta scoffs, pulling the pitch black leather belt around his waist and fiddling with the fancy gold hardware. “Something for each of us then.” 

Toge finally looks down at the scarf in his hands. Cashmere, probably. Black on one side and gray on the other, completed with thin pieces of hand woven fringe on both ends. Both items are incredibly well-crafted and look brand new. 

“Is that my statistics homework?” Yuuta cries, just as he picks up the wayward floorboard to patch the hole in the floor. “No wonder Professor Nanami hates me so much.” 

Toge chuckles. Professor Nanami hates everyone. Or at least, he pretends to. Toge is almost certain that there is softness beneath his severe exterior.  

“My pet ghost ate my homework,” Yuuta quips. There must be a joke in that, but it’s not one Toge knows. “Nevermind. Guess it’s time to get this over with, huh? So the night can really begin.” Toge hops up to his feet, wiping the dust off his pants. “I’ll be quick about it, I promise. I’ll meet you back here in half an hour tops, then we can head over together.” 

It takes Toge a minute to piece together what Yuuta’s saying. Even then, he’s not quite sure he understands. 

“Or we could meet at the library, if you want!” Yuuta suggests. “I just figured you’d be more comfortable hanging out here for a little while. I was up pretty early, so I finally got through your calculations if you want to go over the notes while you wait.”

That, Toge understands perfectly.

Toge is too caught off guard to do anything but nod. Before Yuuta can stand a chance of gleaning anything from his face, Toge flicks his eyes over to the desk, pretending to have a great and sudden interest in their paperwork. It hits him all at once. He isn’t going to this party. He was never going to this party. 

Compulsively, Toge just keeps shaking his head, despite the fact that all Yuuta can see right now is his hair. He runs a finger over their papers, desperately trying to find something interesting in them to fixate on. 

“Oh, and Toge.” He pauses after calling Toge’s name, making it impossible for Toge not to turn around to meet his gaze. “Thanks for the shirt. I’d never really thought of myself in white before but it’s… it’s a nice change. I think it looks kind of okay.” 

Kind of okay is practically egotistical for someone as self-effacing Yuuta. Toge manages a tight smile. A kinder version of him would assure Yuuta that he looks much better than okay, but Toge can’t reach that side of himself right now. He thumbs at the scarf in his hands, wishing beyond anything else that he’d thought to put it on when it was handed to him. Keeping his face neutral- his whole face- is taking every ounce of Toge’s concentration. 

“See you soon,” Yuuta promises one last time, heading out. 

Immediately, Toge’s eyes get cloudy. He can’t believe how foolish he let himself be. Of course Yuuta meant to just go to the party by himself. The whole point of him going was to keep his friends from getting suspicious about his behavior lately. Arriving with Toge would only make him seem more erratic. People would know immediately that something was amiss. 

Tears start leaking out of his eyes, and for what? He hadn’t even wanted to go to this event in the first place. They have so much work to do, and the last thing Toge should have been worrying about is a party. 

He wants to be mad at Yuuta for putting the idea of it in his head, but he can’t be. It’s not Yuuta’s fault that Toge misunderstood. Especially when Toge knows, deep down, that if he had just spoken up and asked Yuuta if he could come along, there’s no world in which Yuuta would have told him no. Toge really has no one to blame but himself. 

This whole thing is stupid. So stupid. He’s absolutely furious with himself for letting the situation get so out of hand. He’s even angrier that he’s letting himself cry about it. 

This isn’t their last year at school. There will be another party next year. When everything goes back to normal, and his brief friendship with Yuuta becomes a mere footnote in the untold tale of Gojo’s rescue, Toge will ask Maki to go with him. She’d brave it for him, if he asked. Even if they didn’t go, they could at least hole up in her dorm room for the night and nosh on contraband dining hall desserts the way they’ve done every other Halloween. This year, Toge doesn’t even have that. All he has is a wasted set of party clothes and Yuuta’s empty room. 

Except for the fact that Yuuta’s room is never empty. Toge let himself get so emotional that he forgot there’s technically another person in this room. 

“So-rry,” he chokes out, hoping that Rika will disregard this little meltdown. How absolutely humiliating for him to cry in front of Yuuta’s ghost friend. 

Her aura slowly fills up the room as she creeps out from her hiding spot. She’s clearly witnessed the whole lapse. He can feel her energy start to bolster, swirling around him like a windstorm. It’s different from her usual interactions- neither dark and intimidating, nor playful and roguish. The magic she offers is soft and gentle as it surrounds him. If Toge had his eyes closed, he’d be able to convince himself it was an embrace from flesh and bone. 

Toge isn’t exactly sure what Rika is capable of and not, but he hopes she can see him smiling at her. His body starts to relax, his brief interlude of disappointment already starting to pass. 

When Rika starts to pull back, something glittering catches Toge’s eye. He looks up to see Yuuta’s pen- Yuuta’s favorite pen- dangling in the air. It’s basically attached to his hand whenever Toge’s in here. It has blacker than black ink and a nice, weighty feel when it’s balanced between fingers. Yuuta never takes it out of this room, and Toge has figured that’s by design. That way, it couldn’t be stolen or lost. 

Or could it?

Toge watches with baited breath as the pen starts to float away from the desk. The floorboards creak, and the very same one that lifted before shimmies out of its spot. Rika holds it in place for a second, just to make sure Toge’s seeing this, before dropping it into the well and covering it right back up. Whether it’s an attempt to show solidarity or just to cheer Toge up, Toge doesn’t know. Either way, Toge can’t help but find his spirits lifted. It’s a bit cruel, but Yuuta will find it in a couple of days anyway, so no harm done. 

Satisfied, Rika seeps back into the cracks between the walls, leaving Toge alone once more. He wipes his eyes as he crosses the room, connecting with the suit jacket that Yuuta decided to forgo tonight in favor of his new white shirt. He calls on his magic and slowly unspools the little moon he’d left embroidered on the edge of Yuuta’s sleeve before tucking the garment back in Yuuta’s closet. 

When he’s finished, Toge works on undoing the matching silver star fixed on to his own sleeve. 

Yuuta was being serious when he said that Gojo’s private quarters were at the very end of the staff hall. “Almost there,” he promises. 

Unlike the student lodgings, the hall is spread out and nonsensical. Every door is different, and while some are right beside each other, others are so far apart that sometimes Toge and Yuuta span huge distances without seeing one. At first, Toge was making a game of wondering which door belonged to which professor, but he’d realized pretty quickly that he was out of his depth. Surely there are more doors than there are professors. 

Yuuta mutters something else beneath his breath. He’s been growing increasingly nervous this whole walk, rubbing his palms against his pants and pushing their pace. Toge can’t really blame him. They’re not supposed to be in the staff hall unaccompanied anyway, and being here on Halloween night could only mean that they’re up to no good. One of these doors could burst open at any second to bust them. 

For some reason, Toge isn’t nervous at all. Maybe he’s too spent, but more likely he’s over-correcting for Yuuta’s sake. One of them had to keep a level head. Once they’ve passed the last couple of doors though, he starts to feel more than just a trace of doubt. At the end of this incredibly long hallway is nothing but a blank wall. 

Toge scans their surroundings one more time, inspecting the wallpaper to make sure he hasn’t missed any cracks, as Yuuta marches right up. Toge blinks at him, baffled. There’s nothing there, Toge is sure. 

“There’s a barrier guarding the doorway. It’s spelled to only let certain people in, because Gojo didn’t want anyone sniffing around. I’m pretty sure I’m on that list.” 

Toge lets out a sigh. They’d come all this way for pretty sure? Yuuta lays a hand on the bare wall, still as dull and flat as ever. 

“So I can get us in. There’s just one problem,” Yuuta tells him, fingers tracing a spray of flowers painted on to the wallpaper. “Gojo hid the door.” 

Of course. Toge can’t help but roll his eyes. That man is so paranoid that even the people trying to rescue him don’t stand a chance. Still, if Toge had as many active disputes with the council as he’s heard Gojo does, he’d want maximum security as well. As eccentric as Gojo is, he rarely does things without reason. 

“I could blast it with magic, but…” 

Yuuta trails off. Toge considers it for a second, but immediately waves him off. If this place was really meant to be a safe haven from those who would do Gojo harm, it would probably reject any kind of aggressive magic. Even if Yuuta’s wasn’t ill-intentioned, it still poses a risk. Throwing his magic at it would probably just send the entrance deeper into hiding. 

“I’m thinking it’s safer if you take a look at it,” Yuuta tells him. He tips his head down at Toge intently, and finally Toge understands. This is what Yuuta wanted his magic for. Admittedly, cursed speech does have a way of defying the normal rules of magic- sometimes able to override even the most basic principles with simple force when used correctly. Toge doesn’t have a huge amount of practice dealing with delicate situations such as this one, but Yuuta is right. He’s their best bet. 

He steps in close next to Yuuta, cocking his eyebrow and pointing at the wall. 

“Yeah,” Yuuta confirms. “It would be right there.” 

Toge has no choice but to believe him. He motions for Yuuta to take a few steps back, which he does reluctantly. Yuuta must realize by now that Toge won’t use cursed speech unless he can completely guarantee the safety of people around him.  

Once Yuuta is a safe distance away, Toge carefully lays both his hands on the door, skimming it over with his fingertips. He closes his eyes as he searches for his subject. Gojo has done an excellent job of covering his tracks. Toge leans his forehead against the wall, searching for the threads of a spell. When he finally feels it, one single ripple in the still water, Toge doesn’t waste a second. 

“Reveal,” he whispers.  

It happens instantly. Toge lets out a little yelp and hops backwards as the walls start to groan and shake. A seam appears in the wallpaper, right between where Toge’s hands had just been. It travels from the floor to the ceiling as the walls start to pry apart, layers and layers of big stone walls dragging noisily against the floors as they retract. They’re ten slabs deep when the outline of a door finally starts to become clear. It’s enough to give Gojo’s entrance its own separate hallway.

“You did it!” Yuuta exclaims, rushing to his side. 

No wonder Yuuta had been worried about getting caught. This is powerful, cacophonous magic. Anyone nearby would be alerted to it immediately. It makes the idea of being able to ever sneak up on Gojo while he’s resting seem absolutely laughable. 

“Gojo just teleports in,” Yuuta explains, forging ahead. “A lot simpler.”

It must be nice. Teleportation is a handy trick, but unfortunately, not one that could be taught. Toge had always figured it was specific to the Gojo clan, but if Yuuta can’t use it, perhaps it’s specific to Gojo’s unique magical ability- the six eyes. It’s such a powerful trait that it’s only born once a generation, so Yuuta never stood a chance of inheriting it himself. 

Now that Toge thinks about it, what trait did Yuuta inherit? It seemed that almost every student at this school had one- that’s why they’d gotten in the first place. Magicians without some sort of individual magic were less sought after. There were exceptions to that obviously, Maki Zen’in being the most notable, but Toge had never considered that Yuuta was an exception as well. Perhaps just the sheer capacity of his magic was his born trait? Toge will have to ask him some time if there’s more to that. 

A faint hum of magic comes forward from the arched doorway as it judges Yuuta as among the chosen few. He looks back to Toge and offers his hand. 

“We have to cross the barrier together,” he explains. “Or it might reject you.” 

Toge stares dumbly at Yuuta for a moment before realizing what he’s asking. He means for Toge to hold his hand. Sucking in a breath, Toge takes a few cautious steps forward and carefully slides his hand into Yuuta’s. He tries to stop himself from going completely stiff, but he doubts it translates. At the very least, the warm grip of Yuuta’s hand isn’t entirely unpleasant. They exchange tight, apologetic smiles before Yuuta finally turns the knob. 

Whatever Toge was expecting from Gojo’s quarters, this certainly wasn’t it. He at least thought that they’d be walking into a dwelling. 

Instead, what unfolds is an expanse of tall trees and a brilliant night sky dotted with low-hanging stars. The scent of pine and mountain air hits Toge’s nose, blowing at his face through a strong gale. Within a moment, Toge knows this is an entirely different ecosystem than their own. On campus right now, the soil is dry and the grass is brittle with the shifting cold. Here, everything is flourishing, thriving in full flush. It’s fresh and pure, an untouched wilderness. An oasis. 

Yuuta turns around to check on Toge as he enters, the artificial darkness framing his outline. Behind him is an impossible sky, dancing with invented constellations and pastel auroras. This place… could it possibly be real? 

A squeeze to Toge’s palm shakes him out of the daydream. “Are you ready?” 

He has to be, because the stone has already started shifting behind him, leaving this strange and otherworldly abyss to swallow them whole. Toge has no choice but to follow Yuuta inside and start down the mouth of the trail. 

The barrier gives them no trouble, sealing shut with a satisfying zap the second Toge has passed through. It closes on its own, slamming shut so quickly that Toge has to blink to adjust to the sudden lack of light. When he turns to face it again though, it’s even more pleasantly unreal than it was a moment earlier, no longer infected by the harsh glow of hallway lights. The colors stand out more vividly, the shapes are clearer. Toge has never even seen a painting this beautiful. Now, he’s stepped into a dream. 

“In case you ever wondered just how fantastical Gojo really is,” Yuuta muses, taking stock of it all. “There is in fact no limit.” 

No kidding. Toge looks down and realizes he can’t even see his feet. There’s some kind of fog blanketing the path. They’re flanked by tall, coniferous trees that stretch to the sky and part neatly to guide them forward. Toge strains his eyes, trying to figure out if there’s some sort of structure up ahead, but he keeps finding himself distracted by new things- lightning bugs and wildflowers and one extremely bright star that Toge is certain keeps moving. It’s hard to focus, because everything seems unreliable here. Even the shadows don’t seem to work as they should, bending unnaturally where they should be as upstanding as the trees. 

“We, uh,” Yuuta says softly. “We don’t need to keep holding hands. Unless you wanted to, that is.”

Toge snatches his hand back instantly, mortified. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even realized he was still clutching Yuuta closely. Maybe subconsciously he’d been a little tentative about the safety of this strange place, but he certainly didn’t need Yuuta to hold his hand. 

He hops to the side instinctively, putting some space between them. There was no reason for them to be walking that close. Yuuta looks over at him curiously, and Toge pretends not to notice. Instead, he looks right past him and feigns interest in a thick layer of moss coating a grouping of trees just beyond them. Actually, he’s not even pretending- he is interested. There’s several colors to it, but the lightest shade of green is luminescent, glowing amongst the darkness. 

It’s so interesting, in fact, that Toge doesn’t notice Yuuta stop walking at first. He turns over his shoulder to see an unsettled look falling across Yuuta’s face- something between caution and deep focus. Toge’s heart starts to pound. He can’t sense anything unusual, but he probably wouldn’t be able to. This place is so overwhelmingly soaked in Satoru’s heady magic that it would be difficult to make out anything distinct. 

Toge’s stomach turns. The dark, flickering movements he noticed between and around the trees. He’d figured Yuuta had seen them too, but knew something Toge didn’t. 

“Someone’s here,” Yuuta tells him, confirming Toge’s fears. “No. Something.”

The word is barely out of his mouth before Toge is knocked squarely to the ground. He was so busy studying Yuuta’s face that he hadn’t even seen it coming. He thrashes against the weight of it, trying to push himself upright as strong hands thud against his shoulders and pin him against the ground. No- not hands. Paws. 

Toge looks up to find glowing yellow eyes searing into his. Thick claws dig into both of his shoulders as the great white wolf bares its teeth, snapping closer to Toge’s face. He yanks his head to one side to avoid the possible attack, hoping to seize his legs free and gain some leverage, but the freakishly massive wolf has him completely overwhelmed. He can’t escape it. 

Wolves aren’t supposed to be this big, Toge realizes dimly, still struggling. 

That’s just it, though. This isn’t a wolf at all. Suddenly, Toge is aware of the situation enough to know that this creature has its own magical signature. Toge can feel it practically drip off the creature’s thick white fur. Of course, any animal with self-sustaining magical energy isn’t an animal at all. It’s a shikigami. 

Toge shakes his head frantically, able to loosen the scarf just enough to get a word out. A feral wolf would be difficult to deal with, but a shikigami is practically nothing. 

“Release!” he commands. 

The white wolf disappears before his eyes, puffing into a grayish haze in the air that seeps back into the shadows, almost as if it was being sucked inside. 

Toge sits up with alarm, worried it could materialize again beneath him, but his problem is far from over. He scans the area desperately, and when he finally spots Yuuta, there is an equally massive black wolf holding him down. 

“Yuuta!” Toge cries out, flooding with panic. “Re–” 

He stops himself just in time. When he scrambles closer, he realizes that Yuuta is making no attempt to fight off the shikigami. Instead, Yuuta is letting it lick his face. An arm is thrown lazily around the back of its neck, scratching the top of the wolf’s head as if it is nothing but an overgrown puppy asking for a bit of attention. 

“It’s just me!” Yuuta calls out between a laugh, a long pink tongue running up his jawbone. 

He’s laughing. He’s actually laughing. Toge’s heart is in his throat, his whole body at alert and his eyes blown wide open. One of his shoulders is already throbbing from the scuffle. 

When Toge looks up, trying to find the recipient of Yuuta’s greeting, he’s finally able to see the yellow glow of candles flickering in the distance, window-shaped and promising a hearth in the distance. It would be a great comfort after all their trials tonight, if not for the outline of three figures stalking towards them, gliding through the fog as they creep closer. 

“You can call off the dogs!” Yuuta yells out to them. “It’s just me, Megumi!” 

Chapter Text

“I guess I'll always be this way

Swallowed up by the words and halfway to space

But there by the fire, you offered your hand

And as I took it, I loved you, the boy with the plan”

“The Man With the Axe,” by Lorde 

“You shouldn’t be able to do that,” The dark haired boy in the center snaps, furrowing his brows. 

As he and his friends approach, he brings his hands together and the wolfish beast perched on top of Yuuta’s chest dissolves instantly, same as the last. That boy must be the keeper of the Shikigami. He looks at Toge with piercing green eyes, seeming ready to fight over the nullification of his magic. Toge is squaring his shoulders just as the other boy’s face softens.

“Oh,” he realizes, finally getting a better look at the sigils. “Cursed Speech. You must be Toge Inumaki.”  

Toge yanks up his scarf defensively, tightening it quickly before his face can be inspected any further. 

“He’s a friend,” Yuuta mutters from behind Toge, just low enough that no one but the two of them will hear it. Friend is a strong term to use for someone who sics their dogs on you the second you walk through the front gate, but he’ll take Yuuta’s word for it. “Megumi is Gojo’s ward.” 

Gojo has a ward? That’s certainly news to Toge. If that’s true, how much would he know about Gojo’s absence? As much as the two of them? 

Toge looks back at Yuuta quizzically, and Yuuta gives a decisive shake of his head. Megumi doesn’t know anything about Gojo’s disappearance, and Yuuta intends to keep it that way. 

The other group misses the exchange entirely. They’re too busy talking amongst themselves. The pink-haired boy next to Megumi is sporting a very confused look, and Megumi is whispering something to him furtively. Toge decides not to wonder what it is.

From Toge’s vantage point, still splayed out on the ground, Megumi looks quite intimidating. A well-tailored trench coat gently tapers at his waist and spills out behind him to flow in the breeze. Underneath it, cuffed white pants and thick-soled combat boots that look capable of cracking Toge’s skull in half if enough force were exerted. The only thing that detracts from his ultra sleek look is a bird's nest of raven hair on his head, flicking out in every direction. 

With a tinge of guilt, Toge knows all at once that this is the kid Yuuta ‘tutors.’ When Kirara and Hakari spoke of two kids with weird hair, Megumi and his friend are without a doubt who they were referring to. 

“Can we settle this inside please?” The girl on Megumi’s left interjects, stomping a ballet flat and yanking down her tweed skirt. “Or are we gonna stand out here all night?” 

Toge actually recognizes this girl, he thinks. Nobara Kugisaki. Maki pointed her out in the dining hall once. Something about an antique hammer with an interesting set of spells on it. It sounded like something Maki was trying to get her hands on. 

The other boy, the tallest of the set, stands closer to Megumi. He dons a chunky fisherman’s sweater so oversized that Toge doubts it would fit anyone well. It pools over his wrists as he jams his hands into the pockets of a wrinkled pair of slacks that don’t quite reach his ankles. One of his dress socks has fallen down and his loafers, despite retaining the stiff shape of something freshly bought, are perilously scuffed. It’s the kind of look that you couldn’t pull off unless you’d done it by complete accident. Sloppy, but still endearing somehow. 

Toge hears Yuuta jump to his feet, but before he can follow suit, the pink-haired boy rushes forward and offers his hand. 

“I’m Yuuji Itadori,” he says with a broad smile. Toge accepts his hand and lets himself be pulled to his feet. He intends to do most of the work himself, but Yuuji is faster and, if Toge’s being entirely honest with himself, much stronger. Toge is just barely able to stop the forward motion before he goes crashing into the boy’s chest. “You probably don’t know me, ‘cause I only got here a couple of months ago.” 

Toge grits his teeth behind his scarf and manages a nod. The truth is that Toge doesn’t know any of the underclassmen. He only knows the names of the kids in his own grade because he’s had so many classes with them over the years. Beyond that, he only knows a few of the more notorious upperclassmen. Yuuji could have been here for years and Toge probably still wouldn’t know him. 

“Megumi and his friends are in the class below us,” Yuuta explains. “You three aren’t going to the party?” 

“And watch Nishimiya throw up on her platform Mary Janes after two sips of Hakari’s homemade licorice whiskey?” Nobara interjects. “Hard pass. We’re doing our own thing. A soirée,” she says with flourish. “Much more sophisticated.”

“What about you two?” Yuuji asks sportingly. “You guys certainly seem dressed for a party.” 

“Oh, I already–” 

Yuuta stops in his tracks, eyes snapping over to Toge. His gaze crawls over Toge’s form, leaving pricks everywhere his eyes touch. His panic is palpable as he finally understands the intention in the way Toge is dressed tonight. 

Desperate to put space between them, Toge rushes to catch up with the underclassmen as they turn back down the path to Gojo’s place. He willfully lets Yuuta fall a few steps behind, knowing well that by the time he catches up with the group, it will be impossible for him to say anything about the matter. 

It doesn’t stop him from trying. He appears at Toge’s side, making a string of attempts to catch his eyes. Toge pretends not to notice. This isn’t something he plans on discussing. It does them no good to dwell on it now. 

The glowing moss grows thicker on the trees as they approach the house, as if to paint their way. Perhaps that was Gojo’s intention, since he surely created this place from scratch. No one else would have the sheer amount of magic or attention to detail required to spell something like this into existence.    

Large oil street lamps flank the last steps of the path, flickering cheerfully as they walk. A little white cottage comes into view ahead. It’s held up by logs of cherry wood and roofed over with ivy-covered stone. Each window boasts a waxy candle on its mantel and the chimney is billowing steady puffs of smoke. As Toge admires it, he feels a cold gust of wind chill his skin. It’s so frosty that Toge swears it goes straight through to his bones. Another small touch designed to invite you in. 

No one else seems nearly as impressed as Toge is. They’ve all been here before, of course. Still, Toge can’t imagine this place ever losing an ounce of its charm. He could come here a hundred times and notice something new about their surroundings each time. 

The haze at their feet has finally lifted enough that Toge can finally see the walkway, which is paved with pebbles and large, hand painted stones. Some are nonsensical- rainbows and strawberries and simple flowers- but the others look as though they were toiled over for hours. It takes Toge a moment to realize that most of them are animals. He doesn’t put it together until he’s a step away from landing on the painted snout of a noble looking white dog. 

They’re not drawings. They’re depictions. And there are ten of them. 

Toge looks over to Yuuta with alarm. Megumi, the boy Yuuta had just described as a ward of the Gojo clan, carried the premiere magical attribute of the Zen’in. After his encounter with Naoya his first year, Toge had done some research on their clan. He was shocked, and perhaps a little amused, to find out that the boy’s projectional magic was considered second-rate. The ten shadows was the true crown jewel- highly sought after and known to be incredibly deadly when fully mastered.  

There’s only one other thing Toge remembers about it. The book of the Zen’in touted that one born with ten shadows had the terrible and unique ability to bring down a Gojo blessed with the six eyes. At the time, Toge had thanked the heavens that no such person had been born in his lifetime. The idea of someone being able to challenge Gojo would be too much to bear. If someone like Naoya had inherited that sort of power, Gojo would surely be dead already. 

But here is this boy, living under Gojo’s own roof. Had the Zen’in planted him here? Has Toge just stumbled upon a grand scheme to unseat the strongest? Toge reaches out and catches Yuuta’s sleeve. He needs to find a way to warn him, and fast. 

Yuuta whips around, meeting Toge’s eyes eagerly. Before he can get a word out though, Toge points frantically at the stones beneath them. Yuuta merely squints. He doesn’t know what they mean. Of course he doesn’t. Toge’s eyes flick to Megumi and his friends, their backs turned as they start up the porch steps. 

Toge hates to do this, but right now it’s his only option. He hooks his fingers into the folds of the scarf that hides his face and pulls it down carefully. How few words can he use to impart this information to Yuuta and make him believe it? He’s opening his mouth, ready to let them spill, when Yuuta finally looks up. His face floods with alarm and he leans in close, lips practically pressed to Toge’s ear. 

“Megumi’s last name is Fushiguro,” Yuuta says firmly. “His father left the clan. He’s never been a Zen’in a day in his life. We can trust him.” 

He’s a Zen’in, Toge wants to argue. Maki had left the clan too, but Yuuta still insisted that telling her was too much of a risk when Toge had pitched it. He thought they were in agreement about not trusting anyone from any of the major clans. Why was Megumi any different? 

“He misses Gojo more than any of us,” Yuuta insists. Toge frowns, but he doesn’t have the option of stubbornness right now. No matter what, Yuuta and Toge had to get inside that house tonight. 

“Sorry about the welcoming committee,” a voice suddenly rings out. It’s Megumi, still standing on the porch and looking out at them even after his friends have piled inside. Despite his shortness before, his apology seems genuine. “I’m not used to seeing other people here, but you’re welcome here any time, of course.” 

Toge senses that offer is meant more toward Yuuta than Toge, but doesn’t say so.

“Thanks,” Yuuta calls back. Then, in a hushed voice, “We should go in.” He gives Toge a reassuring little wink. “I’ll protect you from the divine dogs this time, yeah?” 

He’d better. Toge rubs at his shoulder, still stiff and tingling from a bad landing during the attack. Maybe that’s why he’s so distrustful of Megumi. His sneak attack had been more than a little aggressive. Still, he apologized and he was only trying to protect Gojo’s home. Why would he go so out of his way to do that, if not out of care for the man? Toge lets himself be led inside, up the front steps and through the door. Megumi tightens his lips as they go, the suggestion of a smile but just lacking. 

As Toge imagined, the interior of Gojo’s cottage is just as spectacular as the outside, flooded with warm light and adorned with whimsy. For a man who hides his eyes most hours of the day, there certainly is a lot to look at. Toge can’t even process it all fast enough- the dark hardwood stretched over with shagged rugs, the great velvet couch and the matching jewel-toned arm chairs, the sweeping paintings that cover almost every patch of wall: landscapes, abstracts, and the occasional garden flower. Toge strains to take it all in properly. 

It’s not just the decor that’s so incredible about this place. It’s about the feeling that poured into Toge from the moment he stepped inside. The house is alive, beating like a heart. It’s steady and dependable as it welcomes you in, lifting off your worries like a winter coat to leave by the door. 

It almost brings tears to Toge’s eyes, how at ease and comfortable he feels here. Like everything’s taken care of for him. Like for once in his life, there’s not a single thing weighing him down. 

Megumi catches him sniffing. “Gojo spelled it to feel like coming home,” he explains softly. “Not just for him, but for everyone.” 

Toge blinks, a couple of the tears welling in his eyes falling down his cheeks. Like coming home? This certainly isn’t the feeling he has when he gets back to his dorm room, nor is it the way he’d feel if he were to return to the Inumaki compound. It’s more like finding out the dining hall is serving his favorite meal or getting dragged into a warm hug from Maki or a quiet, lazy day at the library when the sun is streaming through the windows just right. Maybe more like all those things at once, plus the scratchy cling of his favorite sweater. 

In short, it’s not like anything Toge has ever felt before. It’s overwhelming. 

“You should have seen Yuuji blubbering the first time we brought him in here,” Megumi mutters, a distant attempt at comfort. “Yuuta, too. Went on for half an hour.” 

Toge sniffs one last time and takes a pass at his cheeks with his sleeve. He won’t let it go on that long. He wills his tears to stop by distracting himself with the intricate pieces littering the living space. The shelves are filled with baubles and trinkets, jesting glass eyes and unusual magical artifacts. Hanging above the fireplace’s wooden mantle Toge spots a spool of braided black rope and an odd sword with a jagged second blade splitting down its side. Both objects are pressed behind a thick layer of glass, and Toge can feel the heavy enchantment guarding them both just by looking. No one will be touching either of those items any time soon. Toge follows his eyes up to the ceiling, where the exposed beams are adorned by little white lights. 

There’s a hundred little bulbs at least, glittering like individual flecks of starlight. Each has been intricately fastened together with some sort of coated, forest-colored string. Toge can’t explain it, but looking at their glean makes Toge flush with joy. Another spell?

“Hah!” Yuuji yelps from his spot in a sunken jade lounge chair across the room. “Why are sorcerers always so taken by those?” he asks, following Toge’s gaze. “They’re everywhere in the mortal world. Usually just at Christmas, but Prof keeps ‘em up all year.” 

Yuuta, leaning against the back of the couch, gives Toge a reassuring nod. “Yuuji used to be mortal,” he explains. “Long story.” He turns back to Yuuji, leaning over the couch. “How are you adjusting, by the way?” 

“Mmm,” Yuuji shrugs, lolling his head back and forth as he considers the question. “I really miss soda, I guess?” 

Yuuta chuckles. Toge doubts that's the kind of answer he had in mind. Before Yuuta can follow up, Toge slips away and follows the scent of cooked apples and mulling spices into a small kitchen. Nobara stands in front of a cooktop twirling a large wooden spoon around a plump silver pot. A flame roars beneath her, surely fierce enough to have whatever she’s working on at a simmer in no time.

“Cider?” she offers, reaching up to a hand-painted cabinet and fishing out a couple of hammered copper cups with thick welded handles. She sets them down beside the existing set on the counter, turning three to five. “You’re staying, right?” she asks, snuffing the flame with a snap of her fingers.

Toge nods quickly, answering both questions at once. It’s perhaps rude to be taking advantage of the hospitality of an underclassmen, especially one he doesn’t even know, but the concoction smells too heavenly to refuse. From where Toge is standing, he can see thick slices of apples and oranges floating to the top of the pot beside cranberries and whole sticks of cinnamon. 

She sloshes a hefty serving into the closest cup available, a piece of star anise surfacing happily as she hands it to him. She stares at him expectantly, her eyes not straying for even a moment. She’s not going to waver until he’s taken a sip. He’s figuring out a good way to sneak the rim of the cup to his lips when she begins to understand his hesitancy. 

“It’s warm in here,” she frowns, eyes finding the scarf around his neck. “You don’t need that.” She gracelessly plucks it off his body and Toge is too stunned to even consider fighting her on it. As she crosses the room to hang it up on an apron hook, she encourages him to drink up once again. “Go on! It’s not like I poisoned it!”  

Toge nearly chokes at the insinuation, the liquid passing through his lips just as she suggests it. When he finally lets it hit his tongue though, the taste is amazing. It’s sweet and crisp and just gently spiced, the warmth of it sending a pleasant tingle through his chest. It’s everything it smelled like and more. 

“Yuuta!” she calls into the living room. “Come help me carry the cider!” She’s bossy. Toge likes her, he decides. If he was as good at managing Yuuta as she is, they’d probably get a lot more done. 

Yuuta appears in the doorway just a second later, eager to perform the task he’s been so arbitrarily assigned. He touches a hand to the small of Toge’s back as he scooches past to get a better look at Nobara’s work. “How’s the shoulder?” he asks. 

Toge tries it, rolling it back a couple of times. Strangely, it doesn’t hurt anymore. The blood beneath it is warm, just like the cider. He gives Yuuta a little nod, and Yuuta smiles to himself as he starts filling cups. 

“Looks good,” he tells Nobara, handing them off to her. Toge half-expects her to melt under the praise- he knows well that almost no one is immune to Yuuta’s absentminded charm- but instead she turns up her nose and snatches them from him.

“Nice try,” she huffs. “I’m still mad at you.” 

With a flip of her hair, she turns on her heel and abandons them in the kitchen. Before Toge can ask what that was all about, Yuuta is already holding up two more full cups. “We should probably hang out for a bit, if that’s okay.” 

Toge nods. It would look awfully suspicious if they bee-lined straight to Gojo’s desk. Time is ticking though, and if they don’t find what they’re looking for tonight, it could set them back a lot of time- time that they really don’t have. 

They join the fray and Yuuta hands off the last refreshment to Megumi before taking a big sip of his own. He makes a face as he swallows, scrunching his nose strangely. Nobara catches the expression as well, but he jumps to cover it up before she can make a comment about it. “It’s good!” he insists. “Really good!” 

“Yeah?” Nobara does not seem at all convinced. “Keep drinking, then.” 

Yuuta takes a large, showy gulp to appease her, and Toge mirrors it with a cautious sip of his own. This time, its warmth spreads all the way down to his fingertips. It’s so satisfying that he follows it with another sip, already wishing the glass went on forever. He wants to savor it, but he wants to keep drinking it even more. It’s still a bit too hot, but Toge has burned his tongue on enough scalding mugs of tea over the years that it doesn’t really bother him. 

Megumi plops down in the upholstered chair next to Yuuji and catches Yuuta’s eye. “Well, if you came here to bust me for bringing friends over, you probably shouldn’t have brought one of your own.” 

“Oh!” Yuuta jolts. “It’s basically your house Megumi, I wasn’t–”

“But in case you were wondering, Gojo asked me to water his plants,” Megumi continues. “Which technically, I’m doing.” 

Yuuta’s face falls. “Wait,” he realizes. “He what?” 

“Said he’d be gone for a couple months and to keep his plants alive,” Megumi says, tilting his head curiously. “Wait, you knew right? He asked you to cover for him.” 

All the color in Yuuta’s face has drained. This is bad. Gojo told Yuuta he’d be gone for a couple of days, not months. If he told Megumi otherwise, he clearly knew that this mission had the capacity to go wrong. It’s worse than that actually- he’d been counting on it. Toge can see by the pained look on Yuuta’s face that he’s figuring that out too. He takes another nervous sip of his drink in an attempt to mask his distress. 

“Yeah!” Yuuji cheers. “We’ve been totally in awe of your glamours! Totally convincing!” 

“Just, uh.” Yuuta stops to cough. “Keeping up appearances. Yeah, he asked me to. Hope I didn’t freak you out or anything.” 

His eyes flicker between Megumi and the floor. Yuuta had mentioned something a couple weeks ago about feeling guilty for deceiving people, but Toge thought he was talking about the other teachers, not Gojo’s family. No wonder the guilt had been eating at him.

Toge can practically see Yuuta’s head start to spin. The conversation shifts, but he doesn’t. He retreats into his mind, staring down at his drink as if it could offer answers to all his questions. Whenever one of the underclassmen addresses him, he busies himself with a sip, letting Nobara refill his cup without resistance when he finally drains it. 

To be gracious, Toge snags a couple of the other emptied glasses and slips into the kitchen to fill them up. He likes to be helpful, and he’s certain Yuuta won’t notice him missing anyway. He’s too inside his own head. 

“Ugh, the boys never help me,” Nobara says as she catches him on her way out. “I knew I liked you. You get it.” 

Toge smiles, half-forgetting that she can even see it until she returns it with a wild grin of her own. His eyes drift to where his scarf waits for him by the door. He’s surprised to find that he’s not anxious to grab for it like he’d usually be. Tonight, he actually feels sort of confident without it. Maybe that was the result of Gojo’s enchantment. He wanted people to feel at home here, and perhaps Toge was starting to feel too at home. 

When Toge re-emerges into the living room, Yuuta is nowhere to be found. Nobara is stretched out across the couch, talking loudly over Yuuji as the two of them share a joke. Megumi, slightly flushed, turns around and dutifully retrieves his mug from Toge’s hands. 

“Yuuta went to go check my work,” he says, pointing to a darkened hallway. He opens his mouth to say something else, but Yuuji and Nobara dissolve into a fit of giggles so thunderous that he has no real chance of getting it out. He shakes his head before gesturing to the door one more time, granting Toge permission to go. 

Toge abandons his drink on a fine oak console table, somehow already sure that it’s enchanted to protect against water marks, and embarks down the hall. The door has been left slightly ajar, as if Yuuta had known that Toge would follow. 

When he pushes it open, Toge is met with an abundance of green- string of pearls cascading from the ceilings, massive monstera leaves that reach out to tickle his shoulders, rows and rows of herbs beneath a sun-spelled lamp. It’s a greenhouse. The walls are glass on all sides, giving them a straight-through view to the invented constellations that hang low in the sky. 

Toge isn’t sure what else he expected of the world’s greatest sorcerer. Of course he has his own nursery. If he were to borrow anything from the school’s supplies, it would be highly scrutinized. Everyone would be speculating about his plans for them. Something like this provided much more privacy. Toge wonders, offhandedly, if he’ll ever be in a position to keep plants like this. It would be quite a bit of work, but Toge’s fairly certain he wouldn’t mind it. He catches sight of a very dramatic little lemon balm plant drooping in the corner, crying for a quench. Perhaps Megumi could use some assistance. 

“Sorry,” Yuuta breathes. He’s at the center of the room, hands gripping the corners of a metal workbench. “I just… needed a minute.” 

Hopefully, he means a minute from the others, but Toge can’t really be sure. He stands awkwardly by the door, waiting to see if Yuuta even means to turn around and look at him. When it seems clear that he won’t, Toge grabs a nearby pail and fills it half up in a big mosaic-tiled sink. He might as well be useful to something if he’s here. 

“I don’t understand.” Yuuta’s voice sounds strained. Toge knows for a fact that he slept at least some last night, but this goes beyond that. He sounds so weary that Toge worries his body could give out at any moment. “He knew this could happen, Toge. So why did he do it?” 

Toge wishes he had the answers, truly he did. He’s been wracking his brain from the moment he was welcomed into the fold, but he still can’t think of a single rational motive Gojo might have had for taking such a risk. The only thing he’s learned is that wondering is a waste of time. It’s not their job to question Gojo, it’s their job to get him back. 

Without even thinking, Toge places his free hand on Yuuta’s arm, just below his shoulder. He squeezes gently, letting Yuuta know his frustrations have been heard. Yuuta wilts beneath the touch. A second later, his own hand is on top of Toge’s, his whole body slumped toward the touch. 

They stay like that for a moment, and Toge finds himself suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to say something. Really say something. Yuuta’s eyes have sagged shut, so writing it down is out of the question. His scarf is elsewhere, so there’s nothing in the way. It’s such a tempting thought. It would be so easy. 

But of course, Toge wouldn’t even know what to say. He’s never said a word to Yuuta beyond his name. What could he possibly say right now that could provide comfort? He’s just giving up on the idea when the door creaks back open. It doesn’t register until the sound is followed by the clearing of a throat. 

Megumi is standing in the doorway, his gaze pointedly lowered. Toge slides his hand away without a moment of hesitation. Of all the things for one of Yuuta’s friends to walk in on. Toge doesn’t even know why he’s touching Yuuta. He’s certainly never done it in the past- not even when it’s late and they’re both hunching over the same desk trying to make sense of foreign magic. So why now of all times? 

Toge feels a little light-headed as he stumbles backwards, his hand still tingling from the contact. Yuuta looks completely unbothered though, his face open and interested as Megumi begins to talk. 

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” the younger boy tells them before shifting his gaze to Yuuta. “You looked surprised earlier. Satoru did ask you to cover for him, right? You knew he was leaving?” 

Yuuta nods vigorously, not missing a beat. Toge fixes his attention to the first thing he can find, desperate for an escape from this conversation. Just over his shoulder is a big wire rack filled with shelves of old gardening books. He runs his fingers down the spines- some he knows, some he doesn’t. A few of them are copies of books from the library, others are bound in thick, pictured-paper and boast unfamiliar names- likely from the mortal world, if Toge had to guess. 

“Did he… did he tell you anything specific?” Megumi presses, sounding more than a little desperate. When Yuuta doesn’t respond right away, he clarifies. “This is the longest he’s ever been away.” His voice is small, and suddenly his features look pale and delicate. Toge tears his eyes away again, not quite able to look at him like this. “Do I need to be worried?” 

“No,” Yuuta tells him, lying as convincingly as Toge has ever witnessed. “This is Gojo we’re talking about. He’s invincible.” 

The words hang in the air for a moment, just waiting to be contested. Toge holds his breath as he waits to see if the lie will be swallowed. It’s almost a little scary how quickly Yuuta had managed it. He holds Megumi’s eyes with complete confidence. Perhaps Toge has been reading things wrong this whole time. Maybe Yuuta really was a good liar. 

“Yeah,” Megumi says finally, voice flat. He starts to step out of the room, but turns back at the last moment. “Hey, did you notice he changed that painting out? The flower one.”

“No.” Yuuta frowns, brow creasing. “What did it used to be?” 

Megumi shakes his head. “This weird little cube? It had eyes on it, which I always found creepy.” Yuuta stares at him blankly, and eventually Megumi just moves on. “It’s nothing, really. Just wondering if you’d seen it.”  

Little cube. The prison realm had been associated with two little boxes, one for entrance and one for exit. It was one of the few facts that Yuuta’s reference book has gifted them with. Toge had thought the little graphic was just for demonstration purposes, not an actual depiction. What if there’s more to it than that? 

“By the way,” Megumi continues. “You don’t have to use the front entrance again. It’s not exactly discreet. I set up a path with shadows. Enter through the storm shelter out back and it’ll spit you out in the uniform storage closet on the second floor by the library. Iori and Ieiri are the only ones who ever go in there anyway, so it should be pretty safe.” 

Toge knows he should be absorbing that information, but his mind is racing. Megumi said the cube painting had been replaced by a flower. Toge hadn’t gotten a great look at all the paintings when he entered- there were far too many of them- but he had noted the few with flowers on them. He’d done a lot of research on botany in his time here. He was identifying them unconsciously as his eyes scanned the room. Rose. Daylily. Periwinkle.

Gojo clearly knew things could go wrong. Why else would he have warned Megumi? Toge has always been sure that Gojo would be smart enough to leave a trail in his wake. What if this was it? What if Megumi had been the missing piece all along? 

He told Megumi to water his plants. He changed out a painting- one that only someone who’d lived here their whole life would have noticed- and replaced it with a flower, right before his disappearance. That couldn’t be a coincidence. 

Immediately, Toge’s eyes land on the spine of a modern book on the varieties of roses and how to grow them. One of the framed pieces of artwork on Gojo’s wall was a sketch of roses and thorns in thick dark ink, starkly different to the soft pinks and reds that adorn the cover of this book. Toge yanks it out anyway, inspecting it for clues. It doesn’t seem like a strange thing to do until suddenly two other sets of eyes are on him. 

“Toge, uh,” Yuuta sputters, “Really likes gardening. That’s why I brought him along.” 

Scratch that bit about Yuuta being a good liar. Apparently, it only holds when the situation is absolutely dire. The excuse he gives is exceptionally lame, but Megumi seems to accept it anyway. Probably he’s just looking for an out.

“Came to the right place,” he says politely. “I’ll see you, then.” 

Toge slides the book back into place as he leaves, watching Yuuta sigh with relief out of the corner of his eyes. He ignores it, continuing to scan the shelves. The next thing he’s looking for is the companion to an ovular framed portrait of a single white daylily that greeted him at the entrance. To his understanding, it’s more important in magical culture- a symbol of love and grief, used in nearly every spell or potion that acts as a balm to heartbreak- than it is in the mortal world, so he feels safe looking past all the more modern books. Nothing matches. 

“Okay,” Yuuta speaks up. “We need a plan of attack. Gojo’s study is upstairs, so we’ll need to think of an excuse to get up there. I really wasn’t counting on them being here. Sorry about that.” 

Toge isn’t listening to him. Instead, he’s furiously studying the spine of every book on this shelf, crouching to get a better look at the bottom rows. If Toge’s hunch is correct, there is bound to be a book on periwinkle here. It would be the perfect spot to hide a clue. Who would look through a kitschy assortment of old gardening books if they were to make it in here? An outsider would do exactly what Toge and Yuuta had planned to do- storm straight up to his study. 

Gojo’s too smart for that. He went to such great lengths to hide all the details of his disappearance. He wouldn’t leave clues lying around his desk, especially not if he was trying to hide the truth from his ward. 

It’s a perfect thought, but Toge starts to lose confidence when he’s read the titles through for a third time. There’s no book on periwinkle here. He hasn’t cracked the code, after all. He’s about to give it up, revert to their original plan, when an oddity catches his eye. 

A book with worn, yellowed pages and a pristine binding. If Toge had only seen its insides, he’d be certain it came from the library at the school, but the cover tells another story. Almost as if someone swapped it out. 

“Maybe we can wait for them to fall asleep?” Yuuta suggests. “You know, we actually don’t have to stay, now that Megumi’s carved a path and all. Actually, we could– ”

He cuts himself off as he watches Toge dive for the pale blue book on the bottom shelf. Even before he touches it, Toge’s body has already started to respond. His heart pounds as he pulls the book free. The simple cover is inscribed with gold leaf. The Flower of Death, it reads. 

Periwinkle. 

“Toge?” Yuuta tries, clearly confused. 

With shaking hands, Toge opens the front cover of the book. As suspected, the inside page doesn’t match with the cover.

The Prison Realm: A Comprehensive Guide. All Casters Beware. 

Toge actually gasps, a loud and high pitched noise catching in the back of his throat. 

Of course. If Toge knew a trick to getting books out of the library, Gojo would obviously know it too. He was a student here, after all- and a known rebel at that. A revolutionary. The idea of a younger Gojo stealing books from the library- just like Toge- makes his spirit soar. 

This is exactly what they’ve been looking for. All the information they could possibly need is right here in Toge’s hands. It’s not a complete solution, but it promises one. This is the first time there has ever been any true, tangible hope to their rescue mission.

Bursting with excitement, Toge nearly trips over his own feet to get the book in Yuuta’s sights. “Toge, whoa.” Wild eyes track Toge’s movements, offering an arm out for balance, but Toge barely notices. Instead, he thrusts the book into Yuuta's hands. He shakes his head, squinting at the cover.  “The Flower of…” he reads, flicking it open with confusion. 

His jaw drops. 

“Holy shit.” He blinks at least fifteen times, still trying to decide if it’s real. “Holy shit, Toge!” He laughs triumphantly, throwing his head back in release. “How did you…” Toge waits for him to figure it out, hoping he’ll put the pieces together himself. “The painting,” Yuuta breathes. “He hid a clue in Megumi. Toge you’re brilliant.” 

Toge feels himself flush, unused to praise of that level. 

“I’m serious, Toge,” Yuuta tells him, haloed in starlight. “I never would have known to look for that. I’m hopeless without you.” 

Before Toge can even begin to process the implications to that, a wayward scream swims into the room. “The cider is getting cold!” Nobara scolds, clearly angling for them to head back. 

“I guess we should stop hiding, huh?” Yuuta asks.

Toge nods, shrugging off his suit jacket and frowning at the dirty paw print he spots on its lapel. He folds it over his arm and takes the book back from Yuuta. If he holds it just so, no one will notice it under his jacket. Megumi has seemed so gracious that he probably would just let Toge borrow a book, but it’s not worth risking suspicion. 

“Smart,” Yuuta recognizes. His eyes skim the edges of Toge’s newly exposed form. Suddenly, Toge is very aware of the fact that his shirt is just a tad sheer. It made sense under the guise of dim party lights, but he can’t imagine how strange it must look in the harsh cast of the sunlamps. Yuuta swallows and tears his gaze away as Toge shifts his jacket a bit to cover his chest. 

When they get back to the party- or as Toge had heard it described, the soirée- Nobara is stumbling out of the kitchen with a tinted bottle that sloshes back and forth in her hand as she steps closer. Toge blinks at it dumbly, not quite figuring it out yet. 

“Haven’t we stolen enough of Satoru’s spirits for the night?” Megumi complains, though he doesn’t sound serious about doing anything about it. 

“He’s rich as god,” Nobara argues. “It’s not like he’s going to notice.” 

Megumi rolls his eyes and Toge’s mind snags. Wait, did he say spirits? Toge’s eyes connect with the cup he abandoned earlier- the one he’d drained and then refilled. The one he assumed was just cider.

Suddenly, it all starts to come together. The heart pounding, the light-headedness. The urge to speak. The need to reach out and touch Yuuta. He’s drunk. 

The room starts to spin. This is bad. This is really bad. Toge has never had even a sip of alcohol before. He’s always had it in his head that he never would. Lowered inhibitions gave way to more accidents, and Toge can’t afford an accident- not like other people can. He’s not like his classmates, who can party every weekend and not feel the effects. If he got sloppy and said something out of turn, it could have serious consequences.

Finding it difficult to breathe, Toge pushes himself forward and to the kitchen. He needs his scarf. He at least needs that. It’s fairly ineffective when it comes to blocking cursed speech, but at least it’s something. He pushes past Nobara tactlessly, nearly knocking the bottle out of her hand as he goes and not even stopping to care. 

“What’s his problem?” he hears her spit as he pushes into the kitchen, groping for his scarf. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. He’s with underclassmen. Underclassmen who didn’t want to go to the party where everyone was drinking and doing hallucinogenic spell circles. They were supposed to be drinking cider. How had Toge not tasted it? How stupid can he be, to have not noticed something so glaring? It made him warm all over from the first sip. Of course it was alcohol. 

“Toge?” Yuuta enters, sounding worried. Toge turns his cheek so Yuuta won’t see the deepening red in his face and the sting of frustrated tears in the corners of his eyes. “Toge, what’s going on?” 

Ineffectively, Toge tries to wrap the scarf around his neck with his free hand, his book still weighing heavy in the other. All it does is get him helplessly tangled, so much so that Yuuta has to turn him around to unfurl it. He all but gasps when he catches sight of Toge’s face, despite Toge’s great efforts to point it toward the floor. 

“What happened?” he asks, having the sense to lower his voice. When Toge’s eyes flick to the cast iron pot full on the stovetop, Yuuta’s face falls with understanding. “Nobara didn’t tell you what was in the cider,” he realizes. He lays his hands on both of Toge’s shoulders assuringly. “It’s going to be fine, okay? You’re very safe here. We’ll take care of you. It’s okay.”

Toge shakes his head vehemently. It’s not okay. Toge could hurt someone. Yuuta should know that by now. 

“Here,” he says, grabbing the scarf from Toge’s hand and unwinding it. “Will this help?” 

Helplessly, Toge gives a little nod. He’ll feel better- safer- with it on, he’s sure. Yuuta smiles effortlessly and reaches it over Toge’s head, laying the strip of cashmere flat against the back of his neck. He takes care to wrap it the very same way that Toge does, almost as if he’d watched Toge do it a hundred times. 

“I don’t know what it is you think you’re capable of,” Yuuta tells him, pulling the fabric until it fits snugly and carefully unfolding it so it covers Toge’s mouth. “But I know you. You’d never hurt anyone. Not even after a couple sips of Sorcerer’s Cider.” 

Toge’s not sure if he believes that, but he swallows the urge to cry and nestles into his scarf. Even with his airflow slightly restricted, he feels like he can breathe a little easier now. His eyes creep over to the door, where Megumi and his friends are sure to be waiting on their return. 

“Don’t worry about them, yeah?” Yuuta tells him. “Soon enough, they’re not even gonna notice we’re missing. I’ll cover for us, okay? Just go straight up the stairs and keep going till you reach the door at the end of the hallway. That’s where Gojo’s desk will be. I’ll be right behind you.” 

The idea of walking around someone else’s house unaccompanied is a bit strange, but Toge is too grateful for the respite to argue about it. When they emerge from the kitchen, everyone is so distracted by Yuuta that they don’t even notice Toge slipping away, ascending up the curved staircase. It leads to a loft with a plush couch big enough to be a bed. Toge wonders offhandedly if that’s where Yuuta sleeps if he ever stays over. 

On his way down the hallway, there’s only one door cracked open. Inside it is a room filled with soft pinks and blues with a canopy bed fit for a princess situated in the center. Everything looks clean and untouched, almost dusty. Toge tries not to be nosy and look too long, but he does wonder who could belong to a room like that. It certainly wouldn’t be Megumi. 

The grand, stately door at the end of the hallway surely seems like something that should deny Toge entry, but the gilded handle turns without any protest at all. Toge thought it was strange that the prime location in the house would be used for a study, so he’s only a bit surprised to find out that this is actually Gojo’s bedroom. Considering the severity of their situation, he can’t let himself worry about how intrusive this is. 

He does his best not to look at the four poster bed as he makes his way over to the parlor side of the room. Two worn leather armchairs are pointed toward yet another fireplace and just beyond them sits a large desk pressed up against the wall.

Toge has been in Yuuta’s dorm room enough times to know how to navigate a messy desk, but this is an entirely different animal. It’s not just papers scattered across it, but artifacts as well. Feathers and quills dipped in dazzling ink, crest-shaped wax seals, a few extra pairs of thick spectacles in various shapes and sizes, and a small pile of shiny foil candy wrappers. It’s the physical embodiment of all of Gojo’s maximalist tendencies.

Toge’s hand travels to a pocket watch sitting in the corner, picking it up and weighing it in his palm. Is it really okay for him to be snooping around like this? He clicks it open, watching the hands flick clockwise. Or, at least, try to.

Toge feels Yuuta sneak into the room behind him, gently slipping the door shut behind him. 

“We should be good for a little while,” he says in a low voice, announcing himself. Toge doesn’t look up right away. He’s still distracted by the pocket watch. It’s desperately trying to move forward to keep time, but it can’t quite finish the attempt. It clicks right back into place, stuck on the same set of numbers. “That’s… unsettling,” Yuuta agrees when the timepiece is handed to him. 

He passes it back to Toge, uninterested. Toge stares at it for a little while longer as he takes a mental note of the time it boasts. 1:07. They can’t count on Gojo to do anything by accident. Though, perhaps, in a spot as obvious as this, it could just be a red herring. The idea of it makes Toge’s head spin. Why Gojo had to be so maddening about his clues, Toge is not sure. 

“Maybe it’s payback,” Yuuta suggests. “I was in the infirmary a few days ago and Ieiri’s clock was busted, too. Apparently Gojo put a curse on it as a bit of a practical joke.”

Toge frowns. Why would Yuuta have been in the infirmary in the past few days? When would he have even gotten the chance? Whenever the two of them aren’t sleeping or in class, they’re working on the efforts to save Gojo. Had he been hurt and Toge missed it? Toge is staring blankly ahead, trying to figure it all out, when Yutua gives him a little poke. 

“Did you want to go to that party?” he blurts.

When Toge looks over at him, his eyes are frantic and searching. Uncomfortable with the sudden attention, Toge forces his gaze back to the desk- back to the task at hand. When Yuuta doesn’t let up, Toge gives a quick shake of his head and busies himself with the first piece of paper he can find. He drops it quickly when he realizes it’s someone’s assignment, something that Gojo was grading before he took off. 

“We can still go,” Yuuta offers, just as stubborn as Gojo’s pocket watch. “It’ll be going on for hours. We can slip away for a bit.”  

Toge continues sifting through papers, waiting for Yuuta to take the hint. They’re not going to Hakari’s party, especially not now. Yuuta already made his clean break, and even with Megumi’s new passageway, who knows when they’ll get another opportunity like this one. Besides, he wouldn’t waste time on a party now that he could be reading through the history of the prison realm. It’s nice of Yuuta to ask, but the moment has passed.  

“Or I can stay here and hold down the fort, and you can–” 

Toge holds up a hand to silence him. He doesn’t want to hear about it anymore. It’s embarrassing enough already that he’s standing around in his party clothes all night for everyone to see. He turns to Yuuta, manages a smile, and gives one final shake of his head. 

“That’s not fair,” Yuuta argues. “I can’t tell if you mean it or not. I never know what’s on your mind.” 

That isn’t true. Yuuta does a better job of reading Toge than even Maki does. Maki demands he write it out somewhere so she can be sure, but Yuuta is patient and watchful. He follows Toge’s eyes and reads his expressions and sometimes just short of reads Toge’s mind. They’ve only been hanging out for a couple of weeks, but Toge gets the sense that Yuuta actually understands him better than most people. 

“I feel like you have so much to say,” Yuuta sighs. “But you just keep it all in your head. You never tell anyone.” 

It’s not exactly a great discovery that Toge doesn’t say much. It’s always been that way. He’s found other effective ways to communicate over the years, and all of those happen to involve brevity. Otherwise, it just requires too much effort from whoever he’s talking with. That’s why he keeps his phrases so clipped. He ends the conversation before anyone can grow tired of his various mediums. It’s not always ideal, but he’s been getting around just fine on the bare minimum. 

“It’s selfish,” Yuuta declares. 

Toge jumps back, hurt by the insinuation.

“No,” Yuuta corrects quickly. “That’s not it. You could never be selfish, I didn’t mean it that way. I just… I just wish you’d share yourself with the world a little bit. I should’ve taken you to that party tonight. Everyone would have been so happy to see you there. People want to get to know you, but you never give them the chance. I don’t know why you do that. I don’t know why you hide.” 

Hide? That’s not what Toge is doing. Right?

Toge’s mind begins rushing back to something Gojo once told him, back before his disappearance. 

When Toge was a first year, a few weeks after his unfortunate encounter with Naoya Zen’in, Gojo announced in one of his classes that he’d be opening up office hours for anyone who was worried about their grade. Toge figured could count himself among those students, not because he didn’t have a good grade- he, of course, had the highest in the class- but because he truly was worried about his grade. He was always worried about his grade. Plus, the idea of spending an afternoon with a sorcerer as revered as Professor Gojo was appealing to him.  

So every week, Toge showed up at Gojo’s office hours. It was always a pretty mild affair. Students would filter in every once in a while to pick Gojo’s brain about something, and Toge would sit in the back of the classroom dutifully finishing the homework Gojo had assigned them for the week. He figured, if he ever had any questions, he’d be able to go directly to Gojo about them.

Toge knew it made him seem like a bit of a teacher’s pet, but he knows for a fact that the teachers at this school tend to grade you better if you show that you’re making an effort in their classes. Showing up once a week and getting to study in one of the nicest classrooms on campus seemed like a pretty easy way to do that. Sometimes, he and Gojo would even chat a bit. The man knew so much about magic that Toge couldn’t believe that more people weren’t taking advantage of his mind when it was being offered to them freely. 

It wasn’t till Maki caught him leaving one of the sessions that he thought differently. 

“Why’d you go to that?” she’d asked him. “You know he only has to hold those if someone actually shows up. If it’s empty, he gets to leave.” 

The embarrassment hit Toge instantly. He knew that Maki hadn’t been trying to hurt Toge’s feelings, she was just being honest, but her words cut him to the core. He thought was being sporting by showing up each week to make good use of the allotted time. He never imagined that he was actually wasting Gojo’s time. 

The world’s most powerful sorcerer, a prodigy fully realized. There’s probably a million useful things Gojo could have been doing with that time, but instead he’d been tethered to his desk in that classroom- all because Toge kept showing up. Every week. He’d basically been forcing Gojo to hang out with him. It was too humiliating for words.

The whole thing turned sour to him instantly. As soon as the words were out of Maki’s mouth, he knew he’d never be stepping foot into Gojo’s classroom during office hours ever again. That next week, Toge holed up in his room instead, feeling remarkably strange and lonely as he penciled in answers to the same classwork he would have done if he’d attended. He felt like he’d lost something, though he couldn’t explain why. The stolen time he’d spent with Gojo had never been his to begin with. 

After their next class, Gojo stopped Toge before he could slip out. “I missed you last week at office hours,” he’d said simply, tilting his head with interest. 

Toge started filing through his brain for a lame excuse, but he couldn’t find one that would also excuse his future absences. He should have thought of something in advance, but he hadn’t expected Gojo to catch on so quickly. Though, with a magical attribute like Gojo’s, he probably should have figured that nothing would escape his watch. 

What really caught him off guard is that Gojo said he missed Toge. Like he’d genuinely been enjoying Toge’s presence in the previous weeks. Toge is no closer to a coherent response by the time all the other students have vacated the classroom, leaving the two of them alone. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask, Toge,” Gojo ventured. “How have you been getting along at school? I know your situation is slightly unusual. Have you made any friends here?” 

Toge couldn’t offer him an affirmative fast enough. Suddenly, it made sense why Gojo had ‘missed’ him. He thought that Toge had been hanging around at his office hours because he was lonely. That’s probably why he let it go on for so long. 

When Gojo prompted him to go on, Toge took over his chalkboard with a bit of magic. Maki Zen’in, he wrote. When Gojo doesn’t look back to him right away, he nervously added, and Panda. 

The last bit wasn’t exactly true, but it was as close to true as Toge could get. Panda had eaten meals with Maki and Toge frequently when they were first years, but then he wound up hitting it off with Kokichi Muta and hanging out with him instead. They still saw each other from time to time though, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. 

“That’s good,” Gojo told him. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. I know you’re technically here to study… but the relationships you make at the academy will last a lifetime if you’re lucky. I’d argue that it’s more important to come away from this institution with a circle full of friends than a head full of knowledge. Though, of course it doesn’t hurt to have both just in case…” 

He trails off, disappearing to his own mind for a moment. When he flickers back, Toge wonders where he’s been. 

“I hold a salon in my quarters from time to time,” he added. “You should come. Meet some more like-minded people. You’ll talk circles around them once you get going, I’m sure.” 

A strange choice of words, but Toge elected to ignore it. Instead, he nodded enthusiastically and took his leave. The offer never surfaced again after that. If that’s because Toge never attended another office hour again or because the next salon simply never happened, he’ll never know. There’d been whisperings about something big happening in the magical world outside of school walls, something the adults had purposefully been keeping the students in the dark about. Toge assumes that Gojo was called away to deal with it. It’s why his disappearance hadn’t seemed strange to Toge before he knew the truth of it. 

That conversation happened towards the end of last semester, and none of Gojo’s salons would have happened during this academic year. Gojo was gone too early. Still, Toge wonders what it would have been like to have attended one of those meet-ups. Surely Yuuta would have been there. Hakari, Kirara, Megumi- all of their teacher’s favorites in one room. Toge might have been among those chosen few.  

He imagines a world in which he and Yuuta met on completely ordinary terms. Would that have changed things? If they’d started speaking to each other not by necessity, but by choice, would their friendship be any different? Would it ever have progressed on its own? There’s a chance that it would have been the same as all of Toge’s other interactions with Yuuta before they started working together. He might have been so busy with his established friends that Toge’s sudden intrusion may not have interested him at all. 

The relationships you make at the academy will last a lifetime, Gojo had said. If you’re lucky.

Toge’s never much believed in luck, nor does he dare to believe that his relationship with Yuuta will last beyond Gojo’s homecoming. What reason would they have to continue this? Yuuta will go back to his regular life, and Toge to his. 

The other bit Toge remembers is the urging of don't be afraid to put yourself out there. He’d never considered himself afraid. But between that and Yuuta asking why he hides from people, Toge is forced to wonder if there’s any truth to either of those statements. 

“Maybe I’m the one being selfish,” Yuuta adds, shaking Toge out of his thoughts. “Keeping you all to myself.” He sighs at the desk in front of him, putting down a paper box of fasteners that he’s been rifling through. “There’s nothing here, is there? It’s just a bunch of junk.” 

Toge has to nod. Unfortunately, Yuuta is right. They should have expected this. If Gojo went through so much trouble to hide the first real clue to where he’s been all this time, he wasn’t about to leave another laying out on his desk in plain sight. There’s no sign of any calculations, or anything related to dimensional magic at all.

Yuuta groans and steps away from the desk, too exasperated to look at it for even a second longer. Toge can hardly blame him. Everything in this house is overwhelming- even more so when you’re trying to ascribe meaning to any of it. It would be fun under other circumstances, but tonight it’s simply exhausting. 

Much to Toge’s surprise, Yuuta crosses over to the bed instead of the set of armchairs. He flops down right on the foot of Gojo’s bed, his back flattening the fluffy quilt beneath him. 

“Nobara asked why you cover up your markings,” he says offhandedly. “She and Yuuji agreed that they’re super badass. Mortal world talk.” he explains. “It means–”

Toge raises a hand to wave him off. He knows what it means. There isn’t a lot of crossover between the mortal world and the magical, but somehow mortal cussing had made the leap effortlessly. It’s considered pretty crude, but it’s used quite often, especially by students. When a fresh student like Yuuji arrives, they’ll usually be swarmed on their first day by people curious about any new lingo that may have popped up. 

Yuuta’s eyes drift shut. Toge wanders over, trying to follow Yuuta’s lead and feeling mighty uncomfortable about it. That’s their teacher’s bed. There’s a long ottoman pushed against it, and Toge opts to perch himself there instead. It’s where a cat would sit- close but protected, just out of arm’s reach. It would take a dog to jump directly on the bed. A fundamental difference between Yuuta and Toge. 

“I meant what I said earlier tonight,” Yuuta muses. “About your scarf. You don’t have to wear it in front of me if you don’t want to. It can’t be comfortable. I promise not to stare or anything.” 

Toge considers the offer. It’s not that he minds people staring at him. He understands why people would want to. Most days, he doesn’t even really mind the sigils- he just doesn’t love being reminded of them. The inconvenience of the scarf had stopped bothering him over the years, especially when it meant separating him from his identity as cursed boy. It gave him a chance to be just Toge. 

Though, of course, the sigils were as much a part of Toge as anything else.

Toge gives Yuuta a little tap, pointing to the shifting wallpaper where he’s just directed his magic. You’re not curious? he writes with the twisting green vines that run along Gojo’s dark walls. 

It takes Yuuta a minute to respond. Either he’s too tired to process it properly, or he’s picking his words very carefully. 

“Of course I am,” Yuuta admits. Toge has always known that, if he’s honest. There’s a bump in Yuuta’s magic every time something about Toge’s situation grows closer to being revealed. Even the simple act of wrapping Toge’s scarf earlier had him all flared up. Yuuta sighs, still working though it. “But I don’t ever want to make you uncomfortable.” 

You wouldn’t be, Toge assures him, twisting the vines again. We’re friends, he almost adds. Already, he feels like he’s said too much. It’s unusual for him to be using words for anything other than absolutely necessary communications. 

In a way, this is the most social he’s ever been with Yuuta. Usually, he only offers up questions or necessary explanations. It’s only been a few minutes, but Toge has already taken Yuuta’s words to heart. It’s not much, but at least Toge is making an effort. He’s not hiding. 

Yuuta sits straight up. “Do you mean it?” 

Before he can say anything more, Toge pulls the scarf down a bit, revealing it all. It feels a little odd, presenting himself like this, but Yuuta doesn’t seem phased. He pushes himself off the bed and sits down gingerly next to Toge to get a better look. 

“I almost never get to see your face,” Yuuta tells him, squinting. He pushes back for a second, trying to get a better perspective. Like he’s trying to see Toge’s whole face, not just the sigils. It makes Toge feel unexpectedly jumpy. No one has ever done that before. Usually, they just go straight for the forbidden bit. 

Since he’s already looking, Toge figures he’ll give Yuuta a show. He pokes out his tongue, showing Yuuta the inner sigil. Whatever concoction Nobara was feeding them tonight must have really been strong, because under ordinary circumstances, Toge would never show this to someone willingly. 

“Your tongue, too!” Yuuta cries out with delight. Toge has to laugh. Yuuta just seems so genuinely excited to be let in on the secret. The corners of his lips turn up and his nose crinkles as he takes Toge in. People have stared at Toge’s mouth his whole life, but when Yuuta does it it’s different somehow. He’s watching Toge’s lips as well, gawking at every part of him with complete wonderment. “I know I’m staring but…” 

His voice trails off as he starts to lean in. Toge swallows as he watches Yuuta’s lips softly part. 

“Can I…?” Yuuta asks, raising a hand. As Toge nods, Yuuta fumbles a careful hand to Toge’s face. A warm palm cups his cheek, gently stroking the surface of his skin. Yuuta shakes out a breath as his thumb drifts closer to the edge of the sigil. 

The second he makes contact, it all shatters. Yuuta yanks his hand back, cradling it as if Toge’s face has scorched his skin. His eyes go wild, shocked and confused and, possibly, hurt. 

“You’re cursed,” he informs Toge, as if Toge didn’t already know. 

Toge nods solemnly. Of course he’s cursed. It’s never been a secret. Toge had known, dimly, that Yuuta wasn’t aware of the extent of Toge’s situation, but he’d never tested it. Maybe a part of him never wanted Yuuta to find out the whole truth.

“What?” Yuuta manages, looking completely stricken. It only takes a couple of seconds for the grief on his face to twist into pure fury. 

Dark magic seizes the room. Toge can feel it all around him, gripping the air. It’s ten shades past his usual gloominess, transforming into something violent and thrashing. It rings out like a battle cry, rattling the room. The fireplace hisses and roars at the influx of energy. The wooden furniture creaks in protest. The wallpaper starts to peel.  

“How long?” Yuuta snaps, deadly serious. Toge can only shake his head. 

Always.  

“Who?” Yuuta presses, distraught. “Who did this to you?” 

Toge lets his eyes drop to the floor. He can’t look at Yuuta with that question hanging in the air. If he discovers the truth, he’ll only find a way to blame himself. Toge has learned to live with his curse. He won’t burden anyone else with it. 

Yuuta reaches out and catches the bottom of Toge’s chin, tilting it back up. He searches Toge’s face for answers, inspecting every corner of it. And then, with such certainty- 

“We’ll break it.”  

Toge’s heart just about stops. 

He’s drunk, Toge reminds himself. That’s where this courage is coming from. He’s had more to drink tonight than Toge has. His actions have been brash and clumsy all night. He might not even remember this conversation in the morning. 

“We’ll break it,” Yuuta repeats. There is such conviction to his voice that Toge almost believes it. “As soon as we free Gojo, that’s what we’ll do next. We’re a good team, Toge. We can do it- I know we can.” 

Toge continues to shake his head. He’s not sure he ever stopped. Yuuta is wrong, and Toge is more helpless to explain that than ever before in his life. 

“Toge,” Yuuta pleads. “Toge Inumaki. I will find a way. If it takes a lifetime, I will.” 

The sad thing about it is that Toge actually believes him. Yuuta would commit himself to this quest now that he’s given his word. He would waste years of his life searching far and wide for a cure, and it would ultimately change nothing. Breaking Toge’s curse is beyond his abilities. Perhaps at the beginning a great sorcerer like Yuuta could have undone the bindings, plucking at the threads until the right one finally came loose, but they are long past that now. Toge’s curse is soul deep. If it were ever to be removed, Toge isn’t sure there’d be enough left beneath it to make up a whole person. 

He knows this because he’s looked. That’s why Toge started frequenting the school’s library in the first place. It had more information than anywhere else in the world, and it still didn’t hold the answers that Toge had yearned for his whole life. He’d come to terms with that a few months in. By then, he was already habitually spending enough time in the library that he just replaced his research with other, more fruitful studies. He wanted to focus his energy on things he could actually accomplish. Breaking a centuries long curse would always be beyond him. 

Toge has come a long way since he first arrived at school. He’s not that angry kid with spiked up hair and a singular mind for vengeance anymore. He had to let that go. It was the only way to live. 

No, Toge thinks softly. He wishes he could say it. It’s the only way Yuuta would really hear him. He has to settle for one last shake of his head, firm and final. This is something that needs to be put to bed forever. They will never break his curse. 

Yuuta’s magic deflates, peeling off the walls and sucking back into his core. There are tears in his eyes, a hopeless kind of grief that Toge wishes he didn’t recognize on Yuuta’s face so well. 

Toge expects him to pull away, but instead he reaches out his arms. Before Toge even understands what’s happening, he’s pressed squarely between Yuuta’s shoulders, letting himself be hugged as Yuuta pulls him in tightly. After the initial shock of it, Toge relaxes into the touch. He thinks it will end as quickly as it began, but it doesn’t. It lingers. 

Eventually, Toge thinks to return the favor, arms forming a perfect circle as he snakes them behind Yuuta’s back. He lets his cheek rest against the white turtleneck, the sensitive skin around the sigil rubbing against the cotton. 

“I’m so sorry,” Yuuta whispers.

Toge can’t help but feel struck by that. No one has ever been sorry for Toge’s curse before. They understand Toge’s struggles. They acknowledge that his circumstances are unfortunate. They hang to the facts, and Toge has always appreciated that. 

But Yuuta is crying for Toge. He doesn’t even know the extent of things, and he feels compelled to weep. Toge knows he should hate that. He should resent that urge the way he has resented every scrap of pity thrown in his direction since the day he understood what the word curse meant. But how can he, when Yuuta is weeping not just for him, but with him? If Toge had known how much this would tug at his soul, he might have guarded the information more fiercely. 

“We’ll talk to Gojo about it when he’s free,” Yuuta decides, finally pulling away. He’s still not ready to accept this. “He’ll know what to do.” 

Toge decides to let him hold onto that, at least for now. If ever Gojo is free, let him be the one to explain all this to Yuuta. Toge already knows that he’ll never be able to bring himself to do it himself. He won’t be able to shield Yuuta from the truth forever, but Toge will be true to Yuuta’s word just this once. He’ll be selfish. 

Toge pushes himself up, resolving himself to take one last fine-tooth comb sweep through Gojo’s desk, just to be sure. It takes a couple minutes for Yuuta to join him, but when he does his eyes are no longer wet and his magic is as still as lake water. 

When they’ve been through enough, they wonder if they should just head back. They’d planned on staying most of the night, but Nobara’s buzz has worn off and Toge feels himself starting to fade. It’s clear to both of them that they’ve already hit the jackpot tonight in finding the book. Gojo covered everything else up. There would be no real point in staying now. 

Yuuta offers to go check what the younger kids are planning to do, but he returns looking slightly pink. He closes the door behind him tight, pressing his back against it. 

“Maybe we should just spend the night,” he suggests. Toge quirks an eyebrow at him, trying to figure it out. “Well, I think Nobara is already asleep, but Megumi and Yuuji…” 

His voice trails off, the pink hue to his cheeks deepening. Toge tilts his head before realizing. Oh. Megumi and Yuuji are in the middle of something that Yuuta would rather not interrupt, it seems. It’s not difficult for Toge to put the pieces together on that one. 

Toge agrees to stay before Yuuta is forced to elaborate, smiling easily to let him know he’s not bothered by it. If anything, the idea of trudging all the way back to campus right now seems exhausting. He suspects that Gojo wouldn’t mind lending his house out for the night, especially if he isn’t here. In fact, he never even needs to know that any of them spent the night. 

They wind up crawling on to Gojo’s quilt so they can start reading their new book. Under any other circumstances, they’d take turns, passing it back and forth and pointing at important sections with glowing yellow magic, but both of them are too eager. They read for as long as they can stand it, soaking in as much of the information as they can, before falling asleep shoulder to shoulder. 

Toge is the first to wake that morning with a dull scratch at his throat. He’d used his cursed speech a bit the night before, so perhaps that’s why. 

He extracts himself from the top of the bed quickly, careful not to wake Yuuta up. He sleeps so rarely that even a few extra minutes seems precious to Toge. As quietly as he can, Toge slides on his suit jacket and his scarf before leaving Yuuta and the book to rest for a little while. He figures he’ll just grab some water and see what the underclassmen have gotten themselves into. 

He looks over the loft and down to the living room, but there’s no sign of them. The place has been cleared out, returned to the pristine condition they found it in when they arrived. Toge frowns. He didn’t hear anyone come up last night. Did they head back to the dorms? 

Toge pads down the stairs timidly. Maybe he should go wake Yuuta up. It doesn’t feel right for him to be down here alone, even if the place is so overly enchanted that Toge feels as though he’s being followed through the space anyway. He figures he’ll just grab some water and head right back up. 

Pretty, prismic glasses line the top shelf of a wooden hutch inside the kitchen and Toge plucks one down. The kitchen light catches it in his hand, spreading rainbows across the floorboards. As he fills up the glass, Toge realizes that he hasn’t seen this place in daylight yet. He wonders how different this little world might look with the sun. 

When he turns to look out the window though, it’s still as dark outside as it was when they arrived. Toge frowns. It must be a result of Gojo’s absence. He’d inadvertently plunged it into darkness when he left, the days unable to turn over without his magic churning them forward. That’s probably what would account for the seasonal difference that Toge noticed when they first arrived. It’s just like in the prison realm. Time has truly stopped. Honestly, it’s sort of like Yuuta and Toge’s world, as well- stalled without his presence. 

Just as he’s about to head back up, Toge’s eyes catch on the periwinkle painting again. He hasn’t gotten a good look at it since they discovered it was a clue. He wonders if they should take it down now, in order to cover their tracks. Or does it matter now, since they’ve already retrieved the book? It might be more trouble than it’s worth. 

He’s still deciding when he hears it, dropping his glass and letting its pretty thin pieces shatter against the floor. 

“Hello there,” a woman’s voice greets him. A woman’s voice that is decidedly not Nobara’s. Icy and smooth, quiet but commanding. A chill runs down Toge’s spine. “You’re not meant to be here, are you?” 

Toge finds himself frozen to his spot, glass and water pooling at his shoes. He turns over to see a blonde woman with a hand perched on her hip, emerging from the dark hallway to the greenhouse. It’s no wonder Toge had felt like he wasn’t alone here. He hadn’t been. 

He begins weighing his options. He doesn’t want to engage with this woman, but depending on her knowledge, he might have the upper hand. She hasn’t seen the sigils yet, the most commonly associated feature of Toge’s technique. If a fight were to break out, he’d at least have a chance. Already he can feel her magic- mystical and tantalizing and held close to her chest. It’s powerful. Toge can tell. He doesn’t want to tangle with her.

From the cat-like grin spreading across her face and the darkly playful glint in her eyes, Toge is not so sure he has a choice. If he doesn’t make the first move, she will. But what phrase could he use to stop her and warn Yuuta? Could he buy enough time to get them both out of dodge? Leaving Yuuta behind, sleeping and vulnerable, isn’t an option. 

“Is everyone okay? I heard–” Yuuta comes rushing down from the loft, his hand stalling on the railing the moment he spots her. “Miss Tsukumo,” he greets, stopping in his tracks. 

“Yuuta,” she says sweetly. “You know I hate it when you call me that. I’m not your teacher.” 

“Yuki,” he corrects, though he doesn’t seem entirely conscious of his compliance. He’s too busy staring at her, dumbstruck. “What are you doing here?” 

Toge nearly chokes on his own throat. Yuki Tsukumo? There are only two sorcerers alive who have realized the title of special grade, and she’s one of them. Toge’s gaze is drawn down to the delicate silver band around her ring finger that designates her as such. There’s a large stone at the center of it, a hazy navy color that is slowly shifting to red around the edges. Gojo has one too, though his is more traditional- thick plated silver with nothing but the insignia of an infinity symbol at the center. Toge assumes it’s been passed down through his clan for generations. 

Yuuta’s arrival couldn’t have been more timely. If Toge had been stupid enough to try and take a stand against a special grade, it would have been his funeral. Her aura is significantly less hostile since his arrival. But that leaves one important question- how would the two of them possibly know each other? 

It’s no secret that Yuki spends most of her time overseas. She’s as hated as she is lauded in the magical community, known for pursuing only her own whims. She’s Gojo’s foil, in that sense. He stayed behind, dutifully attending to every issue that’s ever come up since he came of age. Yuki has been nowhere to be found. She’s so scarce that Toge has never even seen a picture of her. But somehow she and Yuuta are on a first name basis. 

“I think it’s about time we had a chat,” Yuki tells him. “Just the two of us,” she adds pointedly, not even bothering to look over at Toge. It seems as though she and Yuuta are engaged in a deadlock. “Unless you think our third will be arriving anytime soon.” 

She says it as if there’s a canary in her mouth, like she has Yuuta all figured out. Toge is still trying to make sense of her words. Third? What third person could they be waiting on? The only obvious answer would be Gojo, since it’s his house.  But what would those three have in common? 

Toge notices the placement of Yuuta’s hand and his stomach drops. His fingers are hanging just between his ribs, touching something beneath the surface of his shirt. Toge shouldn’t know what’s there, but he does. 

Rika’s ring.

Or, at least, that’s what Toge had assumed it was. Perhaps it had been something different all along. Regarding it as a token of Rika’s had seemed like the most obvious explanation, but it wasn’t the only possibility. There’s one other reason that an unmarried sorcerer would carry a meaningful ring. 

To designate them as a special grade sorcerer. 

Toge’s head swims. No. There’s no way Yuuta could have kept that from him. Yuuta’s powerful, but he’s not that powerful. He doesn’t even have an obvious magical attribute. No one gets to that high of a level unless there is something extraordinarily unique about their abilities. Yuuta has nothing to distinguish him. 

“Yuki,” Yuuta warns. His features look unrecognizably severe as he starts his descent down the staircase. He carries himself with complete confidence, more assured than Toge has ever seen him before. He doesn’t look at all like himself. In an instant, he’s transformed. 

The person Toge is looking at right now isn’t Yuuta Okkotsu, it's a special grade sorcerer. Bile creeps up Toge’s mouth. He feels like he’s going to be sick.

 “You can say whatever it is you came here to say,” Yuuta presses on. “But Toge isn’t going anywhere.” 

He leaves no room for dissent, spreading his shoulders to show his height and letting his magic out of its cage. Toge feels it sweep through the room, washing over him as he’s taken into Yuuta’s protection. As much as Toge resents needing it, the pleasant tingle at his skin isn’t exactly unwelcome. At a survival-level he’s grateful for any reprieve from an unknown factor such as Yuki.

She looks over to Toge with a flick of her yellow hair. “I have no problem with you or the Inumaki clan, to be clear. If I had it my way, your curse would cease to exist.” 

Toge can’t even be surprised that she made the deduction. Of course a special grade sorcerer would know by the hair and the eyes alone what Toge is, what clan he belongs to. The idea that he ever had a chance against her gets more ludicrous by the moment. 

“But you can’t be here right now,” she continues, her tone firm. “Yuuta and I need to have an important conversation.”

“He knows,” Yuuta blurts. “You came to see about Gojo, right? You’ve figured it out? Toge already knows. He knows much more about it than you do.” 

“Is that so?” she asks, stepping closer to Toge. “We could do something about that, you know.” 

Toge’s blood freezes over. The specifics of Yuki’s magic aren’t public knowledge. Nobody knows exactly how it works, and she clearly seems keen on keeping it that way. But Toge has heard rumors. Rumors that would suggest her magic has the ability to tamper with memories. 

If that’s true, all it will take is exactly one more moment for Toge’s knowledge of this whole affair to be wiped. Gojo’s disappearance, the sprawling world inside of his quarters, Yuuta. One more step, and all of it will be gone. 

“Don’t. Move.” 

Yuki comes to a standstill, limbs freezing in midair. Her lack of motion is not of her own volition- it’s been forced upon her. She’s fallen prey to the work of cursed speech. 

But Toge hasn’t said a word. 

He gasps, head whipping around to see Yuuta. He stands on the steps, blue eyes drilling into Yuki. Around his lips are familiar, thick black lines. The sigils. 

Toge clasps his hands around his mouth. This time, he is sure he will be sick. He blinks furiously, trying to erase what he’s just seen, but it won’t go away. He looks up at Yuuta and it’s still there. Yuuta is wearing Toge’s curse, and he doesn’t even seem to care. 

Finally, Yuuta’s eyes flash to Toge’s. The sigils pale instantly. “Toge, wait.” 

It’s too late. Toge is already running. Glass is crunching beneath his shoes and he’s throwing the front door open without so much as a second thought. 

“Let him go,” Yuki orders, finally released from Yuuta’s spell. “He’s not useful to us.” 

The door slams behind him and Toge runs like a bat out of hell. It’s by sheer luck that he’s able to recall Megumi’s words last night- something about a storm cellar and a secret passageway. He hooks around the house, running almost all the way around it before coming to a set of weather-worn wooden doors that lead into the earth. When he yanks them open, there are no stairs to be found. All that’s there is darkness. 

Toge doesn’t even hesitate. He throws himself in the bottomless void unflinchingly, desperate to be anywhere but here. He can’t see a thing, not even his own hands, but it doesn’t matter. There is ground beneath his feet and a will to keep running. 

Megumi’s path seems to go on forever. Toge runs and runs, but he still can’t see any light at the end. The darkness is suffocating. It muffles the sound of his footsteps and pushes between the gaps in his fingers like sludge. He’s not even sure if he’s breathing anymore, but his feet keep carrying him. It’s faster than he’s ever run in his life. 

So fast, in fact, that Toge doesn’t even see the rack of clothes before he’s already run straight into it. His face connects with several blazer-covered wooden hangers and his knees hit the floor, finally giving out on him now that he’s free from the abyss. He has no concept of how long the passageway was or how long he spent down there, nor can he tell if he’s gasping for air from exhaustion or from the choke of the shadows. Whatever the case, he knows with certainty that he won’t be going back down there anytime soon. The prospect of re-entering that darkness is unimaginable. 

His body wants to give out completely, the floor of this supply closet suddenly more appealing than a bed of roses, but he knows he can’t afford to. Yuuta will eventually come out on the other end of that portal, and Toge wants to be far out of reach when that moment arrives. He can’t stand the thought of being anywhere near him right now. 

He lied to me, Toge thinks dimly. Though, of course, that isn’t right. Yuuta just left Toge in the dark about a few things. In a way, It’s not so different from Toge not offering up the details of his curse. Somehow, that makes things even worse- like Toge has no one to blame for this but himself. 

Toge pushes himself up and takes the hallways as quickly as he can. He must look like a madman, stumbling over himself and hugging the walls for support as he makes his way back to his dorm. He needs to close the door behind him and lock it so he can process all of this. 

Yuuta Okkotsu is a special grade. 

Ever since Toge found out about Yuuta’s mission to rescue Gojo, he’s been under the extremely foolish impression that the two of them were equals in this quest. That they were doing this together, against the odds. But this whole time Yuuta has knowingly been just as powerful as Gojo. So what had Toge been all this time? Nothing but a sidekick? 

Toge has never doubted that he was essential to the success of this mission, but essential in what way? Making sure Yuuta’s homework gets done? Making sure Yuuta eats and sleeps? Grunt work- was that all he was good for? He’s not useful to us, Yuki Tsukumo had said. She was probably right. 

He’s just gotten to his room, anxiously fiddling with his lock. He’s almost in. It’ll be over soon. 

“Toge?” Miwa interrupts, her door creaking open. “Wait,” she gasps, catching sight of his face. “Are you okay?” 

He can’t even imagine what he must look like right now. He turned around to face her without even thinking about his appearance. Yesterday’s clothes, face red from exertion, and god knows what else. She’s already dressed for the day, sporting a big cardigan with spatters of little blue flowers embroidered onto the stitch work. For a moment they remind Toge of periwinkle, sending his stomach lurching again. 

He shakes his head yes, eyes going down to the piece of paper in Miwa’s hand. She’s holding it out to him. 

“Oh, well… if you’re sure,” she says nervously, offering the pink slip to him. “I found this pinned to my door on Friday, but I didn’t look at it till just now. I don’t think it was meant for me, so they probably got the room wrong.” 

Toge snatches it out of her hand. Maybe Miwa doesn’t know what a pink slip means, but Toge certainly does- and there’s no way he could be receiving one. Only in his wildest nightmares. 

“I didn’t read it,” she says quickly. “I promise.” 

Of course, she’d only be saying that if she had read it and the contents of it are embarrassing enough to need to deny it. He rips the paper open, trying to figure out how such an error could have been made. Toge is the best in his class. He wouldn’t be receiving something like this. Miwa has to be mistaken. 

He reads it once, then twice, then a third time through. At some point, Miwa disappears, Toge isn’t sure when. After he realizes she’s missing, he reads the notice one last time, still too numb to process it. 

The piece of paper in front of him says that he, Toge Inumaki, is officially on academic probation. A flag was raised in his file after a test grade in his Morals of Magic class was registered into their system. If he is unable to show significant and notable improvement in the coming weeks, his place at this school will be re-evaluated. That’s exactly how they phrase it. Re-evaluation. 

Meaning: if Toge doesn’t get it together, they’re going to kick him out. 

This can’t be happening. He knows he’s fallen slightly behind on his studies lately in his efforts to help Yuuta, but how had it gotten this bad? 

It’s not Yuuta’s fault, he reminds himself, grappling with the conclusion his brain is already trying to jump to. As upset as he is with Yuuta right now, Toge knew what he was taking on when he agreed to help with this. He knew what the consequences could be if he got too involved. He just thought he could handle it. 

Toge, decidedly, can’t handle it. He can’t handle any of it. Yuuta isn’t at all who Toge thought he was, Toge is about to get expelled from school and Satoru Gojo is trapped in the fucking prison realm. It’s all too much. Everything is falling apart around him.  

There’s no one to turn to. There’s not a person alive who could fix these problems, but Toge’s feet are carrying him down the hall anyway. If he thought his sprint through the shadows was fast, it was merely thunder compared to the strike of lightning he’s painting right now. Toge is already at the center of campus in what seems like the blink of an eye and knocking on a familiar door.

“Who is it?” one of them yells. Toge just keeps knocking, despite the bitching on the other side of the door. “Yeah, yeah- I hear you.”

When Maki opens the door, her face floods with concern. 

“Toge,” she breathes, taking him all in. “Why are you still wearing your party clothes? I didn’t even see you at that party.” 

Tears prick at Toge’s eyes. The last twenty-four hours have been so messed up that Toge can’t even keep track of how many ways it all went wrong. All Maki knows right now is that Toge got all dressed up and didn’t even get to attend a party, and she’s already devastated for him. When he thinks about having to tell her the rest of it, it makes him want to disappear. 

Lamely, he hands her the little pink slip that he’s crumbled into his palm. 

“Oh, Toge.” Her voice is so sad. 

That’s all it takes for Toge to break. He chokes out a sob, so violent that it wrenches his shoulders forward. Maki pulls him inside quickly, shielding him from the busy hallways. He’s thrown himself face first onto her bed before she can even get the door shut. Tears stain her comforter as she squabbles with Mai, who seems desperate to get out of their room but can’t do it fast enough. He ignores the exchange. He knows he’s intruding, but he doesn’t even care. 

A minute later, Mai has paired a set of combat boots with her lace slip pajama dress and has fled the scene. Maki sits down next to Toge, wedging herself closer and placing a pad of paper down in front of him.

“Tell me what happened,” she instructs calmly, thumbing at one of Toge’s tears. “And start from the beginning.” 

Chapter Text

“Maybe you keep me around

For the constant affirmations

While I scrounge for understanding

And fall out”

“Harbor,” by Clairo

Fall used to be Toge’s favorite season on campus. The brilliant blankets of leaves, the spiced cakes and tea served after meals in the dining hall, the biting draft in the library that begs Toge to layer all his favorite sweaters on thick before stepping inside. 

It’s one of the only things he enjoys about being here, and this year he feels like he’s missed it altogether. He didn’t even remember to look up until it was already over. The leaves tend more towards brown than red, and the ground has turned muddy and dank. All that’s left for Toge to do is bask in the haunting call of crows that swells across the campus, warning everyone of a danger that Toge and Yuuta have been wise to for weeks. 

Even if it is only November, the autumn that Toge has woken up in is not one he’s able to appreciate at all. He avoids the library and the dining hall at all costs. He doesn’t poke his head into any of the common rooms to do homework by the warmth of a fireplace. He doesn’t walk the grounds to enjoy the crisp air. It’s simply not worth the risk. 

He’s not even so sure about being in his room right now. Since he can’t avoid it, he casts a sound dampening spell over the door each time he goes in. That way, if anyone knocks, he won’t have to hear it. 

Lately, Toge has taken to hiding out in an abandoned hallway on the second floor whenever he’s looking for a little peace. It doesn’t lead anywhere, but boasts a pretty view of the treeline on the edge of campus. Toge’s learned that if he walks all the way to one side and cranes his neck back, he can see the fringes of Yuuta’s tower. Even in one of the most beautiful places on campus, Toge is still daydreaming about a view from above. 

They haven’t seen each other since Sunday morning. Classes on Monday are canceled in favor of some faculty meeting, which Maki says is code for they’re too hungover to teach. Toge’s grateful for it, but it does delay his opportunity to find Professor Higuruma during office hours. He doesn’t teach on Tuesdays, so Toge will just have to wait till after classes on Wednesday. It gives him time to study the textbook front to back. When Toge demands a retest, he’ll know every answer by heart

It’s dominating an arguably obsessive amount of his brain space, but right now that’s exactly the kind of distraction Toge needs. If his mind is busy, he can’t spend a single moment torturing himself with the thought of Yuuta and all his secrets. Right now, Toge can’t even fathom the idea of looking at Yuuta. He knows it’s childish, but he can’t help it- and avoiding him has gotten particularly easy, especially now that Toge is using Maki as a human shield. 

It’s big of her to help him out considering he wasn’t at all forthcoming with the details. All he’d done was blubber on her bed for hours until Mai finally kicked him out that night. He’d wanted so badly to spill every secret he’d been holding on to over the last few weeks, but the words never came. They weren’t his secrets to tell. 

Still, Maki is smart. Without Toge having to tell her a thing, there was an offer to kill Yuuta Okkotsu on the table. She’d figured out that much. For now, the knowledge that Toge was inconsolable and Yuuta was at the center of it was all she really needed to know. 

Her understanding only made Toge feel guiltier about not confiding in her. It made him want to crawl back to his room to mope on his own, but he stayed and indulged in her comfort anyway. He let her rub circles on his back and open a window to let cool air to balm his red, angry skin. He kept waiting for her to make a remark about how she’s never seen him cry before, never mind cry rivers, but she never did. She’s been nothing but supportive. 

It almost makes it easy to forget that Toge ever had another friend to begin with.

At the very least, Toge still has his studies. His first and only love. They embrace him fondly, an old sweater being shrugged back on after a long, grousy summer. This is what Toge was always meant to be anyway. A book mouse for the library- quiet, crafty, and out of sight, hidden between pages instead of walls. The ambition he’d had to be anything else was clearly misplaced. He’ll go back to what he knows instead.

On Wednesday, Toge finally gets Higuruma alone after class. Yuuta is already the furthest thing from his mind. He has to be. 

“Ah, Mr. Inumaki,” his professor greets once the other students have cleared out. “I figured I’d be seeing you soon. I knew you wouldn’t be happy with a grade like that. How do you think we should work this out?”

Toge had been prepared for this. Professor Higuruma considers himself a very fair man, and is always willing to help you get your grade on track so long as you’re willing to do the work. He’ll give re-tests and alternate assignments and extra credit opportunities, but only if you’re determined enough to ask him about it. He won’t just offer it up. 

So he leaves it in Toge’s hands. Toge already knows he’ll ask for the retest. It will be much harder than the first, but Toge is confident in his abilities now. If Professor Higuruma is claiming to know as much about Toge’s habits as he says, he likely already has a copy of the secondary test stashed in his briefcase. Toge passes him a note he wrote in advance that explains his intentions, and Higuruma looks quite pleased with himself as he reads it over. 

“I’d be happy to offer you a re-test,” he announces. “I have office hours at the beginning of next week, or you could–” 

He cuts himself off as he catches sight of the other piece of paper crumbled into Toge’s hand. 

“What’s that?” he asks, clipped. 

Toge passes it over, feeling his face flush beneath his scarf. He’s still absolutely mortified to be in the possession of an academic probation notice. Just looking at it makes him feel as if his whole identity has been stripped away from him. He’s supposed to be smart. Top of his class. That’s always who he’s been. Now, he’s one wrong move from expulsion. 

Higuruma blanches as he reads it. “This is insane,” he says candidly, all professionalism dropped as he reads through it a second time. “Over one test grade? Your grade wasn’t even the lowest in the class. Did other people get–” 

He looks up at Toge and answers his own questions. Did other students get probation notices over this test grade? No. They hadn’t. But their situations were vastly different from Toge’s. Toge had always thought he was being paranoid in thinking the superiors had it out for him, but now he knows he probably wasn’t worrying enough. It’s good he stayed as on top of his studies as he did all these years. They really had been waiting for any opportunity to oust him. 

“This is completely unjust,” Higuruma says. There’s a calm sort of seriousness to his voice, one that hides a rage that Toge would not want to test the limits of. His magic starts brimming over, whistling like a kettle. It’s not unlike how Yuuta gets when he’s worked up about something. “I’ll speak to–” 

Gojo. That would be the obvious answer. They both know that Gojo would never let something like this happen if he was around. But Gojo isn’t around, and clearly Higuruma has figured that out.

“Kento,” he recovers. “I’ll speak with Professor Nanami and we’ll get this sorted. If you feel prepared, I’d like to administer your retake right away.” 

Toge nods eagerly. That’s what he was hoping for in the first place. The idea of waiting another week with his fate hanging in the balance sounds like the worst kind of torture. Higuruma searches for the correct paper in his briefcase, explaining to Toge that it will be more difficult than the first as he passes it over. Toge assures him with a nod that he is ready. 

He’s about halfway through, flying through the questions at record pace, when he’s thrown completely out of his head. 

“Toge?” 

Yuuta stands in the doorway of the classroom, and he does not look well. 

Tired is an understatement. Toge thought for sure he’d already seen the worst of Yuuta’s exhaustion by now, but it pales in comparison to this. Yuuta looks borderline sickly. His cheeks have hollowed out and his eyes are swimming in such dark circles that Toge is barely able to find blue. Clearly, he has not slept at all since this weekend. 

Of course, Toge hasn’t slept much himself. Every time he closes his eyes, all he sees are bold black lines on Yuuta’s face. It’s so viscerally upsetting that Toge forces himself up and busies himself reading until he passes out with a book still attached to his hand. Even now, seeing Yuuta’s face looking normal again, he can’t unsee the idea of it. He flinches, as if they can be brought up at any time. 

Perhaps they can. 

It took Toge a little while to figure it out. At first, it didn’t make any sense at all. How could Yuuta possibly be able to use cursed speech? No one outside of the Inumaki clan had ever managed it before. Toge sat in the hidden hallway on the second floor with his knees curled to his chest, staring out the window for hours on end before he finally discovered the missing piece. 

Toge’s shoulder. One minute, it had been sore and throbbing as a result of Megumi’s shikigami attack. The next, it felt untouched. Toge had chalked it up to the warmth of Nobara’s drink spreading through his body at the time, but of course, even a splash of spirits couldn’t have had that effect. There’d been only one other outside factor: Yuuta had reached out to touch him. Out of context, Toge didn’t recognize what that sensation was. Healing. 

Shoko Ieiri’s magical attribute. She could heal a person just by laying hands on them. It had been years since Toge was subject to it, but he wasn’t a stranger to the feeling. And Yuuta had just spoken about visiting the infirmary. If he could use Toge’s magic, who’s to say he couldn’t use hers as well? 

Toge had always wondered about Yuuta’s magical attribute. All this time, he’d never lacked one. He just had the ability to replicate someone else’s. Toge could be wrong, but he rarely is. If any ability was capable of putting someone undeniably at a special grade level, that would be it. 

“I- I’ve been looking all over for you,” Yuuta stammers, gripping the doorway. Toge feels every muscle in his body start to pull taut, forcing him to sit up straighter in his seat. “Can we talk? I really need to talk to you.” 

“I’m sorry,” Professor Higuruma interjects. “But right now isn’t a good time.” 

Yuuta ignores him completely. He steps into the room, looking even worse in the light. His hair is askew and his fine clothes are wrinkled, shirt halfway tucked in. He looks so disastrous that Toge has to turn his head. He can’t bear to see it. “Toge, please,” Yuuta pleads. “You have to talk to me. I know you’re upset but just let me explain and–” 

“Mr. Okkotsu,” Higuruma says firmly, standing up from his seat. “You’re interrupting a very important test. I’ll have to ask you to leave.” 

For the first time since he arrived, Yuuta actually looks over and acknowledges their teacher. He blinks a few times, as if he didn’t even realize he was present until just now. Toge cringes. It’s beyond embarrassing that Yuuta has brought this conflict in front of one of their teachers. If Toge wasn’t all but chained to this seat until his test was finished, surely he’d have run right out of the room to avoid the humiliation. 

“Oh,” Yuuta manages. He backs up, finding a bit of awareness for the situation. He looks dazed. He’d simply spotted Toge sitting unguarded and something took over him. 

Seeing him like this, Toge wonders for the first time since Sunday if he’s made a mistake by shutting Yuuta out. It hadn’t been his intention to be the source of any more distress in Yuuta’s life. All he’d wanted to do here was take himself out of the equation and walk away with the shred of dignity he might have left.

He’s not stupid. He knows what it means if Yuki Tsukomo has shown up here, flashing her special grade status and chasing Toge out of the room. She’s taking over. Toge’s services will no longer be required. It’s a good thing, probably. Toge was out of his depth, and so was Yuuta. They needed an adult to step in. If Toge had known of a way to reach Yuki Tsukomo when this had all started, he would have. She’s probably the only person alive capable of getting Gojo back. 

So that’s that. Their brief collaboration has come to an end. At least the timing is good- if Toge doesn’t devote his time to his schoolwork right now, he won’t be of any help to anyone. Maybe it was immature of him to make himself unreachable over the past few days, but it was in everyone’s best interest. Yuuta will realize that eventually. 

“Tonight,” Yuuta promise for both of them, nodding his head resolutely. Toge stares at him vacantly, giving him no sign of agreement. When Higuruma opens his mouth to scold Yuuta once more, he scrambles out of the classroom, hesitating at the doorway for the briefest moment on his way out. It’s subtle, but Toge feels it. Magic. Yuuta’s magic. At this point, Toge knows that signature better than anyone else’s.

When Toge looks down at his test, the words have all jumbled. Yuuta has borrowed Toge’s trick so he could leave a message. Something has happened, he writes. I need you. Please.  

Toge’s heart catches in his throat. He tears his eyes away and looks up to find Professor Higuruma’s gaze. There’s a sympathetic look on his face, though he couldn’t have possibly understood the nature of the exchange that just unfolded before him. In a desperate attempt to duck his professor’s pity, Toge pretends he was just having a look around the room. His eyes land on a big grandfather clock situated in the corner behind Higuruma’s desk. 

And it’s not moving. 

“Ah, sorry about that,” Higuruma explains, interpreting Toge’s look of bafflement. “It’s been bothering me too, but I can’t quite seem to fix it. I was never very good at menial magic.” 

That would make sense- Higuruma was raised in the mortal world through his teenage years, so he wasn’t taught the basics of magic like the rest of them were. It’s a rare case to find a teacher at the academy who didn’t actually attend it, but someone as smart as him could hardly be denied. 

“This isn’t actually my classroom,” he confesses. “So I figured I’d let the original owner deal with it before I accidentally turned it into a tomato or something.” 

It’s not his classroom, Toge repeats to himself before realizing. It’s Gojo’s classroom. Professor Higuruma is new to teaching, so they’d thrown him in the first free classroom they could find. Since Gojo hasn’t been teaching classes practically all semester, and barely teaches in his classroom to begin with, they’d stuck Higuruma in here. Toge would have never made the connection, except- 

Gojo’s timepiece. Ieri’s clock. Now this? 

It couldn’t be a coincidence. The clock in Gojo’s classroom not working, as well as the others… it’s just too unusual to be anything but deliberate. It would seem that Gojo has hidden another clue for them. Toge’s mind is already spinning with the possibilities. 

Perhaps he isn’t done being useful to Yuuta’s cause after all. 

Toge makes quick work of the rest of the test. As anticipated, he knew every answer and then some. Professor Higurama grades it on the spot so he can submit it to the administration right away. 

It’s a perfect score. 

Toge knows that he’s been flying blind through most of their calculations. He’s working on a way to open a portal to the prison realm, but not to a specific place in the prison realm. He hadn’t gotten that far yet. Despite all their studies, there’s still a lot that Yuuta and Toge don’t know about dimensional magic. If they got the portal open, would Gojo be able to find it right away? If not, could they send someone in after him? How long could they keep it open? 

It’s been nagging at Toge this whole time. What if they go through all this effort to open a portal, just for it to not work?Toge couldn’t let himself think about it too much, or else he wouldn’t have been able to make any progress at all. If he was consumed with all the ways it could go wrong- and Toge has already thought of at least a thousand- there was no chance of ever finding the one scenario where it all went right. 

Even the first fifty or so pages of the book they’d found on the Prison Realm had started to clear things up. It’s no wonder Gojo was trapped there. Anyone who crosses through to that dimension is meant to be trapped there forever. It must have been an act of sheer arrogance that allowed Gojo to think he’d be an exception. Perhaps he thought his magic was august enough. 

Whatever the case, it meant that no one could be sent inside to fish him out, or else they risked that person getting trapped as well. That means they’ll just have to open the portal and hope for the best- hold out as long as they can until Gojo finds it. Toge figures something like that would take an astronomical amount of magic, more than what even Yuuta could provide. That would lead them back to square one, unless-

Unless Gojo left them coordinates. 

Toge rushes to the infirmary the second he hands in his test. Dinner can wait. He knows he must look like a madman, pushing through the double doors and storming inside, but he hardly cares. Luckily, there are no patients around to see him. The only issue is that there are multiple clocks- practically one on each wall. He looks around frantically, trying to find the offender. 

Of course, the most obvious clock to anyone standing inside of the infirmary would be the one directly above the door. He steps further into the room, spinning around to get a better look at it. The other three clocks are in perfect synchronization, and this one is sputtering- a pot threatening to boil over. It tries desperately to get to the next minute, but can’t quite make it. Perfect. 

“Toge?” Ieiri calls, emerging from her office. Toge freezes. He’d been hoping that she wouldn’t be around so he wouldn’t have to explain anything. “Are you doing okay?” 

Toge flashes her a quick thumbs up before offering an apologetic wave. As he’s waiting to see if he’s been let off the hook, her eyes drift to the clock above his head. She looks back down to him and nods. 

“Alright then,” she says, sounding not entirely convinced. There’s a glint in her eye that Toge doesn’t quite recognize. “Come to me if you need anything, yeah?” 

Toge nods and turns on his heels, too grateful to be released to worry about her meaning, He takes one last look at the clock on his way out to cement the numbers in his head. 

Now, if Gojo had left three four digit time values, then they’d be in business. Toge would be able to tailor all of his calculations to that set of numbers. Unfortunately, Toge only has nine numbers to work with, and no sense of what their order would be. He might be able to logic that out later, but he’d need one last set of numbers to do that. That meant, more likely than not, somewhere on campus there was a fourth broken clock. 

Toge is quite certain that the first clue- the location of the book- was meant for Megumi or Yuuta to notice. This set of clues, however, seems directly tailored to Yuuta. Gojo has a classroom, yes, but only for when he’s teaching the upperclassman. His underclassman train with him out in the field. Higuruma only teaches upperclassmen as well. Whichever way Gojo had planned it, he planted that clock in a room Yuuta was sure to be in. 

The same goes for Shoko’s clock. If Gojo is aware of the mechanics of Yuuta’s magic- which Toge is quite sure he would be, given that he was the one who discovered Yuuta all those years ago- then he likely would have been the one to establish a connection between Yuuta and Ieiri. If he’d set up lessons between them, then he knew Yuuta would be in her office from time to time. 

Between that and the timepiece on his desk- a place that very few people would have access to- everything was put deliberately in Yuuta’s path. That meant the fourth piece of the puzzle, wherever it was, would have to be somewhere that Yuuta would be sure to find it.  

Toge’s stomach sinks as he realizes what that means he’ll have to do. The most efficient way to find out if there is a fourth broken clock in Yuuta’s life would be to just ask him. Toge’s academics are all figured out, so there’s no reason for him to delay. As much as he hates it, that means he can’t avoid Yuuta any longer. 

He trudges to the dining hall, knowing well that Yuuta will be there waiting for him. It’s the one place that Toge is sure to be at tonight at some point, and if Yuuta is dead set on speaking with him, he’ll be there too. Toge gets as far as the doorway before he stops in his tracks. His eyes find Yuuta instantly. 

Hakari and Kirara flank him, chatting spiritedly as he stares blankly out the window. His plate has nothing but torn up pieces of bread on it, and a cup of coffee rests between his hands palms. Despite the fact that it’s getting chillier by the day on campus, he’s shed his sweater.

Toge’s eyes go to his wrist, wondering immediately if the answer had been on Yuuta all along, but there’s nothing there but skin. Weirdly, Toge could have sworn he’s seen Yuuta wearing a watch before. When they were first years, he was always running late to class- probably a result of the remote location of his dorm- and every day, like clockwork, he’d walk into one of their classes a minute late and check his wristwatch in distress. Toge remembers, because he always found that particularly annoying. Why even wear a watch if you weren’t going to be on time? 

Eventually, all of their teachers had stopped commenting on Yuuta’s eternal tardiness. Even Professor Nanami didn’t have it in him to keep scolding him about it. Maybe Yuuta finally decided he didn’t need it anymore. If that was the case though, why would he have worn it all those years just to forgo it now? 

Toge can think of one good reason. It stopped working. 

It’s lucky that Yuuta never spotted him, because Toge has already turned around and headed in the clear opposite direction. If Yuuta is waiting for him in the dining hall, that means that he won’t be up in his tower. Toge might only have a few minutes to do this, but it’s all he needs. Yuuta’s dorm room is a disaster- it’s near impossible to find anything in the madness of it- but Toge already knows exactly where the watch he’s looking for is.

The door to the tower gives him no protest and the candle sconces on the walls roar to life. For once, Rika is greeting him with the excitement she usually reserves for Yuuta. She’s happy to see him. Since that first day, they haven’t gone more than a few hours at once without seeing each other. That’s how often Toge has been up here.  

For both their sakes, Toge takes the steps as quickly as he can, even without the extra encouragement from Rika. Yuuta will only wait in the dining hall for so long. 

When Toge reaches the top of the stairs, the door blows right open. There’s a rustling of his hair- Rika’s way of saying hello. He lays a hand on the doorway, hoping she’ll understand that he’s returning the favor. He’s missed her too, he’s realizing. To express her giddiness at Toge’s return, she starts fiddling with dresser drawers and bouncing random items around the room. Toge’s eyes catch the fresh bindings of the book they recovered from Gojo’s quarters. At least Yuuta had the sense to take it with him. Shouldn’t it be with Yuki by now? Perhaps she’s already finished reading. 

Toge ignores it and zeroes in on the floorboards, trying to remember which one housed Rika’s nest. Toge had only been able to look at its contents for a moment or so when he was in here on Saturday, but he is sure he saw a wristwatch inside. It doesn’t take long to find it. 

It’s just as Toge suspected. 3 more numbers. 

The watch rickets in Toge’s palm, itching to move forward. Toge guesses that Gojo must feel a bit like the faces of these clocks right now- utterly stuck. He pushes the thought out of his head. He can’t worry about how Gojo’s feeling right now. He just has to figure out how to get him back. 

He pockets the wristwatch, and in a moment of guilt, he plucks the pen that he and Rika hid a few days ago. He figures it’s a fair trade for letting him borrow the watch for a little while. He replaces the floorboard and the pen, hovering at Yuuta’s desk for a moment as he places it down. In the corner is a notebook filled with Toge’s calculations. Hoping Yuuta won’t notice its absence, he picks it up and tucks it under his elbow.  

He worries for a moment that Rika might fight him on it- might reject the idea of Toge taking something from her space- but she doesn’t. She doesn’t protest at all when he tries to leave. Instead, each filament of the chandelier lights up individually, flickering at him like little lightning bugs. She’s waving goodbye. 

Toge laughs a bit under his breath. Rika’s like him, in a way. A lot to say, with no real outlet for it. Maybe that’s why she accepted Toge so quickly. She recognized a sameness in him- that they were both fundamentally misunderstood people. 

He lets his hand linger on the doorknob for a long moment, rubbing his thumb against the brass. He’s not exactly sure when he’ll be back here, if ever, but he also lacks the means of giving her a proper goodbye.

Suddenly, the lights all blink out at once, and Rika slowly fades the chandelier up into its brightest, most golden glow. The room shimmers in the yellow light as the beginning of dusk creeps up the windows. It’s a beautiful effect that she’s made for him. At least Toge will be able to remember the place this way if he’s never invited back. 

Toge means to head back to the dining hall that night, really he does. He knows he has to face Yuuta at some point, for both their sakes. 

But his mind fills with numbers and suddenly, his feet are carrying him elsewhere. He plops down on the floor of his hallway and rips open the pages of his notebook. He carefully tears out the pages of his first round of calculations and lays them on the floor in front of him. They’re basically useless to him now, but they’ll be good references at least. 

Then, Toge starts making new references. He draws the faces of four clocks and painstakingly recreates the positions of their hands, using the stolen wristwatch as a guide. Then, he writes out a list of all the possible orders the times could be placed into, ruling out a few of the combinations as he goes.  

His brain is working faster than he can get thoughts down on paper. It’s not long before half of Toge’s notebook is strewn across the floor. It’s good he didn’t try to go back to his dorm room- there wouldn’t have been nearly enough space. Once his setup is complete, Toge starts scribbling away at a new equation. He wishes he had some of their books to fall back on, but it turns out he doesn’t need them. He’s been banking all the right information for weeks, just waiting for an opportunity like this one to present itself. 

Once he starts, he can’t stop. Even when his fingers ache, he keeps working, crumbling scrap sheets and tossing them to the side. It’s more work than he anticipated. He knows it will take him more than one sitting to get this finished, but he’s too fixated to stop. He’s still working when the sky turns pinkish with the dawn. He just keeps going. 

“You’re not nearly as good at hiding as you think you are.” 

Toge jumps, muscles groaning from stiffness, but there’s no real need for alarm. It’s only Maki. She stands at the end of the hallway with one hand on her hip and the other balancing a steaming mug of tea. Toge actually salivates. He hopes to god that it’s meant for him. The idea of caffeine right now is so appealing that he stares slack-jawed at the tendrils of steam swirling into the air instead of actually meeting his friend’s eyes. 

She shakes her head as she approaches him, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside him and placing the mug in front of him. “You can stop drooling now,” she teases. “Figured you’d need this. No sleep last night?” 

Toge slumps back against the wall. She’s right. He didn’t sleep last night, but he didn’t think she’d know that. He decides it’s a waste of both of their time for him to come up with a lame excuse, so he confirms her suspicions with a little nod before making a mad grab for the tea. 

“He was propped up against your door when I passed by,” Maki explains. She doesn’t need to say who he is. They both already know.  “Looks like he’d been there a long time.” 

The idea of Yuuta waiting outside his room all night makes Toge cringe. Surely, there are better uses of his time. He can only imagine what it will be like for Miwa to step out of her room and find golden boy Yuuta Okkotsu half-asleep at Toge’s door. That’ll be more than a little confusing for her, and Toge certainly won’t have an explanation to offer. At the very least, since their dorms are so far out of the way, she’ll likely be the only one besides Maki who notices his presence there. 

Still a bit out of it from the lack of sleep, Toge doesn’t even notice Maki rifling through his papers with wide, worried eyes. 

“Toge,” she says breathlessly. “What is all this?” 

Shit. She shouldn’t be looking too closely at any of this, but Toge can already see her searching- trying to find meanings in numbers and figures that she couldn’t possibly understand out of context. Even so, the sheer amount of work he’s collected here is probably making him look crazy. He starts collecting the papers, scooping them all up before she can get a better look at them. Better not to implicate her in this, on the off chance she can glean what the purpose of these calculations are. 

“And don’t say it’s your Morals of Magic homework, okay?” she says, not ready to let him off the hook. “I know better. I’m not as stupid as your new pet.”

She expertly avoids Yuuta’s name once more, which is probably for the best. When first she broached the topic of him- recounting to him that she saw Yuuta arriving at the halloween party that night just as she was headed out and wondered why Toge wasn’t in tow- Toge had actually flinched at the mention of his name. Apparently, the person Maki was looking to meet up with at that party never showed, so she went looking for Toge to see what had happened. She never found him. Between Yuuta’s tower dorm and the forest cottage Gojo tucked into his quarters, she didn’t really stand a chance. 

She hands the last sheet of paper she’d been holding on to back to Toge reluctantly. He can see by the look on her face that he has concerned her, both with the sleeplessness and the sudden overcommitment to this new project. 

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” she says gently. Her eyes are heavy and Toge squirms under their gaze. 

He wants to tell her. Really he does. If she knew how important this was, she’d be up all night working on a solution right next to him. But he gave Yuuta his word that he wouldn’t tell a soul about this. Not keeping that promise now that things have gone sour between them would just be spiteful.

Still, he gets the sense that Maki isn’t just asking him about the meaning behind the calculations. There’s more about this situation that she’d like Toge to tell her, but it’s all so jumbled in Toge’s mind that he’s not even sure where he’d begin. 

He tries buying her off with a nod, and Maki’s lips curl down with disappointment. She reaches out and gives Toge’s shoulder a squeeze. 

“I don’t like you keeping things bottled up all the time,” she says with a sigh. “It’s not healthy.” She pauses, gesturing to the stack of papers Toge is clutching. “And neither is that.” 

She tries to convince Toge to skip their first class and get some sleep, but he disregards it. Things are too sensitive with his academic standing right now for him to have any unexplained absences. She argues that Toge doesn’t look well, making some crack about the dark circles he’s sporting. If that was a reason to get out of class, Yuuta would have a free pass for life. 

He downs his tea and agrees to go down for some breakfast. He’s ravenous, he realizes, after running out on dinner and then staying up all night. It doesn’t stop him from dragging his feet on the way to the dining hall though. 

“You’re going to have to talk to him eventually,” Maki tells him, interpreting his sluggishness. He grumbles a bit in response, dreading the idea of it. “Unless you want me to say something. Believe me, I could terrorize Yuuta Okkotsu so effectively that he’d never say a word you ever again, if that’s what you wanted.” 

Toge shakes his head. That’s not at all what he wants. 

Toge scrapes through the rest of the week without any full blown encounters with Yuuta. 

He winds up being too busy. He spends every waking moment working on calculations, so he can be ready to hand them off to Yuuta and Yuki as soon as he’s finished. They won’t be perfect- still just a first draft- but it’ll be useful to them, Toge is sure. Just the work Toge did unscrambling the digits Gojo left behind will save them an incredible amount of time. 

By now, it seems that Yuuta has given up on talking to Toge. He didn’t charm his door last night before locking himself in to work- opting for privacy instead of workspace- and no one knocked. That being said, Toge was so engrossed that there’s a possibility he might have missed any kind of disturbance. He’s gotten good at shutting the world out over the years. 

On Friday night, when he’s as close to finished as he can be, he wraps up the remainder of his notebook in the scarf Yuuta lent him over the weekend and goes looking for the exact person he’s spent the last week avoiding. Yuuta’s pretty predictable, so Toge finds him on the first try. 

He’s in the same position Toge found him in on Wednesday, sandwiched between Hakari and Kirara in the dining hall. The only difference is instead of an abandoned scrap of bread on his plate, there’s a slab of some sort of gravy-soaked meat sitting untouched in front of him. He stares down at it, frowning. At the very least, he looks a little less exhausted than he did earlier in the week. Maybe he finally crashed for a little while. That, or the lighting in here is just softer. It’s finally late enough in the season that it’s completely dark by dinner, so the room is flooded in candlelight. 

Toge marches in with his head held high. He walks over to the popular kids’ table and sits down right across from Yuuta, settling in as if the spot had always been his to begin with. Three sets of eyes land on him as he starts serving himself, filling a bowl with a hearty, harvest soup and grabbing a spoon. 

“Hey,” Hakari says. It sounds more like a threat than a greeting. Toge ignores him. He’s not who Toge came to see tonight. He does wonder how much Yuuta has told them, though. Clearly, the upperclassman is weary of Toge now. 

“T-Toge?” Yuuta stammers. When Toge looks up, Yuuta is paler than paper. He blinks at Toge as if he can’t believe his eyes. 

Toge takes a tug at his scarf and helps himself to a spoonful of his soup. No point in being shy about hiding the sigils now. Yuuta has already seen it all. In the brief moment that Toge’s tongue is exposed, Yuuta can’t stop his eyes from flickering down for a peek. I promise not to stare or anything, he’d said back at Gojo’s. A lie, then. 

Hakari, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to notice the markings at all. He’s too busy drilling into Toge’s eyes with complete disdain. 

“You have a lot of nerve showing up like this,” he snarls. “Do you have any idea–” 

“Kin,” Kirara purrs. She doesn’t look at Toge at all. Instead, she’s studying Yuuta’s face. Other than a couple of twitches, it hasn’t changed at all since Toge sat down. “Why don’t we give them a minute, yeah?” 

Hakari narrows his eyes at Toge menacingly. Under other circumstances, Toge might feel threatened- Hakari is quite powerful and notoriously quick-tempered, not the type of person to be messed with- but today Toge feels completely secure. Maybe it’s a result of the lack of sleep, but Toge would probably attribute it to a numbness brought on by the other “deaths” he has faced this week. After Yuki Tsukumo and possible expulsion, Hakari doesn’t look as scary to him as he used to. 

Especially not with Kirara softening his rigid shoulders with a reassuring squeeze. He lets out a little huff and follows her out, finally leaving Toge and Yuuta alone. Yuuta still doesn’t move. Toge keeps eating his soup. 

“You’re here,” Yuuta says, still not quite believing it. He checks over his shoulder quickly to make sure Hakari and Kirara are really gone. “I- I’m sorry about them. I didn’t tell them anything I swear, but they… well, we weren’t as discreet as we thought.”

Toge nods. Clearly that was the case, since Maki was able to figure it out too. Toge’s certainly not going to blame Yuuta for having people in his corner. Though, it is slightly concerning to think about what Hakari and Kirara must be imagining about them. 

“Can we… talk?” Yuuta asks, unsure. 

After they’ve both eaten (Toge looks pointedly at Yuuta’s abandoned plate until he gets the idea), Toge leads them out to one of the courtyards. It’s dark, and the air has a thick chill tonight, so it’s unlikely anyone will run into them. They can speak freely here. Yuuta eyes the place nervously, but he doesn’t argue. 

“There was a faculty meeting on Monday,” Yuuta says, jumping right in. Toge knew that, of course. The whole campus did. “We bugged it.” 

Now that is news. As Yuuta elaborates, Toge starts unbuckling the fasteners on his crossbody. 

“Hakari paid Kokichi to use long-range magic for surveillance, and… it’s not good.” Yuuta sighs, breath crystalizing in the air. “They know Gojo is missing. They’re accusing him of terrible things. The high council has been looking for an excuse to unseat him for years, and they think this is their opportunity. They’re moving to label him as a deserter and try him for his- what is that?” 

Toge is holding out the scarf to Yuuta. He blinks at it several times, trying to place it. 

“Oh. You don’t have to return that,” Yuuta tells him, all the vigor he had a moment earlier deflating in an instant. Toge doesn’t waver. He’ll hold it out all night if he has to. 

When Yuuta finally takes it, heavy with disappointment, his wristwatch comes sliding out of place. Toge had remembered to add it last minute. Yuuta catches it before it can fall to the ground, sliding the notebook free as he goes. His eyebrows scrunch as he takes it all in.

“You’ve been in my room,” he realizes. “This watch. It broke a few weeks ago, and I took it off so I could get it fixed later… I’m guessing Rika snatched it?” 

Toge confirms the suspicions with a nod. He tilts his head toward the watch, beseeching Yuuta to look a little closer. It’ll save them both some time if Yuuta can make the connection on his own. 

“Yeah, it’s broken. It stopped working…” Yuuta trails off. He slams his eyes shut when he figures it out, all but groaning about the revelation. “It stopped working about a week after Gojo disappeared.” 

That explains things a bit. It would seem that Gojo had spelled all the clocks to stop working after a certain amount of time. That way, if he’d gotten back safely, he could have removed the spells before anyone could notice them in the first place. If not, the broken clocks would serve as a flare.

Toge swallows, his throat suddenly feeling awful dry. Gojo had wanted them to worry if he wasn’t back in a week. Based on the timeline Yuuta has given, he’s already been missing for more than a month. Is there even any guarantee that a person can survive in another dimension that long? Toge has to assume yes. Even if a person couldn’t, Gojo wasn’t a regular person. He’s the strongest. He has to survive this.  

Yuuta pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it to Toge. Gojo’s timepiece. Yuuta must have swiped it after Toge left. “The residuals are the same.”

Toge closes his eyes and focuses, seeing if he can catch the trail. Yuuta is right. Very faintly, Toge can feel the slightest trace of Gojo’s magic- so muted that you’d only be able to pick up on it if you knew exactly what you were looking for. Annoyingly, Toge admits to himself that Yuuta’s high output of magic probably makes him more sensitive to these things. Another effortless manifestation of his power. 

He shakes his head, mad at himself for not figuring it out. “So it was a clue?” Toge nods, pointing at the notebook. That’ll explain everything. Once Yuuta starts reading that, this interaction will be over. That’s all he’ll need from Toge from here on out. 

Yuuta flips open to the first page- now halfway through the leather bound notebook, as Toge has torn out so many pages. He frowns when he reads Toge’s message. These are new calculations, he’s written at the top. They should be of help to you and Miss Tsukomo. 

Toge can tell by Yuuta’s eye line that he’s skipped over the note completely, plowing straight through to the calculations. He won’t spell it out for Yuuta again. He’ll just have to figure it out on his own. While Yuuta is busy reading, Toge turns to head back in. He’s accomplished what he came here to do. The rest of it is no longer in his hands.

“Wait, where are you going?” Yuuta calls. “Aren’t we going to…”

Toge turns around and gestures to the notebook again firmly. All of the questions that Toge could possibly answer for Yuuta are in that book. There’s no need for him to hang around. Yuuta’s lips part, a look of desolation falling across his face. It makes it difficult for Toge to keep his resolve, but he has to stay strong. It’s better for everyone if the rest of this is done without him. 

He turns around one more time, heading towards the door to the courtyard. 

“Toge, hold on a minute,” Yuuta calls after him. There’s desperation in his voice. “Toge, wait.”

A chill runs down Toge's spine, spreading ice through his extremities in record time. His limbs freeze mid-motion. 

He can’t move.   

“I’m sorry,” Yuuta breathes, releasing the command. Toge creaks his head back just in time to see the telltale markings on his face start to slip away. Watching it fade- so clean, so painless- it feels as if a shard of broken glass is being driven into Toge’s soul. 

He tears his eyes away, shifting to the trees in the distance instead. He refuses to look at Yuuta for even a second when he’s like this. It’s too much. 

“We have to talk about this.” Yuuta’s tone leaves no room for dissent. It’s the closest Yuuta has ever come to raising his voice at Toge. “You must have questions.” 

Really, he doesn’t. Toge is fairly certain he has it all figured out, and Yuuta has made it painfully clear that all of it was meant to be kept a secret. He shakes his head, still not meeting Yuuta’s eyes. Yuuta rasps out a breath, a show of exasperation. 

“I wanted to tell you,” Yuuta tells him. “So many times, I almost told you. My magic… it doesn’t work the way it’s meant to. I don’t have my own attribute,” he explains. “But if someone else uses their magic on me I can replicate it. That first day, when I brought you up to the tower, do you remember that? You used cursed speech to put me to sleep and then…” 

Toge’s heart squeezes. So this development was his fault. If he hadn’t used his magic for a selfish, careless reason, Yuuta wouldn’t be in this position. Toge thought he was being helpful, but as always, cursed speech is just as much of a burden as it’s always been. Now Yuuta is saddled with it too, and Toge is to blame.  

“I was sure you’d figured me out,” Yuuta admits. “I accidentally used it that same night. I told Rika to unlock the door and suddenly it flew.” 

Of course. Toge remembers that now. Yuuta’s back was turned at that exact moment, and he’d kept it turned. Worse- he’d actually gone so far as to cover his mouth. There had been a strange sear to that magic, but Toge was so overwhelmed with the combination of Yuuta and Rika’s presence that he hadn’t been able to pick out his own residual. He’s furious with himself. He should have known. He’d had every clue, and he still hadn’t put it together. He’s supposed to be smarter than that.

“I wanted to tell you,” Yuuta reiterates. “But the council- you don’t understand how dangerous they are.”

Toge almost laughs. Really? Toge of all people doesn’t understand how dangerous the council is? The council has had it out for him- for his whole family- since before Toge was born.

“That’s why I need you, Toge. They’re out for blood,” he explains. “If we don’t get Gojo back before they send him to trial, they’ll exile him. It’s just a matter of weeks, days maybe if they can get the backing, and Gojo will never be allowed back into magical society. Everything that he’s accomplished- all the progress he’s made- it will all be erased.” 

Toge understands all that well. Better than anyone, probably. Toge is part of that progress. He wishes there was an easy way to convey that to Yuuta- to assure Yuuta that he is correct in his urgency to not let that happen under any circumstances, but in the darkness there is no canvas for his words. 

When it becomes clear to Yuuta that Toge has nothing to say, he shakes his head again. Toge feels a pang, knowing he’s disappointed Yuuta somehow, but it’s not enough for him to shift his ground. 

He doesn’t even know why Yuuta is telling him all of this. With Yuki back in the picture- a real adult with honest, substantial power- he’s of no help to Yuuta beyond these calculations. He tries one last time to get Yuuta to read his message with a very pointed nod. This time, Yuuta finally gets the idea. He looks back down and lets out a heavy sigh as he reads. 

“Yuki is gone,” he says plainly. “She’s on another continent by now. Once she caught wind of what we were trying to do, she thought it best to be as far away as possible. That way, if something goes wrong there will be at least one special grade left standing.” He must see Toge flinch at that term- special grade- because he adds, “I wanted to tell you.” 

It takes Toge a moment to process all that. Yuki… left? She knew the stakes, and she didn’t stay to help? 

Admittedly, her strategy here makes sense. Toge knows that she’s prone to tendencies of self-preservation from the rumors he’s heard about her over the years, but in this case her reasoning might actually be logical. Dimensional magic is dangerous. Supremely dangerous. One small mistake could swallow a country in an instant. If things were to truly go awry, they’d need someone as powerful as Yuki to intervene if any civilization hoped to come out of this endeavor alive.

Of course, Toge wouldn’t let that happen. Even if he had to check these calculations a thousand times, he would make sure they were completely sound before enacting them. But when working with something as temperamental as dimensional magic, it never hurts to have a failsafe.

But what was the cost of that security? With her departure, Yuki was leaving all of this in the hands of a teenage boy. Special grade or not, how could she possibly expect Yuuta to deal with this on his own? 

“This is more dangerous than we thought,” Yuuta says sadly. 

Toge nods, agreeing. The idea of Yuki crossing an ocean to avoid the repercussions of possible catastrophe is certainly daunting. It had gotten intangible to Toge, just how dangerous all of this is. It was a concept he’d accepted but hadn’t quite let sink in. But then again, for Toge, living in a world without Gojo is just as dangerous as this rescue mission. 

“If you don’t want to help me anymore…” Yuuta trails off, voice cracking. “That’s okay. That’s okay, but–” 

Before he can finish, the sky opens up. Out of seemingly nowhere, a sheet of freezing rain has started to pour down from overhead. It’s violent and quick, coating the both of them in almost no time at all. Toge’s whole system shocks, unable to respond, but Yuuta doesn’t waste a second. He rushes to Toge, grabbing his wrist and pulling both of them under an awning before they can get soaked to the bone. His instincts are so sharp that he even shields Toge’s calculations under the scarf that was just returned to him. 

This is the exact reason their partnership has always worked so well. On the off-chance that one of them lapses, the other is always there to catch them. Their talents couldn’t be more perfectly aligned. Where one is weak, the other is strong. Two parts of a whole. 

Yuuta has them squished under the small bit of shelter that shades the door back inside. Their shoulders are jammed into the door and their chests are shoved together to prevent rainwater from leaking down on them. They’re pressed so close that Yuuta actually has to look down to meet Toge’s eyes. For a moment, the rain doesn’t even exist- just the two of them with their eyes locked. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to help me anymore,” Yuuta tries again. A cacophonous spatter of raindrops pings off the piece of tin above their heads, forcing him to lean in to be heard. “But I… I really don’t think I can do this alone.”  

Desperation drips from his tone. The wash of his blue eyes has turned worn and distressed. 

It’s a quick adjustment. A minute ago, Toge thought Yuuta had the support of a bonafide special grade on his side. Now, it’s clear that Yuuta has no one. Toge’s choice is clear. There’s no world in which Toge lets Yuuta handle this alone. 

Toge tears the journal free from Yuuta’s shaking hands and twists the message left in it with magic, holding it flat so they both can both witness the declaration. 

We’ll save him, Toge writes. Together. 

The tension in Yuuta’s body releases immediately. He slumps forward toward Toge, their foreheads just an inch from pressing together, and lets out a breath. 

“Thank you,” he breathes. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you.” 

Toge just barely resists the urge to pull away and step back into the rain. What Yuuta is saying simply isn’t true. He deserves much more than Toge. He deserves someone who can wield a sword against dimensional magic unflinchingly. His adulations, while sweet, are completely unfounded. Toge is the person he stumbled upon, not the person he needs. 

“Rika misses you,” Yuuta says simply. Toge can easily interpret that as an invitation. He nods quickly. So his goodbye to Rika was transitory, then. He’ll see her again, maybe more than once. 

Someone clicks the door, and they both duck inside, finally safe from the storm. They walk down the halls in perfect silence, nothing but the slick squeak of rain beneath their shoes to announce their presence. Toge retreats into his head as they go. They’ll need a new plan of attack. How will they manage this without Yuki? Every time Toge thinks this is settled, the pieces shift on him again. The obstacles are beginning to feel endless. 

By the time they’ve scaled Yuuta’s stairs- the labor of the climb still no less than it was the very first time- Toge has figured out exactly what it is they need to do. Rika is uncharacteristically quiet as they arrive, almost as if she was purposefully trying to give them some space. That’s probably for the best. Toge plans to cut to the heart of this quickly. 

With a more specific time frame hanging over their heads, they’ll have to be much more urgent in their pursuit. Toge is quite certain they’ve unearthed all the clues at this point. The information is all there. The rest is up to them. 

In spite of himself, Toge could admit that it was a huge relief to think that Yuki was taking over this situation. The efforts wouldn’t rest solely on their shoulders anymore. That taught Toge something. 

He helps himself to the chair at Yuuta’s desk. Usually, Toge lets Yuuta sit here, but today he needs the workspace for himself. He picks the first notebook he sees and turns to a free page. They’re past magic as a means of communication now. Everything that Toge has to say right now needs to be permanent. Their plans must be solid. He starts to write, knowing well that Yuuta will not like what he has to say. 

We need help. 

Toge doesn’t want to admit it either, but it’s true. They can’t do this on their own any longer. The task is too great and there’s too much at stake to leave things to their own human error. He checks Yuuta’s expression as he reads the note. The frown on his face reveals something that deep down, Toge has known for a long time. 

Yuuta liked that this mission belonged solely to the two of them. Toge knows that, because for the past few weeks, he’s felt exactly the same way. 

There was a certain thrill that came along with being the only person who could help Yuuta. Toge has never felt more important in his life. The fate of the world was resting partially in his hands. But it went beyond that. What he’d liked most of all was that he was doing it with Yuuta- just the two of them, against the world. Having this secret- this quiet, sacred thing that they held gently in their hands for fear it might crumble- has made them closer. 

Toge thought that his great love at this school was his studies. He did nothing but fantasize about free time in the library and steal books to read when he was locked up alone in his room. He had certain practices. Making tea, lighting one of the dark amber candles he learned to make during their rituals classes, keeping one eye on the weather for incoming storms so he could listen to the thunder as he read.

He’d scheme for these perfect, stolen nights. That was all he had to look forward to in this place. He didn’t know who he’d be, without the ability to escape into his books. 

Now, he doesn’t remember the last time he read something that wasn’t at the very least tangential to dimensional magic. He rushes through the ritual of his morning tea. He spends as little time in his dorm room as possible, favoring Yuuta’s at every venture. Even now, he looks outside and hears the rain pattering against the windows. This is the exact sort of weather he would have spent a week wishing for and it means nothing to him. Everything that was once so typical of him now seems completely out of his grasp. 

And he has not missed it. 

Instead, he’s had somewhere to be. A person who needed him. A world that has deemed him useful. Here, with Yuuta, for the first time in his life he has had a true purpose- not just one he invented to quench his own sense of spite. So of course he’d been happy to hold it close to his chest. Telling a single person would have jeopardized this new, completed world he’d stumbled upon.

But it doesn’t make sense. No matter how Toge looks at it- no matter how good it once felt- this is a secret that can no longer be kept. Gojo got himself into this mess because of hubris. It would be just as unnecessarily prideful for Toge and Yuuta to think they can fix it just the two of them. They have to think beyond themselves in this matter. They need to ask for help. 

Toge interprets Yuuta’s silence as resistance, so he starts laying things out. He’s not looking to bring anyone into the fold who could put them at risk. Just smart, powerful people that they trust. He makes Yuuta a list. 

Kinji Hakari and Kirara Hoshi.

Megumi Fushiguro, Yuuji Itadori, and Nobara Kugisaki

And then, after a bit of hesitation, Toge adds the name of the person he’s wanted on their team all along. 

Maki Zen’in. 

He looks up at Yuuta for approval. There’s a pinched look on his face. He doesn’t enjoy the prospect of this, not at all. He doesn’t fight it, though.

“Okay,” he agrees. “You’re right.” Toge adds one last thing to the list. 

Tomorrow. 

Yuuta’s jaw twitches, but he swallows his distaste. “I can get a message out to Hakari and Kirara tonight,” he states, not elaborating on how. “Megumi I should be able to find in the morning. I trust that you can speak with Zen’in?” 

He uses her last name, as if to remind Toge who she really is. Toge nods firmly. This is non-negotiable. She’s useful, and he won’t keep this from her any longer. In a room full of Yuuta’s friends, Toge needs her support. She’s just as exempt from the Zen’in name as Megumi is. 

They continue with their planning. As soon as they can get everyone assembled tomorrow, they will share the great secret of Gojo’s condition. Once everyone is in the know, they’ll tailor an exact plan with everyone’s strengths in mind. In the meantime, Yuuta will read over Toge’s calculations tonight and Toge will take the book on the prison realm back to his dorm to get up to date.

“Toge,” Yuuta sighs once everything is settled. “Thank you.” 

The pencil is still in Toge’s hand, hovering just above the paper. He’s not entirely sure why Yuuta is thanking him. For making an actionable plan? For not abandoning him when given the opportunity? For not asking any more questions than he needs to? Perhaps all three. Toge finally works up the courage to write something else down, something that has nothing to do with their plans.

Once this is over, our lives can go back to normal.

It’s important Toge establishes that. He’s not expecting anything from Yuuta, not anymore. Once they free Gojo, there will be no reason for their continued involvement. Yuuta will go back to his prescribed social calendar- Hakari’s parties and village outings- and Toge will go back to striving for academic perfection. Apart from this brief interlude, that’s what their lives were always meant to look like.

Toge will find his own joys again, the same way he did before. It will take time, but eventually he’ll forget what it felt like to have a person to be with instead of a book to escape in. He’ll reclaim his independence, and he won’t give it up so easily again now that he understands the risk associated. He’ll be alone again, like he was always meant to be. 

Yuuta surprises Toge by snatching the stick of graphite right out of his hand and sliding the notepad towards himself.

Toge, he writes. You are my normal now.

Within just a moment of staring at that statement, Toge already knows that it isn’t true. Yuuta doesn’t mean that. How could he? Up until a few days ago, Yuuta didn’t even know the first thing about Toge. Toge had been a friend of convenience for Yuuta, nothing more. Maybe he doesn’t see that yet, but he will. When all this is over there will be nothing left for them to talk about. 

Toge yanks the pencil back and flips over the page, unable to stand looking at it for even a second longer. Toge has one more important order of business to take care of before he leaves here tonight, and it’s something he doesn’t want disappearing after it’s put out into the world. He writes quickly, careful to keep his instructions concise.

I don’t want you using my magic ever again. It’s too dangerous. If the council sees you with the sigils, they’ll come after you. 

Yuuta leans closer over his shoulder to get a better look at what’s been written, his chest just an inch away from Toge’s body. It's enough to make Toge pull away altogether. He’s already said his piece. All that’s left to do is collect his things and head back down the spiral stairs.

“You don’t mean that,” Yuuta counters, finally catching up.  “The council isn’t out to get you, Toge. Things are diff-“

Toge holds up a hand, desperate to stop him. He doesn’t want to hear that things are different. Not when he knows for a fact that they aren’t. If things were as different as people kept claiming they were, Naoya would have a permanent mark on his record for nearly killing Toge when he was a first year. Toge would be able to go on trips to the village without a single care. It wouldn’t have taken nearly as much effort for him to get into this school as it did and he wouldn’t have nearly been kicked out over one lousy test grade. 

Things aren’t different, and the truth is exactly how Toge stated it. Anyone who bore the sigils, who could use the cursed Inumaki magic, would be deemed as a threat and treated as such. 

“Is that why you won’t look at me?”

Toge flinches. Even now that they were speaking with each other again, Toge still can’t bring himself to look Yuuta in the eye. There have been flickers maybe, but Toge has only been skirting the edges of his face. 

Yuuta is right. Toge can’t look at him. It brings too many unpleasant feelings to the surface when he’s face to face with his own curse. It’s even worse now, knowing that he’s the one who brought it upon Yuuta. Doesn’t Yuuta understand what he’s just been damned to? 

The magic that runs through Toge’s family tree is unlike the techniques that descend from major clans or sprout fresh with the birth of new magicians- theirs is a magic that is intertwined with a curse, tainted by years of unkempt growth. It is impossible to distinguish the weeds from the branches, the poisonous flowers from the spring daisies. Toge understands the duality of that, but does Yuuta? Yuuta’s own magic is a beacon of light- pure and untouched. Does he have any idea what it means, to use tainted magic? 

The only real way to make him understand is to show him.

Toge yanks off his scarf, balling it under his fist as he walks straight up to the door- the same one that has tried, and succeeded, to deny Toge passage so many times. Perhaps Yuuta will think more carefully, if he knows just how capable Toge has always been of breaking through to the other side.

“Open.”

He doesn’t even have to raise his voice above a whisper. Despite being two full feet away from the object he’s just cursed, it flies off the hinges in a violent manner, blowing clear across the hall and beginning to clatter down the stairs. It hits the stones with such force that it breaks into pieces, the wood splitting in every direction as it tumbles.

There. Let Yuuta see what he really is. What gift Toge has inadvertently passed on to him. Just one little word was all it took for a complete decimation. Toge didn’t even put any power behind it. 

“I’m not scared of you,” Yuuta says plainly. He hasn’t even flinched. “Is that what you wanted? For me to think you’re some kind of monster, just because of the things you can do? Well, I don’t think that.”

Frozen, Toge stares down the flight of stairs, tracing the lines of the splinters he’s just created. 

“My magic is darker than night,” Yuuta continues. “If anything, I’m the one you should be afraid of.” Even from across the room, Toge can hear his steadiness. His voice is firmer than Toge has ever heard it. “But you aren’t. By some grace of god you’re not absolutely terrified of what I’ve shown you I can do. So why can’t you believe that I feel the same way about you?”  

Toge shakes his head. 

Because it’s not the same. Yuuta was born with a gift, and Toge was born with a curse. With just a few years of magic under his belt, Yuuta has received accolades that normal magicians can only dream of. He has already soared to heights that Toge’s fingers couldn’t graze even if he spent a lifetime climbing. If Yuuta can’t understand that, there’s no sense in Toge even trying to explain it. 

Instead, he forces the muscles in his neck to turn to Yuuta. He looks him dead in the eye, caught in their piercing navy hue, and musters every bit of magic he has in him. 

There’s a technique he’s been practicing. It takes all Toge’s focus, but it’s divine when executed correctly. Right now, Toge doesn’t care one bit about burning through the extra magic. He lets the letters glide onto the air, written with no canvas beneath them. His message is simple. 

We’re not the same. 

He manages to hold eye-contact till the words disintegrate, drifting back off into nothingness. He will not accept Yuuta’s romanticization of their flaws. They’re not here to bond over their respective darkness, they’re here to save Gojo. Nothing more. 

“Of course not,” Yuuta breathes. “I could never be half as good as you.” 

Toge stumbles backwards, as if he’d been slapped. 

Good. he doesn’t have the slightest clue what that means. 

Suddenly, a gust of wind thrashes angrily against Yuuta’s windows. Rain pelts the glass, pounding and promising an ugly, muddy morning when they wake tomorrow. A storm like this will be powerful enough to rip the last of the vibrant, autumn leaves off their branches and drive them into the earth. Tomorrow, they will be soggy under Toge’s feet, and the murky, freezing part of fall that makes everyone wish for winter will begin in earnest. 

Toge doesn’t stick around to find out Yuuta’s meaning. He takes one last look at the fogging window, the same one he’s left so many messages on in the past few weeks, and makes the conscious decision to leave it untouched before turning away.  He starts down the stairs, careful to avoid each section of wood as he steps quickly. It hurts him to look at the carnage that he created, but perhaps that’s a punishment that he deserves. 

He realizes, dimly, that he’ll have to come up with some way to apologize to Rika. She loved messing with that door. Though, Toge somehow doubts that he’ll ever be invited back after that display.  

Good. It’ll be better that way, for all of them. Less confusing. 

He means to go straight back to his dorm, but Toge takes a quick stop at the library first. While he’s there, he goes looking for information about the one facet of cursed speech he never thought he’d have a use for. How to protect yourself from it. 

It’s gotten so cold that the rain has started to shift into a terrible blur of ice and snow. There’s a metaphor in that, probably. Things have gotten so dire that even the earth has started to feel the toll of it. 

“You look like shit.” 

Yuuta sighs. It’s as nice of a greeting as anyone gets from Hakari, and still probably more than Yuuta deserves right now. Lately he’s been distant, avoidant, aloof. He’s been trying so hard to keep them safe from this whole mess he’s created. Honestly, he’s still not sure how he’ll break this news. 

Kirara offers him an easy smile, clearly ignorant of the bomb Yuuta is about drop on both of them. 

“Hi Yuuta.” She elongates his name, a mannerism of hers that Yuuta has grown fond of over the years. She tweaks Hakari’s cheek. “I told you he’d come to us when he was ready.”

Hakari lets out a dismissive huff, but makes no effort to remove her hand from his face. “I never said he wouldn’t,” he grumbles.  

Yuuta wanders deeper into the upperclassmens' lair, bowing his head to them ever so slightly as he perches himself on the edge of one of their loveseats. Despite the fact that there’s no shortage of open seats, Hakari and Kirara are occupying one single armchair together, one on top of the other. It’s nothing Yuuta hasn’t seen before. 

“Sorry I’ve been so busy lately,” he tells them. “And I’m even more sorry to tell you that I’m only coming here because I need something.” 

Hakari nods knowingly. So it had been obvious, then. Yuuta wasn’t just stopping in to say hi, he was crawling back. 

“You know we don’t care about any of that,” Kirara says casually. She makes the assurance sound automatic and offhanded, when in reality it is far more generous than Yuuta deserves. “Do you want anything first? To take the edge off?”

She gives Hakari an expectant little kick. “I can scrounge up some full moon moonshine if you’d like,” he teases, perking right up. 

Yuuta gags. That was Hakari’s drink of choice the first time Yuuta had ever come to one of his parties, and he shoved brimming cups of it into Yuuta’s unwitting hand all night. It tasted even more rancid on the way out than it did on the way in. Yuuta only drinks from cups that come from Kirara’s hands now, though he suspects the drinks she makes are just as lethal as Hakari’s underneath their sweet, fruitier tastes. 

“Lighten up,” Hakari instructs, sounding impatient. “I know you didn’t come here to get drunk.” 

As tempting as it would be to make the world around him fuzzy and soundless, Hakari is right. Getting drunk wouldn’t fix anything.

Everything is so fucked up right now. Gojo, Yuki, Toge. Yuuta doesn’t even know where to start. 

“Tonight didn’t go well?” Kirara prods gently. “I know you’ve been waiting to talk to that boy.”

“Seen him disappearing down your hallway enough times to know something’s up,” Hakari adds. His tone is sharp, as if he already knew that Yuuta was going to try to wriggle his way out of this conversation. 

“It’s not like that,” he insists. Yuuta’s not really sure what else he can say. What is it like? The lines have gotten blurry. Toge is his friend. Toge is only spending time with Yuuta to save Gojo. Toge comes up to his room every night. Toge thinks Yuuta is an idiot, probably. Toge knows all his secrets. All his secrets. Yuuta has no idea what he’ll do with them. Yuuta is convinced Toge would take them to the grave, even without being asked. It’s all too confusing.

“Toge Inumaki,” Kirara lilts. Hearing his name get the full treatment makes Yuuta’s heart squeeze in his chest. “That’s him right? I know all about him,” she announces. “The Inumaki Curse.” 

“You’ve heard about that that?” Yuuta asks. 

Her head lolls to one side. “It’s pretty common knowledge.” She frowns. “I guess you two wouldn’t know much about it.” 

“What’s to know?” Hakari prods. “He’s cursed. What else is there?”

Kirara shifts in her seat and Yuuta feels his stomach start to churn with unease. She knows something they don’t. It’s not exactly surprising. Yuuta and Hakari were both raised in the mortal world before attending this school, but Kirara had ties to magic beyond power since birth. She was often aware of certain customs that he and Hakari weren’t, whether she chose to submit to them or not.

She’s never been shy about sharing information before. In fact, she revels in it. She’ll get this coy look on her face, excited to know something that they don’t. She tells them little morsels like she’s letting them in on a big secret, dragging it out for effect until she just can’t take it anymore and it all comes tumbling out of her mouth. Today though, her face is sad. Whatever she’s referring to can’t be anything good.

“It’s dark,” she admits. “Not something for magical society to be particularly proud of.” 

“Tell me,” Yuuta urges, sitting straight up in his seat. Even Hakari has fallen silent, regarding her with interest. 

“The story of the Inumaki clan,” she begins. “It’s a fable for magical children, passed down over generations. They make it out to sound like a fairytale… but it’s quite real.”

She looks up at the ceiling, tracing the edges of the room as she looks for the words. Yuuta leans in, desperate to hear what she’ll say. 

“It’s common now for new magical attributes to manifest, but that wasn’t always the case. Speech-based magic was entirely unheard of when it first emerged. Magical society wasn’t exactly welcoming, so the Inumakis were treated as outcasts until eventually… it became undeniable. The Inumaki were powerful. Their magic was useful. There was no reason not to bring them into the fold.” 

She pauses, sighing.

“That was always the part of the story I liked. It seemed like such a happy ending. But of course it wasn’t that simple, or why else would they tell the story? 

“The Inumakis were thrilled to be acknowledged. They became close with the major clans, the upper-echelons of high magic. It seemed like all was forgiven. But to one member of the Inumaki clan, acceptance wasn’t enough. After years of living in the shadows, he wanted revenge. He spent years befriending and gaining the trust of influential members of each clan. All that time, they thought he was speaking to them, but in reality, he’d been commanding them.” 

“I don’t get it,” Yuuta interjects. “How is that possible that they didn’t know? Toge can’t say anything at all without magic coming forward.”  

Even if Toge just whispers his name, Yuuta can feel the brush of Toge’s magic ripple against his skin. The slightest noise, even just a cough or a gasp, is enough to cause a disturbance in the air. Even to someone less sensitive than Yuuta, it would be unmistakable. 

“I know, Yuuta.” Her voice is sorrowful. “But this was before the curse.” 

Yuuta’s stomach drops. He’d only learned of the curse recently. He had no right to feel so completely indignant about it, but he can’t help himself. He wants to tear Toge away from the grips of this curse and run with him in the other direction. Toge is the best person Yuuta knows. He shouldn’t have to deal with this, especially not over something that happened centuries ago. 

“His plan was to overthrow the keepers of society,” Kirara continues. “But he was discovered just before he could bring the plot to fruition. The larger clans were humiliated. They’d almost been taken down at the hands of one single challenger. They had to make sure it never happened again. They had to make sure no one would ever even attempt it.” 

“So they placed a curse to scare everyone off,” Hakari deduces. “Assholes.” 

“Yeah,” she agrees. “A series of spells were woven together, taking root at the base of the Inumaki family tree. Not just for the man who tried to overthrow them, but for everyone born with Inumaki blood. The very makings of a curse.”

She goes on to explain all the lurid details. How they tied the Inumaki’s magic to their curse. How they made it impossible for them to speak without using their magic. How they added a backlash for overexertion to discourage frequent use. It went on and on. Every family that felt wronged by the Inumaki clan had a hand in it, helping twist the curse together by lending their magic. Yuuta feels his blood boil as Kirara explains that a curse like that only strengthens over time, tightening like a knot. Toge probably feels the effects of it more harshly than anyone who came before him. 

There’s finally a target for his rage when she starts naming the offending clans. The Zen’in and the Kamo wanted to leave their own, certain mark on the curse. Shocking silver hair from the Kamo clan meant the Inumaki would stand out in a crowd, allowing the archers in the Kamo clan to spot them with ease. An unnatural purple hue to their eyes from the Zen’in, a bold and impossible to cover feature, acted as a sly affront to their rival clan’s signature glowing irises. 

It was meant to be a show of strength. If people could look at an Inumaki and see their influence, people would be less likely to come after them. They’d done it for status.  

“No surprise there,” Hakari chimes in. “I knew this sounded like some conservative bullshit. But hey- just because this Inumaki kid is cursed doesn’t mean he has the right to make you feel like shit or anything. That has nothing to do with you. Besides, why hasn’t Gojo done something about all this crap yet anyway?” 

Kirara purses her lips. “There’s more.” 

“The sigils,” Yuuta prompts. “Aren’t those part of the curse as well?” 

“The snake and fangs,” Hakari recalls. Kirara nods her head sadly. 

“To commemorate their sinuous and deceitful ways,” she explains. “The last clan wanted every user of speech-based magic to be undeniably distinct. That way, you’d know of their treachery before they could open their mouth to say a single word. It wasn’t enough to ravage their magic. It wasn’t enough to deny them of their ability to communicate with the world. The last clan wanted their wickedness to be immortalized with a seal. They wanted the Inumaki clan marked.” 

Yuuta’s whole world lurches into stillness as he waits for her to continue. Already, he knows exactly what she’s doing to say. It’s the worst possible truth. 

“The last gift,” Kirara starts, lowering her eyes. “It came from the Gojo Clan.” 

Chapter Text

“How much of a tongue can I bite until we notice blood?

Spit to the left, carry on, just smile and say you’re good”

“Cool Girl,” by dodie

It’s already late afternoon by the time they get everyone rounded up. 

Toge would have liked to start earlier, but it isn’t as if they can explain the urgency of their situation out in the open. Maki informs Toge that she’ll be keeping the sparring session she has on the books with Panda, since it’s a requirement of their weaponry course to practice with another student outside of class at least once a week. Wrangling Megumi and his friends takes Yuuta longer than anticipated, and Hakari and Kirara aren’t known to do anything on anybody’s schedule except their own. That being said, Toge can’t really blame anyone else for taking their sweet time when he’s dragging feet himself. 

He really doesn’t want to go through Megumi’s tunnel. The only reason he got through it the first time was by promising himself he’d never do it ever again. 

“It’s better if you talk to someone,” Megumi instructs, seeming to sense Toge’s hesitancy. He’s been elected to stand guard so he can explain the process to everyone coming through. Nobara and Yuuji hopped in with no problems at all and are probably already waiting inside the house. “Just keep the conversation going, and–” 

“Megumi,” Yuuta reminds gently. The underclassman blinks at him. 

“Oh,” he breathes, expression tightening. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just keep Yuuta talking while you’re passing through.” 

“Good!” Maki says, kicking open the door unceremoniously. “Yuuta and I have a lot to talk about.” 

She must have been listening from the hall. She has remarkably good ears. It is a good reminder though, for all of them to keep their voices down. The last thing they need is for someone to hear what they’re up to. 

Maki crosses to them, running her fingers over a row of uniform skirts as she goes. Yuuta eyes her nervously, but Maki’s eyes are fixed on someone else. 

“I’m Maki,” she introduces, holding a hand out to Megumi. 

“Uh,” Megumi sputters with a baffled expression. “Yeah. I know.”  

It’s not till this exact moment that Toge’s brain makes the connection. He knew that they were both Zen’ins of course- at least by blood- but he’d never quite made the leap to realize that the two of them are actually related. Cousins, probably. It’s obvious information, but Toge has been too concerned with other things. Have the two of them really never met before? 

When it becomes clear that Maki’s not gonna lower her hand, Megumi awkwardly takes it and she gives him a firm shake. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” he tells her stiffly, leaning into the formality of it. Maki grins wildly, and Toge can tell that she’s already mentally taken the kid under her wing. “You three should go. I’ll wait for Hakari.” 

Toge gulps for air, but Maki gives him a little nudge and the three pile inside. The path is only wide enough for one person at a time, so they walk in a row- Yuuta at the front, Maki at the rear, and Toge tucked neatly between them. It should make him feel safe, but instead, it makes him completely claustrophobic. 

“So Yuuta,” Maki starts, her tone dangerously playful. Toge is thankful that in the darkness, no one can see him shudder. “You’re hanging out with Toge now. How did that happen?”  

“Oh! Uh… It’s really easier if we just wait and explain it later? When everyone else is around?” Yuuta sounds nervous. In any other scenario, Toge might be able to help Yuuta cover for them, but right now he’s limited to perfect silence. Yuuta is completely on his own. 

“Convenient,” Maki says, though Toge can tell by her tone that she doesn’t believe it’s convenient at all. “You know,” she tells him, voice thick with warning. “I’m quite protective of Toge.”   

“You’re a good friend,” Yuuta says evenly. “Though, I don’t think Toge is in any great need of protection.” 

Toge’s heart swells without permission. That was a nice thing for Yuuta to say, especially when he’s seen Toge at some of his weaker moments. Maki clucks her tongue, a begrudging show of approval.

“You’re so right,” Maki says, her voice containing a certain trace of glee that Toge can’t quite place. “Toge’s pretty feisty. Though, I’m sure you know all about that, right Yuuta?” 

Yuuta lets out a choking noise and stops so quickly that Toge walks right into him. He finds himself clutching the knit of Yuuta’s sweater, keeping the close proximity as panic floods his system. Why is Yuuta stopping? Has something happened up ahead? He braces himself for Maki to come barreling into him, she never does. She stopped in time. Toge realizes, with embarrassment, that this was all by design. She’d intended to throw Yuuta off.

“Yeah?” she says, loudly tapping a foot as she waits for him to continue down the path. How she has any awareness for them in this absolute void, Toge can’t comprehend. If he wasn’t touching Yuuta’s sweater still, he wouldn’t even be able to believe that Yuuta was standing directly in front of him. 

“Sorry!” Yuuta yelps, picking up his pace again. “Let’s just keep walking, yeah?” 

“After you,” Maki snarks, reminding him who it was they were waiting on. “We’re meant to keep talking, right?” 

“Right,” Yuuta confirms. 

“So why don’t you tell me why Toge has been so miserable this week?” 

Toge whips around and points a hiss in her direction. She ignores it. 

“My fault,” Yuuta says quickly, leaving almost no air after her question. “You’re right to ask, that was absolutely my fault. I’m hoping I can make up for it.” 

Maki makes a humming noise, as if she’s not entirely convinced. That’s probably as much as Yuuta could have hoped for from her- if she’d sensed any insincerity or callousness, she’d have knocked him down a peg without hesitation. Toge is sure that the remark was already primed on her tongue.

“We should be getting close now,” Yuuta announces, unbothered by Maki’s probing. That makes one of them- Toge is going to tear her a new one for this the second they’re alone next. They walk the last bit in silence, which makes Toge realize just how keen Megumi’s advice had been. It’s much easier when people are around. In the last stretch of darkness, Toge realizes that he never removed his hand from Yuuta. His fingers are still pinching the stitches of his sweater. He remembers to remove them just before they emerge.

As they enter Gojo’s cottage, Toge is caught off guard all over again. The enchanted sense of familiarity invades his senses, washing over him like a warm embrace. It’s just as comforting as it was the first time, just slightly less overwhelming now that his body knows what to expect. He can actually continue to think and move this time around. He doesn’t even cry.

Maki isn’t so lucky.

“Wh- what,” she stammers, eyes welling with tears as the rest of her face twists with disgust. “What the hell did Gojo do? Spell this place to make you sappy?”

Before anyone can answer her, a red-headed upperclassman has jumped out of her seat at the sight of her. 

“Maki!” Nobara calls, face lighting up. “I didn’t know you’d be here!” 

She drags Maki away, pulling her into the living room to introduce her to Yuuji, who offers a little wave in Yuuta and Toge’s direction before getting sucked into their conversation. 

“How are you?” Yuuta asks quietly, now that it’s just the two of them. “Last night was… intense.” 

Toge nods in agreement, not quite meeting his eyes. Now doesn’t really seem like the right time to discuss it. Actually, Toge is fairly certain there will never be a right time to discuss last night. They both said what they needed to, and neither of their stances were going to change their minds.

“Are we okay?” Yuuta wonders. Toge nods his head steadily. Of course they’re okay. If they stand a chance at saving Gojo, they have to be. Yuuta rolls his shoulders back, finally peeling his eyes off Toge. “I think… I think you’re lying again.” 

He certainly doesn’t mean to be. He looks over to gauge the seriousness of Yuuta’s expression, but when he catches the wobbling bottom lip, he tears himself away before Yuuta can say anything else. 

“There’s actually something I wanted—” 

“Toge!” Nobara calls from across the room, jumping in for the rescue not a moment too soon. “How do you know Maki?” she asks, waving him over. He’s never been more grateful for a distraction in his life. 

Kirara and Hakari saunter in a few minutes later with a very pale looking Megumi in tow. Clearly, they’ve been here before since their eyes stay dry. It seems that this whole crowd besides Toge and Maki are regulars here. Megumi tells everyone to hurry up and sit down, seeming a little tense. Toge has to wonder if he has some idea of what’s coming. If anyone would have figured it out in advance, it’s Megumi. 

Toge still can’t believe that they’re really about to unload all of this on their friends. He assumes they’ll react like Toge and Yuuta did- pushing aside their feelings on the matter in order to focus on the task at hand- but there’s a real possibility that they’ll be distraught when they hear this news considering how close they are. Toge wishes he could let them live in ignorance for a while longer, but it’s simply not realistic. 

“Yuuta,” Megumi interjects, looking at Toge as well when he speaks, “Why don’t you get started.” 

“Right,” Yuuta confirms, shifting uncomfortably. If Toge had to guess, Yuuta is only just now realizing that he’ll be the one responsible for explaining all of this. That’s always been the terms of their arrangement, though: Toge plans, Yuuta enacts. That’s how it’ll be when they eventually open the portal- they’ll be leaning on his magic. 

He crosses to the middle of the room, squaring the backs of his shoulders with the mantle of the fireplace as he turns to face everyone. Toge hangs back, hovering just behind one of the couches that the rest have piled on to. 

“Um,” Yuuta starts. “There’s no easy way to say this…” 

He trails off, his eyes flickering to Toge. Toge offers a quick nod, hoping to bolster him. Luckily, no one turns around in their seat to see what Yuuta is looking at. 

“Get on with it Okkotsu,” Hakari groans. “This is valuable weekend time you’re cutting into.” 

“In the middle of September, Gojo came to me for help opening a portal to another dimension,” Yuuta says carefully, ignoring Hakari’s ribbing. “And he’s been trapped in the prison realm ever since.”

Nobara gasps, but the rest of them are dead silent. Toge watches Maki’s spine straighten, already sizing up the risks. Hakari and the others don’t move. Megumi stares at the floor. 

“Toge and I have been doing our best to find a way to get him back, and we’ve asked you all here to help us.”

The quiet doesn’t last. Questions fly, one over the other. Yuuta stands at the eye of a storm. Maki looks back at Toge with alarm, silently asking if all this is true. She, like Toge, has trouble believing that someone as mighty as Gojo has made such a folly. He nods. Her lips part, but no sound comes from them. Finally, she knows what Toge has been hiding from her all this time, and- more importantly- why he had to keep it from her. 

“Wait, this is what you guys have been up to all this time?” Hakari asks, cutting through the noise with such authority that everyone has to stop and listen to him. He’s eying Yuuta with a baffled expression. “I just thought that you and Inumaki were-” 

“Anyway,” Kirara interrupts pointedly. She shoots Hakari a look that Toge has no choice but to disregard, not quite understanding its meaning. “Now that we’re all in the know, it doesn’t really matter, does it?” 

There’s a moment of awkward silence before Maki makes a show of looking over to Hakari and addressing him directly. “Yeah,” she tells him. “I’m not gonna lie, that's definitely what I thought too.” 

“Right?” 

Before Toge can figure out what they’re referring to, Megumi stands up and throws his hands into the air. “Can we get to work please?” 

The air shifts. Toge is quite certain that up until this moment, no one has really processed the repercussions of this news. But seeing Megumi- a member of Gojo’s family- react makes it all too real. The nervous shock and disbelief has finally settled, and the reality starts to sink in.

“What do you need us to do?” Maki asks, bringing the meeting back to order in a second. 

After that, the questions really start to spill in, the main one being: what even is the prison realm. Not everyone knows. Yuuji Itadori has clearly never even heard the term dimensional magic before today. Yuuta has his hands full with all the explanations. It’ll be a while before they get any actual work done. 

Toge slips away, suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed. He takes shelter in the kitchen, gripping the countertop and running a hand through his hair.

In the other room sits some of the most powerful sorcerers, not just in the school, but probably beyond it. It feels a little strange for Toge to be in their company. It’s not that he doubts himself, but he’s simply never been able to imagine a situation where he was working alongside them before. It takes a moment for him to understand what he’s feeling as he stands there listening to voices waft in from the other room. It’s relief. Reinforcements have finally arrived. 

Megumi wanders in a couple minutes later. Like Toge, he needed to get away. He leans back against the opposite counter, eyes hanging at the doorway as he watches the group from a distance. A curious look falls on Toge’s face, wondering what Megumi was doing in here when there was so much important information to be established. 

“Yuuta filled me in this morning,” Megumi explains. “He thought it was better if I knew first.” 

Toge nods. That makes sense. Toge had actually wondered if there was a way to get Megumi alone so they could warn him in advance, but Toge doesn’t have access in the same way Yuuta does. Toge doesn’t even know where any of the underclassmen live, much less where they hang out on the weekend. 

It was good of Yuuta to take the initiative and go find him this morning first. Megumi deserved to know about all of this, probably more than Toge ever did. It was clear to Toge, from the way Megumi spoke of Gojo last weekend in the nursery, that the two of them were close. His voice was so strained when he asked Yuuta about him.

“I figured something was up, but…” 

He shakes his head, not finishing the thought. Toge isn’t sure if he should apologize for keeping the secret from him, or for not being able to figure it out on his own so Megumi never would’ve had to know in the first place. Both, probably.

“Thank you, Toge,” Megumi says suddenly. He looks right up at Toge, brilliant green eyes unclouded. 

Toge blinks at him, slightly shocked. He really shouldn’t be thanking Toge, at least not yet. Gojo is still a long way from being rescued. Everything Toge has contributed so far is still completely theoretical. 

“I know Yuuta didn’t do all this on his own,” Megumi continues, gesturing towards the strategy session happening in the living room. “I really appreciate your help.” 

He’s only known Megumi a week, but Toge has already noticed a certain candor in the way he speaks. He always says exactly what he means, even if it comes across harsh or rude. This isn’t either. He’s completely earnest. Megumi- the holder of the most prized magical attribute in the entire Zen’in clan- is standing in front of him and offering genuine thanks. 

It takes Toge a minute to process that fully. He’s technically being acknowledged by one of the major clans right now, even if Megumi is so far removed.

He spent so many lonely days as a child trapped in his clan’s estate, leafing through the few books that the council hadn’t seized or censored and wishing desperately for an escape. Not a moment of that went by without the acute awareness that his peril had come at the hands of the three major clans. Toge had cursed them. Had memorized the names so he could spit them out at the sky whenever the thunder was loud enough that no one could hear him screaming.

Back then, Toge didn’t even think he’d get to attend this school. Now, he’s here befriending the progeny of the very people who had forsaken him. Not only that, but they actually respect each other. None of them are at all what Toge thought they’d be. In fact, they’re just like Toge- completely separate from the characters that participated in the play Toge has read a thousand times over his life. They’re as blameless in Toge’s family's curse as Toge is. 

He’d been so angry as a child. He couldn’t imagine a world where he felt anything but furious about his situation all the time. Right now, it’s like he can’t even reach that emotion. It feels so separate from him- like it had never belonged to him at all. He’s not sure what to do with that information. 

At the very least, Toge can take solace in the fact that Noritoshi Kamo, the next head of the Kamo clan, is such a perpetual stick in the mud. Otherwise, Toge would be forced to collect all the heirs of the trinity. 

“I’m grateful that the two of you have been working so tirelessly on this,” Megumi continues. “Especially considering how much there is at stake for both of you.” 

Before Toge can ask him what he means by that, Hakari swings in through the kitchen door and locks eyes with Toge. 

“Hey,” he greets. Apparently all of his earlier grievances with Toge have expired, since there’s no vitriol to his tone this time around. “Yuuta says you’ve got calculations I can start looking at?” 

Toge nods eagerly, looking around for where he left his bag. He’s been desperate to get his work in front of anyone’s eyes but Yuuta’s. 

“You know about dimensional magic?” Megumi asks, sounding doubtful. 

“Is it illegal?” Hakari asks. 

“Hugely,” Megumi replies. 

“Then I know about it,” he says gruffly. Then, after a beat, “Nah, really I’m just good with numbers. Let’s see ‘em kid.” 

It’s well after nightfall by the time any of them even think about leaving the cottage. Gojo’s pantry is ransacked, even if his kitchen is empty- Hakari has set up shop in the breakfast nook with Toge’s calculations and is telling anyone who comes near him to piss off. Other than that, he’s been completely quiet. Toge has never seen Hakari quiet before. He can only hope it’s a good kind of quiet. 

The rest of them start on a game plan. They’ve decided to give themselves a week. Next Sunday, November 15th, a portal will be opened to the Prison Realm, and either Satoru Gojo will return through it or not. Toge tried to argue for a bit more time, an extra week maybe to be certain of everything, but, as Megumi reminded everyone, the sooner the better. Things with the council are volatile right now, and an extra week might make it even worse. There’s no telling when they’ll turn on Gojo, but Toge bets it’ll be the first opportunity they can get. 

There’s one more part of their plan so far, and it’s one that none of them like. Over the next week, none of them can let on that anything is amiss. They must continue attending classes and doing as much schoolwork as they can manage. Otherwise, they risk garnering too much suspicion. Yuuta has already raised a few flags with this shoddy attendance as of late. If any of his friends were to follow suit, it could be bad. They have to keep pretending that everything is perfectly normal. 

Eventually, Maki asks to head out so she can go track down a book in the library. Toge’s getting ready to follow her, but when Yuuta catches wind that he’s leaving he drops what he’s doing. The way he pulls Toge aside to talk isn’t exactly subtle. The first years watch it happen and avert their eyes uncomfortably. 

“You don’t like going through the passageway, right?” he asks eagerly. “I can go with you if you want, or if you wanted to wait I could just–” 

Toge raises a hand to cut him off, shaking his head. He’ll be fine. Maki’s not going to let him get swallowed whole or anything. Yuuta’s face falls, realizing he’s being turned down. Toge’s gut curls with guilt, knowing that if Yuuta is asking, there’s a chance he has something important to tell him. For a second, Toge considers staying to hear it, but then Maki appears at his side. 

“C’mon,” she says. “If we hurry, we can catch the dining hall before it completely shuts down for the night.” 

Toge tries to buy Yuuta off with a tight-lipped smile, but of course he can’t see it underneath the scarf. Before Toge can try anything else, Maki grabs his hand and starts pulling him along. The dining hall leaves dry goods out at certain off-hours, and the canned fruits and vegetables in Gojo’s pantry clearly hadn’t been to Maki’s liking. She wants to steal some sugared cereal before bed, and nothing is going to get in her way. 

“Okay,” Yuuta says in a tone that’s anything but. “If you’re sure.” He looks to Maki, who is quickly losing patience. “Thank you for coming.” 

“We’re going to get Gojo back for sure,” Maki tells him, completely confident. It’s a little rattling to hear her talk that way, since Yuuta and Toge have never been so assured. Toge can see that Yuuta is a bit shaken by it too, but not in an unpleasant way. It’s nice to hear someone believe it’ll all work out- especially someone like Maki, who would never waste her time with a lie. 

Maki doesn’t let go of Toge’s hand as they enter the tunnel again, which Toge is quietly grateful for. He still doesn’t like being alone down there, and Maki, for once, seems a little lost for words. She leads the way, speaking just once in the darkness. 

“Toge,” she breathes. “What on earth have you gotten yourself into?” 

All Toge can do is squeeze her hand. 

Kinji Hakari is Toge’s new favorite person. 

There has never been a single moment, at least not one that Toge is aware of, that Hakari hasn’t been facing some sort of disciplinary action at this school. He’s a known troublemaker, scorned by teachers and administrators alike. But Toge could not have been more wrong in thinking that that translated to him being a bad student. 

Alarmingly, Hakari might actually be kind of brilliant. Toge actually finds himself feeling glad that they aren’t in the same grade- if that were the case, it would be much harder for Toge to maintain his spot at the top of the class. 

The two of them spend every moment they’re not in classes in front of a white board they dragged into Hakari and Kirara’s common room. It’s technically supposed to be everyone’s common room, but Hakari and Kirara have had it claimed as their own for as long as Toge can remember. The locks are spelled not to let anyone else in, and no one really seems to mind, since its doors are open almost every weekend for parties, usually having been decorated to some outlandish theme during the off hours. It’s a willing trade-off that the student body makes for losing the space. 

Toge’s never actually been inside before. The walls are painted in a moody shade of burgundy, paneled with wood so dark that Toge finds himself wondering if it’s actually been painted black. Even when it’s daylight out, the interiors are dark enough to fool you into thinking otherwise. The only windows in the room are jewel-toned stained glass that barely let in light and thickly-curtained french doors that lead out onto a balcony where Hakari and Kirara like to go smoke. 

It’s very inviting, but Toge finds the room to be a little sparse- more like a stage than a living space. The furniture is in a new spot every time he walks in and there’s always plenty of floor space, which Toge uses to his advantage by laying out all his note sheets while they work. He gets the impression that’s what this place is meant for- to be a blank canvas, so its owners can mold it to their whims.

This week, it’s been made into a base of operations. It’s easier to get to than Gojo’s cottage, plus it’s more central to research and, well, food. If they could have rescued Gojo simply by ignoring their basic needs, surely he’d already have been freed. Forget eating and sleeping, Toge isn’t even sure how he’s remembering to breathe right now. 

But now isn’t the time to rest. There’s so much to be done before Sunday.  

Now that they’ve pinned down an exact time, there are certain variables they need to start accounting for: planetary positions and moon cycles and all sorts of other things that are starting to make Toge’s head spin. He wouldn’t be able to keep any of it straight if not for Hakari, who’s been keeping a surprisingly level head throughout this. He’s always been known for his quick temper, so Toge is surprised to find he has a vast supply of focus and patience once he sets his mind to something. 

Maki, with all her knowledge of tools, is working with Megumi on finding something that might be able to draw Gojo closer once the portal is open- something that Yuuji has lovingly deemed a “fishing pole.” The idea is to find some sort of thread that Gojo can follow to the surface, so Yuuji isn’t exactly far off. It’s a good idea, and one that Toge and Yuuta likely wouldn’t have thought of on their own. Further proof that bringing more people in was a good idea. 

While they work on that, Nobara and Kirara have started researching runes that will hold the portal open longer and work to isolate any of the instability the attempt may cause. It’s important that they have some measures in place to protect against widespread damage in case this goes wrong. It’s why they’ve decided that it’s safest to open the portal in Gojo’s quarters- its sprawling size will offer them more leeway, plus a bit of privacy. Throwing as much magic as they’re planning to is sure to alert anyone in the vicinity. They need to be somewhere discreet. 

Yuuta floats between projects, looking wide-eyed and slightly overwhelmed by it all. He’s not really suited for any particular project, but that isn’t a problem. His part in this will come later. Yuuji, Hakari, Megumi- they all have more magic than the average sorcerer, that much is obvious to anyone. But Yuuta is in an entirely different league. Without Yuuta as their power source, none of this would even be possible.

“Stop doing that,” Hakari grumbles, scribbling something on the board. 

Toge pulls an innocent face, but he knows exactly what Hakari is referring to. Even after a couple days of working together, Toge still finds himself a little jumpy around the upperclassman. Every time Hakari reaches for the board, Toge all but leaps out of his way. Part of it is because Toge wants to see what he’s trying to do- Hakari is always asking smart questions and challenging their equation in new ways- but it’s mostly because Toge is perhaps still a bit afraid of Hakari. 

Hakari lets out a sigh. “I know I bit your head off the other day,” he admits. “But that’s just ‘cause I was watching out for Yuuta.” 

Toge stays quiet, daring to step closer so he won’t tempt Hakari’s wrath again. He watches Hakari’s hand, waiting to see what numbers he’s about to amend, but his fingers stall. The marker hovers over the board.

“I know he looks tough,” Hakari continues. “But the kid’s been through a lot.” 

Tough isn’t exactly the word Toge would use for Yuuta, but he thinks he understands Hakari’s meaning. To the naked eye there is something… untouchable about Yuuta. It wasn’t until that first day in the library that Toge was finally able to see underneath the surface of the epic magic and put-on smiles. 

“Everything with that friend of his from the mortal world, leaving his family behind, all the freakin’ execution trials, despite the fact he was just a kid when–” 

Toge gasps before Hakari can finish the thought, dropping the reference book in his hand and letting it thud against the carpet. Execution? Did Toge just hear that correctly? 

“Shit,” Hakari realizes. “You didn’t know.” He shakes his head, going back to the board as if nothing has happened. “Forget I said anything, alright?” 

All Toge can do is blink at him. Forget? How is Toge supposed to forget something like that? The door clicks open, immediately followed by a familiar magic seeping into the hardwood. 

“Hey, I just talked to–” Yuuta stops short as he enters, taking stock of the situation. “What’s wrong? Did you find something?” 

They don’t answer him right away. Toge can’t even move to look at him. 

“No,” Hakari says finally, realizing that Toge isn’t going to be the one to speak up. “Ah… I’m gonna go grab a coffee, why don’t you keep Toge company for a minute, yeah? You want anything?” 

“Oh, no but…” Yuuta starts, slightly unsure. “You might get Toge a tea.” 

Hakari offers Toge a cringe of a smile and heads out, giving Yuuta’s shoulder a firm grasp on his way. It’s just the two of them now. Everyone else is in the library. Yuuta steps in hesitantly, approaching slowly.

“What was that all about?” he asks. “Toge?” 

Toge is still frozen in his spot, his head swarming with the same word over and over again. It buzzes in his ears, hostile and waspish. He can feel his breath starting to get shallow, so shallow that he has no choice but to pull off the thin scarf he’s been wearing all day. Suddenly, it feels like he’s being strangled by it. 

Yuuta steps closer, eyes widening with worry. Toge tries to busy himself by picking up the book at his feet, but his hands shake as he reaches for it. For a moment, he actually thinks he might drop it again. Everything feels off-balance now, almost as if the world had shifted underneath his feet. 

Yuuta can tell. He closes the distance between them, gripping Toge’s wrist to help keep him steady. “Toge, what?” 

With a huff, Toge shoves the book into Yuuta’s chest. He doesn’t even have to work at overwriting the cover with a message- the magic is already brimming at his fingertips. 

Execution? 

Yuuta goes pale when he sees the cover, face going blank. 

When were you going to tell me? Toge wants to ask him. When it was already too late?

While Yuuta is still caught off guard, Toge pulls away. He has to move. Standing still feels like torture. There’s magic sizzling at his fingertips- he has so much he wants to say- but he can’t find an outlet for it quickly enough. There are no windows. He won’t risk touching the calculations. Yuuta’s still holding the book. Electricity is trapped in his bloodstream with no good escape. 

He starts pacing the room, unable to decide if he wants to be further from Yuuta or closer. 

“Hakari shouldn’t have told you that,” Yuuta finally says. Toge shakes out a breath, something between a laugh and a shudder of frustration. Who cares what Hakari told him? However he found out, the fact of it is that Toge knows. “It’s not what you think, okay? It’s over now. It’s in the past.”  

Toge stops short, trying to gauge if what Yuuta is saying is true. 

“When I first got here, things were really messed up. The council didn’t know what to make of me. You know how they are Toge,” he appeals, speaking quickly and concisely. “They don’t like what they don’t understand. When they saw how much magic I had, they thought it was too dangerous to let me keep living. So, yes, there was talk of execution but Gojo put a stop to it. He promised to take responsibility for all of my training. That's why I’m serious when I say I owe Gojo my life.” 

It’s true. Yuuta has been desperate to save Gojo this whole time, but Toge never considered that it was because he felt like he owed something to Gojo. It’s no wonder Yuuta didn’t ask any questions when Gojo came to him for a favor. He gave his magic so freely, because without Gojo, he wouldn’t even be alive to use it. 

Yuuta sighs, continuing. “Hakari and Kirara only know about it because they were students here at the time and had been introduced to me through Gojo. No one else knows about it besides the council. And it doesn’t matter now, because it’s been called off. It’s really not something you need to worry about.” 

As Toge tries to process all of this, Yuuta looks at him, searching. It takes Toge a moment to figure out what it is he’s searching for. 

Then he remembers last weekend, back in the greenhouse. Megumi had asked about Gojo, and Yuuta had lied through his teeth. Without so much as a flinch, he told Megumi exactly what he’s telling Toge now- not to worry. Then, he held his breath and waited to see if Megumi swallowed it. That’s just what he’s doing now. He’s waiting to see if Toge bought his lie. 

Toge snaps, pointing at the book in Yuuta’s hands. He’s left another message. 

You’re lying. 

To Yuuta’s credit, he keeps his face perfectly even. If that’s all Toge was judging him by, he might have gotten away with it. But his voice wavers. “I- I-” 

That’s all Toge needs to hear to know it’s true. This is something Toge needs to worry about. Gojo is gone and Yuuta is still in danger.  

They’re going to execute him. If this doesn’t work out on Sunday, and they can’t get Gojo back, they’re going to lose Yuuta as well. This whole time Toge has been so selfishly wrapped up in his own troubles. He’s been so worried about the target on his own back that he didn’t even see the one Yuuta has been shouldering. Without Gojo to vouch for him, It’s ten times wider. Toge could get kicked out of school, but Yuuta could die. He’s been the one at risk here all along. 

Why didn’t Yuuta tell him? Why didn’t Yuuta tell him what was really at stake if they couldn’t save Gojo?

Toge looks over at Hakari’s board with all their calculations and suddenly it all feels absolutely ridiculous. It might as well have been written in crayon. This was the work of children, not scholars. There can’t possibly be this much riding on Toge’s abilities. Who let this happen? When was it decided that the fate of the two strongest sorcerers in the world would rest solely in Toge’s hands? He’s been studying all this time and he still barely even understands dimensional magic. He never should have been trusted with this. This whole thing- it’s absurd. 

“Hey. Hey,” Yuuta tries as Toge struggles to breathe. “It’s not as bad as you think it is, okay?” 

Toge starts shaking his head and he doesn’t stop. Not as bad as he thinks? How could things possibly be any worse? 

Yuuta rushes towards him. This time when he closes the gap he takes Toge by both shoulders to hold him steady. Toge feels himself sag in Yuuta’s grasp, barely able to keep his own weight up anymore. All of this is too much. 

“The council doesn’t know about my technique,” Yuuta says firmly. “No one does. As long as they don’t find out about my ability to copy magic, they have no reason to unsuspend the order for my execution. That’s why no one knows about my Special Grade ranking. Yuki, Gojo, Ieiri, and you. You’re the only people who know.”

Toge pulls back, slamming a hand against Yuuta’s chest. He can’t keep the horror off his face when he finally looks up at Yuuta. 

Why? Why would he do that? Why would he tell Toge all of this when he knows what’s at stake for him? How could he be so reckless with this information? He’s only known Toge- actually known him- for about a month now, and Toge already knows enough of his secrets to get him executed. How could he be so trusting- so careless with his life? 

“Toge what is it?” Yuuta asks, worried. 

Toge looks away, screwing his mouth shut. He’s furious right now. His blood is boiling. All he wants to do is scream. 

He wants to pound his fists against Yuuta’s chest and chew him out for putting his life at risk like this. He wants to clutch Yuuta’s shirtsleeves and beg him to never tell anyone about this ever again. He wants to fall into Yuuta’s arms and sob. There are so many things he wants to tell Yuuta in this moment that he wouldn’t even know where to begin. How dare you and I’m so sorry and please, please don’t let them do this.  

“Toge, what are you thinking?” Yuuta asks. Of course, Toge can’t answer him. “Toge, just this once. Please.” 

No. It’s too irresponsible. There was a time where the members of Toge’s clan could speak without terrible magic taking over, but their curse had seen to that. Once the magic got tangled with the curse, there was no way to ensure that he could speak without repercussions.

Yuuta can sense his hesitancy. He closes his eyes, and in an instant, all his magic has sprung to the surface. It radiates from his skin, surrounding his whole body and wrapping around him like a shield. It’s so strong, so tangible, that it actually lifts his hair. It stands up on end, like gravity has ceased to exist in the space around him. The air around them is humming, all but vibrating with the presence Yuuta has just created. 

Sometimes Toge forgets that Yuuta Okkotsu is magic itself. Toge barely even believes magic this powerful exists, and now he is touching it. He feels it circulating beneath his palm, boundless and infallible. Touching Yuuta is like touching the sun. 

Yuuta’s eyes flash open, practically glowing. “Do you feel that?” he asks. Toge manages a nod. “You can’t hurt me, Toge.” 

As much as Toge hates to admit it, he’s right. Any magic Toge could muster right now would just bounce right off him, pebbles against fortress walls. Supposedly if someone covers their ears with magic, it will make them immune to cursed speech. Yuuta has taken that philosophy one step further- and he’s not letting up. There’s fire in his eyes. He won’t give this up any time soon. 

It’s tempting. Toge would be lying if he said he hadn’t fantasized about this exact situation- being able to say exactly what he means without any lag at all. It would be like breaking free of shackles. 

Yuuta nods, encouraging. Toge trembles as he stretches his jaw open, squeezing his eyes shut as he prepares for the inevitable backlash. 

“Why?” 

He can’t stop himself from flinching at the sound of his own voice. Sometimes, he barely recognizes it as his own. It’s even harder to discern through the loud pounding of his heart in his ears. 

The room thumps in protest, magic bounces against the walls and slowly dissipating. It always disperses strangely when Toge doesn’t have a clear target in mind. When his eyes fly back open, there is a single moment of thrill as he realizes that Yuuta is completely untouched by his curse. It’s immediately eclipsed with gut-twisting shame. 

He shouldn’t have done that. He knows better. Why would he possibly delude himself into thinking that this action was without risk? Even in success, it feels incredibly wrong. 

He lets his head drop as a wrenched sort of relief settles in his stomach- the hollowness that comes after a purge. He feels empty and satisfied and disgusted with himself all at the same time. He had meant to say more, but now he doesn’t have it in him. He feels scraped clean, hollow and vulnerable. It’s embarrassing. Toge has always thought of himself as strong, but he’s let himself be taken out by one measly word.

The half-asked question hangs in the air. “Why what?” Yuuta coaxes, voice gentle. When it’s clear Toge won’t be responding, he takes a guess. “Why do they want me out of the picture?” 

Toge shakes his head, still letting it hang between them as his eyes stay fixed to the floor. He already knows the answer to that question. Of course the council doesn’t want to see Yuuta succeed. Human-born and related by blood to the most progressive clan, not to mention far more powerful than they’ll ever have any hope of controlling, Yuuta stands for everything they’ve been known to hate.

“Why did Yuki and Gojo decide to make me special grade?” he persists. 

Again, Toge knows the answer to that. Yuuta can do impossible things. He deserves that recognition. Toge shakes his head again, starting to feel hopeless. He needs to think of a way to put a stop to this guessing game. It’s too painful. 

“Why…” Yuuta considers, careful. “Why… did I tell you about it?” 

Every muscle in Toge’s body clenches. There’s no way he could have known that. Toge hasn’t given him even the slightest hint that that’s what he would ask. It’s impossible. But Yuuta recognizes the difference in his reaction right away and wastes no time answering the question.  

“Because I trust you with my life, Toge.” 

Toge’s head jerks up. He meets Yuuta’s eyes, fiercely searching for any sign of doubt or uncertainty. But Yuuta is open and relaxed. He said that plainly, not even missing a beat. The veil of magic surrounding him begins to evaporate, but the sentiment doesn’t. Yuuta really trusts Toge that much. 

Tears flood Toge’s eyes, so abundant that they cloud Yuuta’s face as they gather. He can’t help it. Toge isn’t sure who initiates it, or if both of their bodies just give way at once, but suddenly Toge’s face is pressed against Yuuta’s chest. He’s tucked underneath Yuuta’s chin and his arms are coiled tightly around Yuuta’s waist. The connection is just as urgent for Yuuta, who tugs Toge even closer, resting a hand on the back of Toge’s head and softly stroking his hair. 

“It’s okay,” he murmurs. “It’s okay.” 

Toge shakes his head into Yuuta’s chest. It’s not okay. Nothing is okay. The idea of this world losing someone like Yuuta is horrific. How can Yuuta be so cavalier about it? He’s the last person on earth who should be okay with this. Doesn’t he want to live? 

Yuuta has presented every detail of his situation like fact. He’s reporting it as if he’s reading something off from a textbook- not discussing his own life. He just seems resigned to it. In fact, the only thing he seems worried about here is Toge’s reaction. Does he value his own life that little? Does it really not matter to him? Doesn’t he know how devastated they’d all be if something happened to him? 

The light that this world would miss out on if a flame like Yuuta’s were to be snuffed out- a choked sob escapes Toge’s throat just thinking of it. He can’t fathom it.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me,” Yuuta assures. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m so sorry.” 

Only Yuuta could turn a conversation about his own execution into an apology. Why is it that Yuuta can’t value his life as much as they do? Toge knows he should get it together, that he should be the one comforting Yuuta right now instead of the other way around, but the tears just won’t stop coming. All Toge wants to do is weep. 

Shouldn’t he be tired of crying at this point? He’s done more crying in the last week than he’s done in his whole life, and yet he still can’t seem to stop. The tears just keep pouring out of him, sobs muffling into the cotton of Yuuta’s dark sweater. 

Yuuta lets it happen. Toge knows he must be crushing Yuuta’s ribs from squeezing so tight, but Yuuta makes no effort to peel him off. He lets Toge cling to him for dear life. And Toge just keeps holding him, because suddenly it feels as though Yuuta could slip away at any minute. Right now though, he is solid beneath Toge’s grasp. For a single moment both of them are safe. Toge can keep it that way, for just a little longer.

When Yuuta finally pulls back, there is a knowing look on his face. “Toge,” he starts. “When was the last time you slept?”

Toge swipes at his face, flicking tears off his cheeks. If he’s honest, he can’t remember. He’s not even sure when he was last in his dorm room. 

He looks down at his clothes- a stiff white shirt rolled up to his sleeves and a rumpled gray sweater vest that probably should have been retired last semester- and can’t remember when he changed them last. He’s sticky with sweat, all worked up from crying and hours of being on his feet. He’s in desperate need of a shower and some rest. 

Hakari will be back soon though and they still have plenty of work to do. Toge looks over his shoulder to eye their equation. There’s a lot of things he’d planned on going over with Hakari tonight. Leaving now would be irresponsible. 

“It’ll still be there tomorrow,” Yuuta reasons, following his eyes. “Take the night off and come back with a fresh mind. We can pick up the slack for tonight, yeah?” 

The idea of anyone touching a single number on that board without Toge’s express permission is hive-inducing. Yuuta will have to pry him away, which, unsettlingly, he looks completely ready to do. 

He gathers Toge’s abandoned scarf from its heap on the floor and starts looping it around Toge’s neck. The motion is just as careful and purposeful as it was the first time he attempted it. This time around, Toge is relaxed enough to enjoy it. The way Yuuta focuses on it- so serious- just makes Toge feel cared for. It almost feels like some shade of walking into Gojo’s cottage. Warm, somehow. 

Yuuta is placing the final stretch of fabric, draping it securely on top of Toge’s mouth, when Hakari and Kirara wander back in. Toge eyes the extra mug in Hakari’s hand, wondering if there’s any version of tonight where he gets to drink it and stay here to keep working, but Yuuta has already placed a hand on the small of Toge’s back, nudging him gently towards the door. 

“Toge’s tapping out for the night,” he tells Hakari and Kirara confidently. “I’m gonna walk him back to the dorms.” 

Hakari sighs but he doesn’t argue. Honestly, he looks a little worried himself. “I’ll take some notes and we can go over them in the morning,” he says, slurping his coffee. AKA, he won’t be touching any of the calculations while Toge is out. Toge is more relieved than he can describe. 

True to his word, Yuuta escorts Toge all the way back to his dorm room. They walk in silence, shoulders brushing. Yuuta doesn’t even say anything about the near glacial pace Toge is setting, even though it means Yuuta’s long legs are taking impossibly small steps to match it. He was right. Toge is completely spent. It’s a miracle he lasted this long in the first place. Until a few minutes ago, he’d been keeping it all together flawlessly. 

When they finally reach the end of Toge’s hallway, Toge laboriously unfurls all the spells he placed to keep the door locked. Yuuta looks away respectfully, and Toge is a bit relieved. It would be embarrassing for him to watch Toge struggle with such a small show of magic after the display he just put on. 

Finally, the lock gives, and Toge steps inside. He knows he could block the door and leave Yuuta standing in the hall, but for some reason he doesn’t. Yuuta steps in hesitantly behind him, and Toge pretends that it’s a perfectly natural thing for him to do. 

He looks up at the mirror on his dresser to find that his eyes are red and puffy, raw from tears. It’s obvious that he’s been crying. It’s no wonder Hakari and Kirara were so quiet when they entered the common room. It would only take one look at Toge’s face to know he’d just had something of a breakdown. He hopes they assume it was nothing more than a result of exhaustion. Honestly, Toge isn’t quite sure it wasn’t. It wasn’t like Toge ever behaved like that when he was well-rested, so it’s probably best to just write the whole thing off. 

Yuuta is taking in the room with wonderment. The awe he’s expressing would make a person think he’d just been let into a palace instead of just Toge’s dingy little room. It’s making Toge’s heart palpitate. This place really isn’t anything all that special. 

“I’ve never been in here,” Yuuta notes. Toge nods. That was by design, of course. Toge rarely let anyone in here. Only Maki, and never unattended. It’s one of the only places in this world where he feels truly safe, so he guards it pretty closely. 

Toge pulls off his scarf, and Yuuta turns to inspect the wall across from Toge’s bed. He and Maki had gotten bored during a holiday break that neither of them had any interest in returning home for, and had decided to paint it to brighten the room a little. They spent hours trailing vines of ivy up the wall, hoping to make it look like a climbing plant. It had been a bit of a failed effort, though. They tried to make the paint themselves, so it turned out gritty and dried to a funky, bile-like color. 

Now, it really just looks like a poor imitation of the exterior of Gojo’s cottage. It’s almost prescient, now that Toge thinks about it. With a bit of luck, their poor art skills will be distracting enough that Yuuta won’t look too closely at anything else on that side of the room. Right beneath the painted vines there’s a–

“You stole more books.” 

–bookshelf. 

Toge closes the door quickly behind them, not wanting this conversation to carry into the hallway even a little bit. 

“Sorry,” Yuuta tells him, realizing his mistake and lowering his voice. “Borrowed,” he corrects. “You borrowed more books.” 

Toge stares down at the unbound books on the bottom row of his bookshelf and sighs. Yuuta had gotten it right the first time. Toge has no intention of returning any of these books. Their covers are buried so deeply in the library that it’ll be years before anyone finds them, and by then, Toge will be far from this place. 

He shakes his head, confirming Yuuta’s earlier suspicion. It takes Yuuta a little to piece all that together, so Toge goes and sits on his bed. He sinks into the coily school-issued mattress, back collapsing against the wall as he props himself up. He’s so tired he could fall asleep just like this, fully dressed and sitting right up. 

“What…” Yuuta asks hesitantly, seeming a bit uneasy. Perhaps he doesn’t like the fact that Toge has stolen from the school. With a sting, Toge realizes it’s not something that someone good would do. “What are the books about?”

As soon as he asks, he looks right over to Toge’s window for a response. Even in a new space, Yuuta can figure out what Toge’s preferred medium is going to be. Slowly, Toge lifts his hand to fog up the window. His magic is lagging- he desperately needs to replenish it with some rest- so he’ll have to be succinct about this. 

My clan. 

“Oh,” Yuuta says, face softening. 

At first, Toge had taken them out of the library so he could examine them in private. He was already hoarding them by the time he realized he didn’t have the stomach to bring them back. Some were full of misinformation- complete propaganda spread by the major clans to defend their actions- and it made Toge sick to think that those would be in circulation, just waiting for his classmates to borrow from. 

But then there were a few that spoke of the situation so honestly, that cut Toge to the bone with the clarity they provided, and Toge realized he couldn’t bear to return any of those either. They were filled with information about himself that Toge had spent his whole life wishing he had, and they’d just been sitting in the library collecting dust. It felt wrong.

So his little collection had started. At first, he kept telling himself that he’d return them someday- by the end of the week, by the end of the semester, by graduation- but he’s come to realize that that isn’t going to happen. He’s grown too attached. If someone wants information about the Inumaki clan, they’ll have to come directly to Toge. It’s not so different from what the major clans do. They have their own libraries filled with the more sensitive information and insights to their magic that they’d rather not have publicized, so Toge feels justified doing the same. 

He doesn’t expect Yuuta to understand, but there is a serious look in his eyes that makes Toge squirm with guilt. Maki knew about Toge’s little klepto habit, but she’d never commented on it. She didn’t need to. After what she’d been through with her own clan, she understood. This is the first time Toge has ever really had to own up to his actions. He doesn’t regret them, but there is something somber and uncomfortable about admitting to all of it. He watches Yuuta carefully, still not sure how he’ll react. 

Finally, “Can I read them?” 

He looks to Toge, waiting for a simple yes or no response. There’s a determined edge to his voice. He balls his fists as he waits to hear what Toge will say. He’s serious about this, Toge can tell.

Toge promised himself when he stole this information that he would protect it, but never guard it from curious minds. He doesn’t like the idea of someone being able to steal pieces of history from the world. So he decided if anyone asked him for it, he’d guide them through it. He’d show them both perspectives instead of just the one. 

He’d never anticipated that the first person to ask for that knowledge would be Yuuta, though. He’d imagined telling a stranger, but never someone he actually knows. 

Yuuta has revealed so much about himself tonight, and his curiosity about Toge’s curse has always been genuine. It would be wrong on so many levels to turn him down, even if every muscle in his body is begging him to throw himself on top of the books like a shield. 

Yuuta waits expectantly for a response. Toge points back to the window. The answer isn’t as simple as a yes or a no. 

After, he writes. 

The last thing Yuuta needs right now is a distraction. While his intentions here are pure, both of their minds need to be elsewhere. If he’s serious about this, he’ll have to be patient. If Yuuta asks again, after Gojo is rescued, the answer will be yes. Even if Toge doesn’t want to, he’ll let Yuuta read everything. That’s a promise. He wishes there was a way he could tell Yuuta that, but Yuuta seems to understand without any additional effort from Toge. He nods staunchly. 

“Of course,” he agrees. “Once Gojo is sorted.” 

He looks a bit disappointed, or perhaps even unconvinced. There’s something unsettled about him. Toge doesn’t blame him for being doubtful- it’s not as though Toge has ever been particularly forthcoming.  

“I’ll let you rest,” Yuuta says, heading towards the door. “Unless you want me to…” 

He points at his mouth. Toge doesn’t have the energy to do anything other than narrow his eyes. The effect must be scary, because Yuuta backs off instantly once he realizes he’s being glared at. No, Toge does not need Yuuta to put him to sleep using cursed speech. Toge desperately wishes he’d never taught Yuuta that trick in the first place, seeing where it’s gotten them. 

“You’re right,” Yuuta admits. “That would be irresponsible.” 

He moves towards the door before Toge can get properly mad at him for suggesting it. He lingers for a second, staring at the hooks on the back of Toge’s door that house his collection of scarves. Towards the side is the worn teal loop he favored when they were still first years that Toge no longer wears but can’t bear to get rid of. There’s another in the center that Maki picked out that boasts two big fluffy tassels on either end. It’s lovely, but Toge can’t wear it because the fabric is too skinny to properly cover his mouth. Yuuta reaches out and runs a hand over it. Somehow, he’s managed to find the only scarf in the collection that Toge has never worn out of his room. There’s one empty hook. Toge startles himself by imagining Yuuta’s black and grey cashmere adorning it. 

Yuuta hangs back for just long enough that Toge is sure he has something else to say, but he never does. His hand travels down to the door knob and he finally lets himself out.

“Goodnight, Toge,” he says softly as the door shuts behind him.  

Once he’s gone, Toge doesn’t even stay awake long enough to shrug off his uniform. He only has the awareness to think of one last thing before he drifts off. Yuuta may not have a job related to their rescue efforts this week, but he’d adopted one all the same. He’s been making sure that everyone else was okay. 

Chapter Text

“If I could, I'd cut through the cables and cords

But I'd never be able, my life's at the table with yours

Immortal

Nothing is sacred and nothing is sure anymore 

Except all that you are and stand for, guide me toward

Your portal”

“Portal,” by Lights

They work till about midnight on Friday, and then it’s decided that they should all get one last good night of sleep before crunch time. 

Toge gets up just before the sun does on Saturday morning and creeps down the abandoned hallways and into to their empty common room. He sits cross-legged on the floor as he dutifully copies every single number, figure, and calculation from their board into a notebook. Hakari has some grand plan of shrinking it so they can move it into Gojo’s cottage and use it there, but the more Toge thinks about that, the more ways he realizes it could go totally wrong. He doesn’t want to risk losing even a single stroke of their work. 

Everyone should be getting here in the next hour or two so they can travel the tunnel together and start setting up the cottage. Runes need to be drawn and plans need to be finalized, and now that they don’t have to keep up appearances with their classes, they can dedicate their entire weekend to the rescue effort. On his way out this morning, Toge absently jammed his messenger bag full with a change of clothes and a few other essentials, but he doubts he’ll get the chance make use of any of it. 

Toge isn’t exactly sure who he expects to arrive first. Hakari, maybe. Despite the slacker persona he shows to the world, he cares about doing this right more than anyone. Maki likes to sleep in, but she has a tendency to surprise Toge. Megumi wouldn’t even be much of a shock, considering how straight-laced he is. 

When the door finally opens, Toge doesn’t even have to turn around to see who’s just walked through it. He can feel it just by the magic alone. 

“Almost done?” Yuuta asks. 

Toge nods, not taking his eyes off the board. He only has a couple lines left, then he can have some tea and get ready for the transfer. Yuuta lingers patiently behind him, and Toge holds up his notebook triumphantly when he finishes, signaling to Yuuta that he’s no longer distracted. 

“No one has gotten to Gojo’s yet,” Yuuta reports. 

They wouldn’t have, Toge figures. Everyone should still be asleep if they aren’t here. That was the plan- to meet here before heading over. Yuuta trails across the room and offers out a hand to help Toge up.

“We could be the first ones,” he proposes as Toge reaches to accept his hand. “Skip the tunnel altogether.”

As their palms connect, the momentum that should take Toge to his feet never stops. The common room blinks out around them as Toge hurtles forward. The motion just keeps going, dizzying and unbalanced. At some point, Toge can’t even feel the ground beneath his feet. He can’t feel anything at all. His vision blurs and his senses dampen. 

When it all comes back into focus with shocking abruptness, Toge is finally upright. He and Yuuta are standing in the center of Gojo’s living room, and common room has completely faded from view. 

Teleportation. Gojo must have taught Yuuta that. So this whole time- after all their toiling trying to figure out a safe way to arrive here- Yuuta has been able to get here at will. 

“Gojo says I’m not supposed to do that,” Yuuta explains. “I usually overshoot it by a little. I’m definitely not supposed to take anyone with me- he hasn’t taught me that bit yet.” 

Before Toge can respond, his stomach pitches. He realizes that the room is spinning. It’s clear to Toge within instants that Gojo told Yuuta not to do this for good reason- Toge has never been more motion sick in his life. He’s fairly certain that he’s not even standing up straight. He swears he can feel the ground shifting beneath him as he wobbles.

“But you hate the tunnel so much, so I thought it would be okay if I made an exception!” He eyes Toge, realizing that he’s not entirely well. “Oops,” he laughs nervously. “Maybe I could have been a little smoother about it.” 

He won’t be laughing when Toge spills the contents of his stomach across Gojo’s fancy rug- a situation they are growing dangerously close to realizing with each passing moment. Yuuta must notice Toge looking pale, because his laughter cuts off abruptly. 

“Let me get you some water,” he says quickly, beelining to the kitchen. Toge stumbles over to one of the couches, picking a random spot on the wall to stare at in hopes of getting the room to steady itself. Suddenly, Megumi’s shadow tunnel doesn’t seem nearly as bad as he’d made it out to be. At least when you’re out of it, its effects don’t hang around. 

Yuuta places a thick glass in his hand- one much sturdier than the one Toge broke his first time here- and Toge takes a dutiful sip. It doesn’t help. The room is still spinning. Yuuta really should have listened to Gojo. 

He’s still clutching the glass as people start spilling in. Hakari first, Yuuji and Megumi next. Maki arrives by herself, but is followed shortly by Kirara and Nobara, armed with chalks and herbs and salts that Toge can’t even begin to comprehend the significance of at the moment. The first time he’s really aware of any of the conversation all morning is when he’s asked to move so Yuuji and Maki can get the furniture out of the way. 

When all is said and done, Gojo’s living room is cleared out- just a stretch of hardwood floor to be used as their canvas. They get to work immediately. Toge is corralled to sit in a circle on the floor so they can get an accurate sense for the size of the runes they’re drawing. He’d rather be with Hakari in the kitchen with their board, but Megumi is looking over it at the moment, which is probably a good use of their time. The underclassman is pretty smart- another top-of-class contender that Toge is grateful not to compete with. 

It’s been decided that there should be five of them performing the spell to open the portal. It’s counter-intuitive. They’d originally thought that the more of them participating, the better, but that isn’t the case. With a large group of people, they risk the magic getting muddled as it spreads between people- especially when differences of power are involved. Since they’re working with Yuuta, a difference of power will always be involved. 

But a group of five is balanced and stable, a number often favored by magic. It was clear pretty immediately who would be included in that group. Yuuta and Hakari, obviously. The two of them were undeniably the most magic-rich in the school. Megumi, the best of the Zen’in clan, was next. Yuuji was an easy fourth choice, harboring a dark and intense magic that Toge can’t quite liken to anything else. 

That just left one spot. 

“Oh, I see how it is,” Nobara had complained. “How extraordinarily sexist. You’re going to put all the boys into the circle and none of the girls!” 

It took Toge a moment to figure out what she meant, since they hadn’t decided on any such thing. When he realized she meant that he would be the fifth person in the circle, he offered his space up immediately. Nobara was strong and Toge didn’t care much if he was involved or not, so long as everything went smoothly. If Maki had magic, they wouldn’t even be having a conversation about this- the position would have been hers unquestionably. 

Nobara only frowned when he offered the spot, though. “But you have to be in the circle,” she argued. “This whole thing is your idea.” 

Toge couldn’t help but feel taken aback by that. A lot of this operation was his work, but he stopped thinking of it that way once everyone else got involved. He was sure that everyone thought Yuuta was responsible, since he was the de facto leader of all this. Toge hadn’t really realized that anyone was paying attention to his contributions, but when Nobara put it that way, he couldn’t really argue with her. 

Another thing he couldn’t argue with, was that sitting down and being useless for a couple hours was exactly what he needed. 

“Why are you so pale?” Maki asks from across the circle- the other circumference keeper. He can’t even answer her. The initial circles are all already drawn by the time he starts to feel better. Once he’s dismissed, he heads straight for the kitchen. He never got that cup of tea he’d been promising himself all morning. He hopes it’ll settle his stomach a bit. 

When he walks back out, he almost drops another piece of Gojo’s crockery onto the floor. 

In the corner of the room, an armoire- the only piece of furniture they couldn’t remove on account of its heaviness and inexplicable resistance to magic- is glowing. The cracks between the doors are casting a deep yellow glow, golden and glittering. Toge manages to make some sort of warning sound- not quite a word but a noise- in the moment before they come hurtling open. Sufficiently shocked, everyone looks over just in time. 

A three-piece suit steps out of the dresser. 

“Yuuji, you didn’t,” Megumi groans. Beside him, Yuuji has gone admittedly pink, pressing his lips together tightly. 

Nanami Kento stands in the corner of the living room, straightening his tie and sliding his hands into his pockets. He surveys the room, eyes landing on Hakari and Kirara as they stumble out of the kitchen to see what’s happened. 

“Ah. Mr. Hakari, Ms. Hoshi. I can’t say I’m surprised to see either of you here.” As soon as he says it, his eyes drill straight to Toge- as if to say he is surprised to see him. Toge withers under the glance. He looks disappointed. That being said, Professor Nanami seems to have a way of always looking disappointed, so Toge can’t be sure. 

“Professor Nanami!” Yuuta intercepts, forcing a tone that Toge knows is meant to sound cheerful, but instead sounds desperate. “We were just… well, we were–”

“Save it,” their teacher interrupts, clearly uninterested in excuses. “Now I’m only going to ask this once. Where is Gojo?” 

Yuuta’s mouth hangs open. It’s Megumi who finally stands and takes control of the situation, shooting Yuuji one last glare as he goes. He quickly brings Nanami up to speed, voice steady and detached. He does a far better job than Yuuta- or Toge for that matter- ever could have. 

Nanami keeps looking over at both of them as Megumi talks. Clearly, he’s made the connection between the drop in grades and their prolonged involvement. He doesn’t even have to say a word to let them know that they should be ashamed of themselves for letting the fifteen year-old be the one to own up to it all instead of them. 

When Megumi is finished, Nanami looks down at their progress on the floor. 

“You’re going to open a portal,” he realizes. 

He starts scrubbing at his eyes, looking completely exasperated. Toge holds his breath. Whatever he says next has the potential to make or break them. If he says the word right now, their entire plan goes up in smoke. All their work will have been for nothing, and Gojo will be lost forever. Nanami isn’t as influential as Gojo, but he can shut this down with little to no effort at all. One whisper of dimensional magic to a council member, and it’ll all be over. When Nanami finally speaks, his voice is cutting and cold. 

“I can’t even begin to explain to you how incredibly stupid you all are being right now. This is reckless, illegal, and possibly fatal.” He pauses, locking eyes with each of them individually. No one moves. “All right then. Let’s see the numbers.” 

Wait. What?

When no one answers him right away, Nanami claps his hands to get their attention back. “You can’t seriously believe I’d let this continue without supervision,” he continues. “We’re talking about the life of the world’s strongest sorcerer. We’ll take no chances.” 

Toge melts with relief. His shoulders release from up next to his ears, beyond grateful for this turn of events. They aren’t finished yet. Now, they have the help of a professional. Nanami’s entire career is based in numbers, fractions, and statistics. He’s the most useful person they could have found. Toge had wanted his help all along. 

Toge abandons his tea on the counter as Hakari starts to walk him through their process. “I’m just assisting,” Hakari explains. “This was all Toge.” 

It takes the better part of the day. It’s long past dark when they’re finally through the first round of it all, and by then Nanami has shed his jacket, vest, and tie- down to nothing but a loosely buttoned dress shirt. After hours of bombarding them with questions and scenarios, Nanami lets out a sigh.

“You know that neither of you ever have an excuse to get less than a perfect score on any of my assignments after this, yes?” He takes a step back, marker dangling in his hand. He hasn’t changed a single number. “This is tremendous work.” 

Even Hakari looks relieved to hear that. Neither of them have thought about anything but this since last Saturday- even longer, in Toge’s case. At some point the numbers all started to blur, feeling less and less real by the moment. Professor Nanami’s input is exactly what they needed at this stage in the process. Fresh eyes. 

Yuuta wandered in on the tail end of everything, adding his voice to it all. 

“We wanted to ask for your help even earlier,” he says apologetically. “We really wanted your opinion. We even thought about going to Professor Higuruma, as well.” 

Nanami may have softened to Hakari and Toge’s involvement over the past few hours, but his tolerance for Yuuta right now is still at an all time low. “Mr. Okkotsu,” he says bitingly. “I really hope you don’t mean to tell me that you were going to talk to your Morals of Magic teacher to inquire about breaking fifteen different laws at once?” 

Toge cringes at that, and Yuuta goes completely white. Hakari just laughs. 

“Don’t worry. I can keep this from Hiromi for the next twenty four hours,” Nanami sniffs. Hakari raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. “We’ll discuss your punishment later,” he says to Yuuta pointedly.

“Of course,” Yuuta gulps. Toge shoots him a look, unhappy with the prospect of Yuuta taking a punishment willingly now that he knows what that punishment could be. Once Nanami’s back is turned, Yuuta offers a weak smile and a little shake of a head. “He’s just giving me a hard time,” he whispers to Toge when it’s just the two of them left in the kitchen. “I deserve it.” 

They follow the crowd into the living room, where Nanami is gathering everybody up. Toge hasn’t been in here since this morning, and all of their preparation work seems done. The space has been transformed completely. Nanami steps carefully around it, situating himself at the front of the room. He asks them about their timeframe. Maki answers him, detailing every minute. The actual process can only take ten minutes. 

“In that case, I will be back tomorrow evening with Shoko Ieiri at exactly 5:11,” he tells them, fussing with his watch.

“Wait,” Yuuta interjects. “You’re not… You’re not going to help?” 

“It’s clear to me that everything has been meticulously planned and executed. My continued involvement here would be unnecessary and cumbersome,” he states. When eight sets of eyes widen nervously, he clarifies. “It’s better if I keep my distance. On the off chance this goes poorly, you’ll need a respected faculty member to vouch for you.” 

Since Gojo won’t be here to do it himself, he doesn’t say. They’re all thinking it though. Professor Nanami will be one of the only professors left in their corner if they’re unable to recover Gojo. It probably won’t be enough to shield them from punishment, but it’s not nothing either. 

“I would not leave this in your hands if I didn’t think this group was completely capable of success,” Nanami continues. “You should all be very proud of your efforts here. Now get back to work.” 

He turns back to the armoire, raising a hand to its handles till glowing light starts to leak out the sides once again. 

“Oh,” Nanami adds, propping the door open. “And next time you’re trying to keep a secret, I suggest you don’t let Mr. Itadori in on it. It took less than sixty seconds of questioning for him to reveal your entire plot.” 

The second the door closes behind him, the light flickers back out. Nanami is back to wherever he came from. 

“I’m sorry!” Yuuji bursts. His whole face is red. 

“You’re an idiot,” Megumi says dryly. Nobara punches his arm. No one inflicts any other punishment though, because they all know the truth of it: Nanami offering help in the final hours is probably the best possible thing that could have happened. 

“I need a smoke,” Hakari breathes. Kirara has already returned to the arrangements she’d been working on, so he turns to Toge. “Come have a smoke with me, yeah?” 

Toge looks around the room, desperately trying to make eye-contact with someone who can get him out of this, but Maki and Yuuta are deep in conversation. Neither of them look up to save him. Toge doesn’t even have time to worry about what the two of them could be talking about before Hakari starts pushing them both out the front door. 

Hakari wastes no time getting his cigarette lit, snapping practiced fingers to get an effortless light. With their backs to Gojo’s cottage, it's the only speck of warmth Toge can see. Otherwise, it’s nothing but the dark greens of the forest and the bluish, purple swirls in the sky. 

“What are the chances I get you to have a smoke?” Hakari asks, breathing out a little puff as he speaks.

Within an instant, Toge can see all the muscles in Hakari’s body start to unwind themselves. Toge is sure that is a kind of relaxation he could use right now, but it still doesn’t seem like something he should be partaking in. He shakes his head and forms a little circle with one of his hands. 

“Zero,” Hakari interprets. “Smart. If I’d known there was even a chance, I’d have played the odds.” He takes another long drag of his cigarette and lets the smoke spill out through his nostrils. Toge leans his hands on the porch, forcing himself to take a deep breath of night air. “I guess that makes sense, though. Gotta protect your vocal cords.” 

Awkwardly, Toge nods. He probably wouldn’t smoke a cigarette either way, but the idea of irritating his throat on purpose really doesn’t appeal to him. He’s had enough of that for one lifetime, and he doubts he’s anywhere near finished. This is clearly just Hakari’s polite way of letting Toge know he’s aware of his curse. Toge didn’t take all the books out of the library, after all. 

“Can’t blame you for hiding it,” Hakari continues. “Kirara is the only one who has the slightest idea how my technique works. Best not to reveal your cards to anyone you don’t trust with your life.” 

Toge finds himself thinking back to the night he spent hiding up in Gojo’s room with Yuuta, slowly unwrapping the scarf and showing him the sigils. The way Yuuta looked at him with amazement, no trace of shock or horror or disgust. He just kept leaning in, his curiosity about Toge seemingly endless. Toge couldn’t have trusted him more in that moment. He’s not sure he’s ever trusted anyone like that. 

He finds himself wondering if the terms of Yuuta’s magic hadn’t been outed, if he ever would have revealed them to Toge himself. Toge wishes he knew about it all because Yuuta chose for him to. Yuuta might trust Toge with his life, but only because he has to. Does that make the trust between them any less real? Toge can’t be sure. 

Another puff of smoke drifting in front of his face forces him to push the thought out of his head. He shouldn’t be getting distracted with things like this right now. Hakari’s cigarette is almost spent, and the two of them should be getting ready to rejoin the group. 

“Hey, make a promise, kid,” Hakari says suddenly. “After we get Gojo back, we’re gonna have a huge fuckin’ party,” he announces. “And you’re gonna have a smoke with me. Guest of honor, alright?” 

Dumbstruck, Toge nods before he really realizes what he’s agreeing to. He could try to take it back, but honestly, if Gojo comes out of this alive, a single cigarette is a price Toge is more than willing to pay. Plus, now that he’s been in Hakari and Kirara’s hideout, he’s more than a little curious to see what it looks like when it’s all decked out. 

“That is,” Hakari floats, nonchalant. “If we’re all still kicking after this.” 

He stubs out his cigarette and heads back inside. 

A few naps and some cold, pilfered dining hall food later, the sun starts to rise on campus. Not that they can see it, in the eternal darkness swallowing Gojo’s hideaway, but still. By the time it sets again, either Gojo will be back safely or the world will be torn apart irreparably.

No pressure. 

They’ve managed their time well, so the preparations are all but done. Now, it’s all down to practice. They run drills, rehearsing the exact spots they’ll sit in and the exact words they’ll say. They talk through every worst-case scenario they can think of, deciding in advance what they’ll do to course correct if something goes poorly. 

The “fishing rod,” is ready, but they’re hoping not to need it. Nobara has helped Maki with it a bunch, but she’s doubtful of its effectiveness without a significant piece of Gojo’s DNA. They can’t even find a strand of his hair. They’re working with an old toothbrush that they’ve enchanted the hell out of. It’s not nothing, but its magnetic powers are no sure thing if Gojo is far away from the portal gate. Kirara’s technique is a possibility as well, but it’s unclear if her powers can span dimensions, which honestly seems unlikely. 

In the end, it’ll all come down to the calculations. If the numbers Toge pulled off the clocks aren’t accurate, or if Gojo has shifted locations, this truly could all be for nothing. He wishes he had complete confidence in this gamble, but his mind is more consumed with all the ways this can go wrong rather than the possibility it could actually go right. It would be overwhelmingly discouraging if not for the fact that no one else seems to share that sentiment. 

Everyone in their group is so sure this will turn out in their favor. Even Maki, who Toge considers to be extremely sensible, seems totally confident. The only one who will exchange nervous glances with Toge is Megumi, and that’s partially because Megumi has a lot more on the line here. 

“Stop looking at that,” Hakari snaps, dragging Toge away from their board yet again. “We're not messing with it anymore. Nanami checked it. It’s done.” 

Toge knows he’s right. But is it really so bad to look? 

Time is moving entirely too fast. Toge keeps telling himself he’ll check everything over just one more time, but as the hours pass he’s having to accept that he already has looked over some of their arrangements for the very last time.  

“Thirty minutes!” Maki announces from the living room. She and Kirara are doing a final walkthrough of runes. They finished mapping all the angles involved in the formula earlier this afternoon. Even if Toge found a mistake, it would be too late for them to fix it now.

“It’s gonna work,” Hakari assures. 

Then why does it feel like Toge can’t breathe? When they re-enter the living room, it’s clear to Toge that the nerves are starting to get to everyone. They were too efficient. All of them want to keep working. When their hands were busy, they weren’t as worried. Now, there’s nothing to do but wait. 

Toge forces himself to step back and appreciate their efforts here. The intricate spells drawn on the hardwood floors that reflect perfectly on the ceiling, the smell of chalk and herbs and warm candle wax, the way Toge can look at each contribution and see exactly whose careful hands it came from. They’re as ready as they’ll ever be. 

Across the room, Yuuta is staring at the same ceiling that Toge was. He’d followed Toge’s eyes up there. When he looks back down, he realizes he’s been caught. They’re still for a moment, their classmates weaving around them as they return each other’s gaze. At some point this morning, Yuuta changed his shirt to the white turtleneck that Toge altered for him at Halloween. When Toge curled an eyebrow at it earlier, he explained that he thinks Gojo will like the shirt, so he wants to be wearing it when he arrives back. 

At least one of them is confident. It was only a month ago when this plan was just a spark formed from a chance meeting in the library. Still, Toge has to admit that it feels like the two of them actually did something right here. 

We’re a good team, Yuuta once said. Maybe he’s right. That, or they just have really excellent friends. More likely, it’s that. 

At the fifteen minute mark, all the boys are ushered into the circle. They planned it that way in case any poorly placed steps on their way in interrupted the runes and needed tidying. Their steps are careful and confident, hoping to keep it from being an issue. Toge is watching his own feet when he sees Yuuji wobble from the corner of his eyes.

“Yuuji if you step in that it’ll be the last thing you do so help me,” Nobara screeches at him.

Maki laughs beside her. “And I’ll help her hide the body,” she adds. Yuuji looks sufficiently spooked by that, and catches his balance completely before attempting it again. The five of them are able to sit down neatly without disturbing a single preparation. It’s just a waiting game now. None of them will move until this is over. 

Toge still finds his eyes tracing the circle, checking yet again that the spacing between each of them is perfect. It is. 

Clocks tick. The girls pace. The boys don’t move an inch. Toge wonders if someone should say something, or if they should run through the order of events one last time. Beyond that, there are probably things that need to be said, on the off-chance this all goes wrong. Yuuta is the one who finally breaks the silence. 

“In case I haven’t said this yet,” he starts. “I want to thank all of you for being here. I know it’s all my fault that this is happening. I’ll never be able to fully repay any of you for helping me right this wrong. Truly. Thank you.” 

There’s a somberness to his tone. It’s hardly a pep talk, but that isn’t really what any of them need right now. All they need is to get through the next few minutes without panicking. 

“Shut up,” Maki tells him, reaching a foot over the barrier to land a kick square in the center of his back. Coming from her, a gesture like that is affectionate- her way of reassuring him. When did those two get so chummy? “We all want Gojo back, not just you.” 

“We all would’ve done anything he asked of us,” Hakari adds. “No one here is gonna blame you for helping him.” 

They all think about that for a second. Toge scans the room, realizing that that’s true. Every single one of them would champion nearly any cause Gojo asked them to. That’s why they’re here today- because of their blind faith in him. They’re trusting the fact that Gojo had a good reason for deciding to do this. They’re choosing to help him finish the job by bringing him back. 

“For what it’s worth,” Megumi sniffs, quietly speaking up from his spot in the circle. “I think he’d be proud of all the effort here.” It’s one of the only things he’s said all day, so he really means it. His face is serious, not at all false with the praise. 

“Sixty seconds,” Kirara warns, staring down at the watch in her hand. They coordinated all their clocks- or at least, the ones that work- before starting. 

Megumi and Yuuji are the first to join hands. Megumi reaches out to Yuuta, then Yuuji to Toge, and then the both of them to Hakari. They’re creating a chain- one that won’t be broken until the ritual is over. They haven’t even begun yet, and already Toge can feel the hum of magic charging under his fingertips. It’s powerful. They’re ready. 

Maki starts the final countdown, voice steady and true. 

Ten. Nine. Toge looks around and realizes that everyone in the circle has closed their eyes. Should he be doing that too? Eight. Seven. Just as he’s about to slam them shut, Yuuta’s brilliant navy eyes flick back open. Six. They find Toge’s immediately. Five. Four. One last little nod, a moment stolen for just the two of them. Toge’s nerves start to settle. Three. Two. They both slowly close their eyes, ready to begin. One. 

“Now,” Maki commands, her voice as good as magic.  

It’s Yuuta that starts it. Even a person removed, Toge can feel the match strike of Yuuta’s magic, potent enough to connect their circle all on its own. The rest of them waste no time catching up. Toge brings as much of his own magic as he can muster to the surface, flowing it directly through Hakari and Yuuji’s hands. It doesn’t take long for all individual magic to become indistinguishable. The circuit is closed, the mass of combined power growing as it travels between them. 

They have to do this for a full minute to charge the circle, revving up slowly so they can reach the fullest output. Toge can feel it in his bones- an electric current passing through his whole wingspan, arms and chest and heart. He’s never felt magic this power ever, never mind in his own body. He suddenly finds himself wishing he’d shed his scarf before they started this. The weight this is putting on his chest is already making it hard to breathe, and they’ve only just begun.

“That’s ninety seconds,” Kirara tells them. Dimly, Toge realizes that she’s yelling. A barrier of wind has started to surround them. There’s enough magic in the air that it’s actually affecting the atmosphere. They can barely hear her.

“Start the spell!” Nobara orders, loud enough that it can’t be mistaken. 

Four voices start chanting spells, and all Toge can add is his intention. Finally, all this magic has somewhere to go. 

Toge’s eyes fly open just in time to see every candle in the room blow out at once. Shit. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The only ones that remain are the ones inside the circle, the ones spelled to indicate the amount of power each person is contributing. Yuuta’s is practically a flamethrower. Toge watches beads of sweat forming along his hairline as he continues the chant, hair staticing up to the ceiling. 

They keep chanting, and Toge realizes that his flame is significantly lesser than everyone else’s. A moment ago he didn’t think he could possibly handle anymore, but a sudden surge of energy argues with him. He has to keep up. 

Focusing his intentions again, Toge feels himself starting to get dizzy from the magic as it courses through the circle. It’s still in them, meaning the spell hasn’t started to take effect. Toge notices that all their arms are shaking, gripping to one another for dear life. Toge’s palms are sweaty, ready to slip. He holds on tighter. Is it too much? Do they not have enough power to do this? 

Just as Toge thinks it, Yuuta’s voice cuts through the fray, louder and more authoritative than he’s ever heard it. It’s the final push they need. The calculations drawn at the center of the circle start to activate, glowing purple and icy blue on their faces.

“It’s working!” Nobara yells.

By now, the markings are blinding. The lines start to fade, pooling into the floor and filling the whole circle with light. Toge watches as it slowly creeps all the way to the edges, their intentions getting clearer and clearer. Once the inner circle is finally full, the spell finally breaks loose, bursting free. A beacon of light appears from the floor to the ceiling, a perfect circle. 

“It’s open!” Maki tells them. “Keep going!” 

This is where it gets tricky. Toge and Hakari estimated that they’d only be able to hold this for about six and a half minutes, at absolute most. Any longer than that could inflict permanent damage- not just to them, but to both dimensions.  Keeping the portal open any longer than that risks a possible collapse. They have to be exact about this, or the consequences will be dire. 

“Starting the timer!” Kirara warns. “Three hundred and ninety seconds!” 

That’s all they have. If Gojo doesn’t come through the portal in that time, the whole attempt was for nothing. It’ll take weeks for them to regroup, and by then Gojo will have already stood trial. The coordinates could shift and Gojo could get lost in them forever. It’s now or never. 

Toge has to keep reminding himself of that as he feels his magic trying to give out. He’s gasping for air at this point. His body is quaking with effort. Slick sweat forms underneath his scarf and sweater. He’s not the only one. He can practically feel the wear starting to settle in. Everyone in the circle is starting to struggle with this. They have to keep it open. 

“Three hundred,” Kirara announces. “Only five minutes left!” 

Shit. Toge is already strapped. He’s just barely managing to keep this up. A minute and a half has already elapsed and there’s no sign of life on the other side of this portal. 

“Deploying fishing rod!” Maki tells them. Overhead, Nobara floats the large staff they’ve spent the last week spelling into the light. 

It’s immediately met with resistance. Toge hears Nobara swear as it propels itself back out, just narrowly missing Yuuji’s head as it clatters back at her. Toge only catches a glimpse of it, but he can already tell that something is wrong with it. The color wood is different, the markings imperceivable. All the enchantments have been wiped away. 

“Fuck!” Nobara yells, confirming his suspicions. It’s no wonder Gojo hadn’t been able to get back. Each dimension operated by its own set of rules. From what just happened to their tool, Toge can infer that there’s a good chance magic doesn’t just not exist there, but that all magic is actually rejected. 

Which would mean Gojo can’t do anything to help himself. He’s completely at their mercy, but none of their magic can reach him. 

Toge feels his body start to sag. This might truly be hopeless, after all. Just as he’s about to give out, something catches his eyes at the center of the circle. Fingertips. 

“Gojo!” Megumi calls. Toge swears that in the second he wavers, the light in the circle starts to get dimmer. The fingernails sink back under. 

“Megumi, keep chanting!” Maki orders. Megumi’s face pulls with effort, but he manages to rejoin the chant at the start of the next phrase. The inner circle regains its glow. 

This time, when something disrupts the surface, it’s a whole hand. Silver flashes light at Toge’s eyes. The infinity signet on his ring finger. It’s really him. He’s alive. He’s still alive. 

A voice is trying to come through in the distance. It sounds drowned and far away, stuck beneath choppy water. It comes out in fragments. “Me-egum-,” Toge hears faintly. “Megu–” 

“Hold on!” Nobara instructs, either to Gojo or the rest of them. 

“A hundred and eighty seconds!” Kirara interjects. 

Three minutes. It should be plenty of time. Gojo’s right there. Toge’s muscles are already instinctively starting to relax, but the work is still far from over. Gojo hasn’t made any progress at all since he appeared.  

“You’re losing magic!” Maki yells at them. “It’s not going to be strong enough!” 

She’s right. The flames are all starting to wane, flickering weakly instead of holding strong. Yuuta is the only one able to respond to her plea. In a flash, his candle roars, shooting out flames so high they pass his head. It’s so much power that Toge feels a jolt and watches every other flame in the circle start to rise as well. 

It’s all Yuuta. He’s keeping this whole thing afloat, pulling the rest of them up by sheer force. Where this reserve of energy has come from, Toge does not know. Toge can feel it swelling inside of him, more powerful than anything he’s ever known. It’s truly an impossible amount of magic. How is Yuuta managing this? 

His shouts are violent and tortured, more a release of energy than a spell at this point. Yuuta’s face scrunches with agony, sweat openly pouring down from his forehead as every muscle in his body strains under the pressure. 

But it’s not for nothing. It’s the exact push they need. Gojo’s reaching hand slides up, exposing his wrist. Finally, there is progress again. Even so, Toge can already tell that it’s not happening fast enough. 

“Ninety seconds!” Kirara tells them, voice panicked. She knows it, too. The return isn’t happening nearly fast enough. If they keep going at this rate, Gojo will never make it out in time. 

Toge starts wracking his brain for a solution. They can’t breach the inner circle, or they risk disturbing the spell. If anyone goes in after him, they risk getting sucked in without any magic to make a return. They can’t discuss another tactic without stopping the chant. They’re out of cards to play.

Hakari’s mind is working just as fast as Toge is. Without warning, his magic boils over, making an attempt at catching Yuuta’s strength. His candle all but combusts, a jagged and wild flicker as its flame rises. He’s figured out exactly what Toge has- they need more power if this is going to work. The pace increases ever so slightly. They’re up to Gojo’s elbow now. 

“Sixty seconds!” 

It’s not going to be enough. Even with the insane and heroic amounts of magic Yuuta and Hakari are pumping out, Gojo’s arrival is still too short, and if they go over time to get him back, he might not have a universe to come back to. They have to make an adjustment here and fast. 

“You have to pull back!” Maki instructs. “If we keep going, we risk splitting him in half when the portal closes!” 

Toge doubts that Hakari and Yuuta can even hear her. If they do, they ignore her completely. The person who hears for sure though is Megumi. He cries out, his magic smoking up from the corner of the room. Shadows blanket the space behind him, reinforcing him and bolstering his flame. Even Yuuji’s flame is growing again on its own, in sharp two-pronged bursts. Gojo is edging up. The top of his hair, his shoulders are coming into view. 

“Thirty seconds!” Kirara cries. 

“You’ll decapitate him!” Maki screams at them. When she realizes that no one has let up, she adds, “You have to give it everything!”  

They strain, but there’s nothing they can do. There’s so much magic that it’s sucking the air out of the room. They can barely breathe. Every single person has reached their absolute maximum. There’s nothing else to give. The ground shakes beneath them, the whole cottage ricketing from the energy output. At this point, they’re lucky to even be hanging on to each other when it feels like their limbs could rip off at any moment. Toge tries his best to draw more magic from his core, but he hit his ceiling a long time ago. He can’t leave any impact on this anymore. 

Unless. 

“Fifteen!” 

Toge starts jerking forward. He can’t get his hand free, but he might be able to shake his scarf off by sheer force if he works quickly enough. 

How did he not think of this sooner? 

“Ten!” 

“It’s not enough time!” Maki informs them.

“You need to send him back!” Nobara adds, voice cracking as she screams. They ignore her. 

Toge thrusts himself forward again, working against the unforgiving wind pressure to loosen the scarf. He can’t afford to have anything in his way if this is going to work.

He might not have more magic to add to the spell, but he’s the only person in the circle who has separate magic. His speech is self-sufficient, operating entirely separately from the magic that all sorcerers were born with. Maki, Nobara and Kirara can’t breach the circle. Yuuta, Hakari, Megumi and Yuuji can’t possibly do any more than they already are. 

It’s an absolutely absurd idea, but Toge’s curse might be their only hope.

“Five!” Kirara starts the countdown.

With one final lurch, the scarf finally gives way. Toge gasps for air, filling his lungs as much as he possibly can. He’ll only have one chance at this. Their absolute last resort. If it fails, they’ll have no choice but to close the portal with Gojo still halfway through it. Maki promised to break the circle herself if they went over the allotted time, and none of them are showing any signs of letting up. 

“Four!” 

The most brilliant blue eyes Toge has ever seen in his life finally drift over the surface of the portal. Toge locks onto them. They’re the perfect target. 

“Three!”  

Yuuta’s flame burns so powerfully it hits the ceiling, scorching the air with heat. His magic is brimming beneath Toge’s skin, lending Toge strength in a way he never even knew possible. Toge opens his mouth as wide as it goes, ready to scream louder than he ever has allowed himself to in his whole life.     

“Two!”

The command starts with a terrible rumble in Toge’s chest. 

“RETURN!” 

With one final bellow, the circle is interrupted with a blast of energy. Their hands are ripped free and Toge is thrown backwards. The command is so powerful that it takes up physical space. Toge’s head slams against a wall as he’s launched out of the circle, a tunnel of wind and sparking light at the center of the room so blinding that it forces his eyes shut. 

And then, just like the snuff of a candle, all the magic in the air is instantly extinguished. They can breathe again. It’s over.

Toge flicks his eyes open to find a host of smashed picture frames, a hundred torn up floorboards, and a tall blue-eyed sorcerer standing in the center of the room in fine, tattered clothing. He is skinny, shaking, and still in one piece. 

Satoru Gojo, the world’s strongest sorcerer, is finally home safe. 

Hakari laughs from somewhere beside Toge, strewn against one of the couches they pushed out of the way. He looks at Toge through half-lidded eyes. “Good to finally hear your voice, kid.” 

Toge’s head rushes as he clumsily forces himself up to his feet, scanning the room to take stock of the situation. Everyone seems to be okay. Yuuta is already standing, rushing to the middle of the room to help Maki catch Gojo’s weight as his knees buckle. Megumi is right behind him. Toge looks around one more time, just to make sure. 

Nothing went wrong. Everyone has survived the ideal. They actually did it. 

He can’t believe it. Toge tries to join the group, but his legs won’t move. The adrenaline in his body is slipping away, illuminating white hot pain in his throat. He feels his body start to shake as the ribboned shreds in his vocal cords makes themselves known. It hurts so much that Toge’s brain can’t even process it properly. As copper pools in his mouth, he starts to realize why he’s so light-headed. 

What he’s tasting is blood. 

It’s been years, probably, since Toge used his technique so boldly that it bled. There’d never been a reason to. Even when it’s happened before, it was only enough to stain the corner of a handkerchief with a cough. This is something entirely different, grisly and gushing. There’s so much liquid in his mouth that he can’t even breathe. 

He starts to lose his balance, staggering forward. As his head tips forward, more blood comes, pressing at his mouth and begging for release. He forces himself to look up to stop the flow, immediately meeting Yuuta’s eyes. 

“Toge!” he calls from Gojo’s side, a mess of sweat and tears. His shoulders are flopped over with exhaustion, face painted with relief and joy as he pants. “Toge, you did it!”

Toge hears the celebrations starting to rouse, but his mind can’t hold on to any of the words being said. The room is spinning. The only thing he can see is Yuuta, and as he smiles broadly at Toge, even that starts to blur. His vision is blotting out at the edges, darkening as a result of the blood loss. Toge clasps a hand to his lips in one last attempt to keep the blood from breaking loose. 

Stop, he thinks to himself. Stop doing this. Be okay.  

He tries a swallow, but it sends a ripple of pain down his throat so consuming that he can’t help but flinch and wince. Yuuta’s eyes go wide with recognition. 

“Toge!” 

He’s at Toge’s side so fast- impossibly fast. Toge can’t even worry about the ramifications of it. Yuuta manages to catch his shoulders before his body can give out on him, knees buckling and lips parting. Toge plummets forward, not an ounce of fight left in him. 

As the world goes black, the last thing Toge sees is a river of blood spilling onto the white chest of Yuuta’s shirt. 

Chapter Text

“Watch the world from the sidelines

Had nothing to prove

'Til you came into my life

Gave me something to lose”

“Sidelines,” by Phoebe Bridgers

When Toge was young, he pleaded with the elders at their compound to teach him how to use cursed speech. 

They refused.

All they could tell Toge was that he was better off not speaking at all. There was only one thing they considered more valuable than his voice, and that was his silence. 

In a way, they were right. It was because of that silence, that compliance, that an introduction was made. Satoru Gojo, special grade sorcerer and heir to the Gojo clan, wanted to meet the new hope of the Inumaki clan. 

He showed up a few days after Toge’s tenth birthday unannounced. He wore clothes from the mortal world: light denim pants with raggedy white threads poking out of the bottom hem, a leather bomber jacket more worn than Toge’s hand-me-down bookbag, and a pair of sleek, jet black sunglasses. Toge is sure, even all these years later, that no one has ever looked cooler. 

There really wasn’t much of a clan for him to visit. Just three cursed speech users and a worn estate that nature threatened to reclaim on a daily basis. Gojo was entirely out of place there in his new-age clothes and his spotless white sneakers. Toge pictured the ground crumbling beneath his feet every time he took a step. The place was rapidly decomposing. There hadn’t been anyone left to care about its upkeep in years.

Toge’s mother, not of the clan, left shortly after Toge’s birth. His father died young. His grandfather and great-uncle were the only ones left to be responsible for him. And while they discouraged Toge’s use of cursed speech, they did keep him busy with his magical studies. They taught him everything they knew, and how to do all of it without ever making a sound. Toge spent those quiet, lonely years of his life practicing the same spells over and over again. He would stretch the endurance of his magic each day until it finally gave out on him, falling into bed each night too exhausted to dream. There was nothing in his life besides magic. 

But it all paid off when Satoru Gojo arrived. He was impressed with Toge right from the start. “Some of my students can’t even pull this kind of thing off,” he praised when Toge showed him his transformational skills. “You’re very talented.” 

The beaming pride that fell on the faces of Toge’s relations made them unrecognizable. To Toge, the two older men had always seemed tired and unimpressed with the world. But at that moment, when Satoru Gojo paid Toge Inumaki a genuine compliment, their faces lit up with joy. They kept shaking Gojo’s hand and bowing their heads. Toge remembers thinking how silly they looked. He didn’t quite understand Gojo’s influence at the time, but even so, he could admit that it felt good to be in his good graces. 

“So what about the other bit?” he asked the two men. “I’ve always wanted to witness cursed speech in person. It’s quite useful, I hear.”

The elation was sucked out of the air instantly. The two men looked to Toge with panic as Gojo offered him an encouraging nod. 

Toge cleared his throat dutifully, but cobwebs of disuse conspired against him. He couldn’t get a single syllable out without coughing. Gojo pursed his lips, but said nothing on the subject. Looking back on it, Toge realizes that Gojo must have known exactly what had happened during Toge’s training to explain that lapse- his skills of deduction were unrivaled, after all. But instead of calling his guardians out on it, he quietly asked if Toge was sick and implored them to go find some medicine for him.  

“Hey Toge,” he whispered as they scurried away in search. “Let me tell you a secret.” He knelt down, balancing on the heels of his suede sneakers so he’d be right on Toge’s level. “That,” he said, pointing to Toge’s mouth, “Is your greatest asset. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. No one else can do what you can. You’re special, Toge.” 

When he left that day, he promised to write Toge a recommendation in a few years when the season for him to apply to school began. If accepted, he’d be the first Inumaki to attend in centuries. 

That’s when Toge’s training truly began.

He snuck out at night, locked himself in the barn and taught himself commands. His attempts were clumsy and breathy, and watching his words work made his stomach churn. Still, he could admit that there was something oddly satisfying about it. Almost like picking a scab. No- it was more than that. It was like pulling back a veil. Toge’s not sure he really met himself until he knew the sound of his own voice. 

He had to be careful though. Same as now, he barely ever raised his voice above a murmur whenever he could avoid it. There’d never been a good reason to do more. The things he could accomplish with merely a whisper were horrifying enough. 

Last night was the first time he’s ever heard his voice in full. It was a terrible, gruesome, mighty thing. Before the inevitable fallout brought him down, it was the most powerful Toge has ever felt in his life. Dimly, he wonders if Yuuta feels that way all the time. Like he could bring down the entire world as a moment’s notice. 

But as the throbbing ache in his throat tugs at his consciousness and the nag of sunlight starts to filter in, Toge significantly less tough.

“Toge,” he whispers. “Are you awake?” 

It’s Yuuta. Of course it’s Yuuta. Even before Toge was fully awake, he could recognize that Yuuta would be sitting in the chair beside him when he opened his eyes. Whether that was his body registering Yuuta’s magic, or something else entirely, Toge isn’t sure. 

As the world comes into view, so does he. The first thing Toge spots is Yuuta’s ruined shirt, once a perfect white and now caked over with dried blood. That’s right, Toge remembers. Lost bits from the night before start coming back in flashes. Yuuta holding Toge’s limp body. Maki appearing beside him and calling out for help. An incredible warmth washing over him, even before Ieiri arrived on the scene.

Yuuta must have healed him. Or at least, he must have tried. Toge’s not sure how he would possibly have had enough magic to do anything. Without a doubt, they scratched the bottom of his well last night. 

Last night. 

With a start, Toge tries to sit up. A sharp pain invades his head and neck the second he attempts it, forcing him immediately back down. He hisses with pain. It’s been a while since he needed any large-scale healing magic, so he’d forgotten the toll it came with. Complete exhaustion and withdrawal. He’s only just woken up, and he already feels like he could go back to sleep for a million years. 

“Just rest,” Yuuta coaxes. “It’s all okay now.” 

Toge lets his eyes drift back shut, processing that statement. 

“We did it, Toge. We actually did it.” Even with his eyes closed, Toge can hear the smile on Yuuta’s face as he says it. He’s basking in the glow. 

Through the haziness and the tugging of pain, Toge feels his own lips curve up. He wants to reach out to Yuuta, but can’t quite find the strength. Somehow, just knowing that he’s there is enough.

“You must have questions,” Yuuta realizes. 

Hundreds of them. Is everyone okay? Is Gojo well? That’s just the beginning of it. Toge wants to know everything he’s missed in the last several hours. 

Yuuta begins slowly filling him in, not sparing a single detail. It’s like he knew exactly the questions Toge would have asked. His voice is steady and smooth, dangerously close to luling Toge back to sleep in spite of the fact that he’s hanging on every word. Honestly, finally being on the other side of their plan already feels like a dream. 

Gojo is shaken, but okay. Ieiri is making him recover for another day or so before letting him re-enter the world. He seems unharmed, but has offered no explanation for his travels yet. The main floor of the cottage is mostly destroyed, but fixable with a bit of magic. Their friends are all sleeping it off back at their dorms, and all of them have been excused from classes for the day- though Nanami told Yuuta that he really can’t afford to miss any more of their lessons, since he skipped so many times during their research period. 

He doesn’t seem bothered by it. Toge manages to bring his eyes up to one of Ieiri’s clocks and notice that it’s still early. Yuuta can still make it to their first period if he hurries. Though, he really should be resting after the feat he pulled off last night. 

The hum of his magic is still depleted, lacking its normal timbre, but it’s not nearly as diminished as Toge would have thought. It still leaks out of him and into the air, trickling like a thawing, early-spring stream instead of its usual rapid clip. At this rate, Toge suspects it will be back to full speed before the end of the day. Toge’s magic, on the other hand, is still completely shot. He doubts he could even get a word out right now, either spoken aloud or written out with an enchantment. He’s in a pretty pathetic state, considering the disparity between the amount of magic they both used last night. 

Yuuta relaxes into his seat. Toge wonders if he got any sleep at all last night. Someone has replaced one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs in the infirmary with an old leather armchair though, so at the very least he was comfortable. 

“You know, this reminds me of the first time we were in here together,” Yuuta says fondly. 

Toge can’t keep the bafflement off his face. First time? Toge’s only been in the infirmary a handful of times, and never with Yuuta. “I guess you wouldn’t remember.” 

Thoughtlessly, Toge opens his mouth to argue, but even the idea of making a noise right now sends a flash of pain down his throat. Clearly, his injury was so troublesome that just one round of healing wasn’t going to be enough to solve the problem. Ieiri must be coming back later to examine him. Yuuta has probably been instructed not to try anything himself, since his touch is not nearly as delicate as hers. 

He has a faraway look in his eyes, mercifully not noticing the brief struggle Toge just put himself through. He stares out the window behind Toge’s bed, just an inch above his head. 

“Do you remember when I got suspended?” he asks. “We were first years, at the time.” 

Yuuta Okkotsu, suspended? Impossible. If such a thing had happened, Toge would surely know about it. Him missing an entire day of classes would have been noteworthy enough to cause disruption- everyone would have wondered where he was. There was no world in which Yuuta was suspended and Toge didn’t hear about it. His attendance record was near perfect, after all. The only time he’s ever missed class was during his first week of school, back when- wait.

“I’m not sure if you know this,” Yuuta continues, a smirk creeping across his face. “But during our first week of classes, I was suspended for punching Naoya Zen’in in the face.” 

Toge’s brain short-circuits. What? 

He files through his mind, searching for any memory of the day Naoya put that terrible enchantment on him. Before he passed out, he distinctly remembers hearing Maki’s voice, but the rest is fuzzy. Could Yuuta have been there too? In the last moments of consciousness, he does remember feeling a thump of energy. Maybe, just maybe, he’d heard it instead. Like a snapping noise, sharp and decisive. 

Had that been Yuuta? Punching Naoya? 

“Apparently, the administration found it rather brutish that I had resorted to common violence,” Yuuta continues, unbothered. “I actually think I would have gotten off without any punishment at all if I’d just used magic on him. I was still pretty new to magic at the time though, so it didn’t really occur to me. All I knew was that he had done something terrible to you and I needed to stop him.”

Toge feels like the breath has been knocked out of him. All these years, it’s been something of a mystery to Toge how he got to the infirmary that day. He’d purposefully never asked. The idea of one of the upperclassmen having to come to his rescue and haul him away was too embarrassing for words. But all this time… it had been Yuuta?

“It’s lucky for both of us that Maki was there. She pulled me off of him, fed me the proper counter spell in time. By then, it was almost too late. I’d only started learning Dr. Ieiri’s technique the day before, but if I hadn’t tried…”  

He doesn’t have to finish that sentence for Toge to know what was going to say. If Yuuta hadn’t been there to heal him, Toge wouldn’t have survived. It’s not exactly surprising information. In the moments before passing out, Toge had made his peace with death. He was actually shocked when he woke up the next day. He truly hadn’t expected to. 

“Honestly, if I’d gotten magic involved that day… I probably would have killed Naoya for what he did to you.” 

His face doesn’t waver when he says it, not even for a second. Toge has only seen that kind of intensity in him a few times, usually coupled with a great surge of magic. Today, it’s just a fire poker encouraging the flames of a hearth, but still. Even way back then, before the two of them really knew each other at all, Yuuta was ready to kill for him. 

Toge nods, letting Yuuta know that he understands the sentiment. He’s glad they don’t dwell on it too much. Yuuta really doesn’t have to say what a horrible thing that experience was. Toge already knows too well. 

“I really wanted to check in on you afterwards,” Yuuta says quietly, slightly shy. “But we obviously had to keep the extent of my involvement a secret. Gojo said… he said it would be better if you never found out.”

Knowing what he does now, Toge can admit that Gojo was probably right. Yuuta had a lot at stake, and someone discovering his secrets just a week into school could have had disastrous consequences. Plus, Toge knows himself well enough to know that he wouldn’t have taken the news well. He would have felt ashamed and embarrassed in front of Yuuta for the rest of their academic career, feeling as though he was somehow in debt to him. Yuuta wouldn’t have cared, but Toge would have. 

Still, Toge feels a pang. It was the worst moment of Toge’s life and Yuuta was right there. He saved Toge’s life, and Toge never so much as thanked him for it. 

“It was just weird though, because… I didn’t really have many friends at the time?” 

Toge balks at that. There’s no way that was true. Yuuta was popular, right from the start. Right? Now that Toge thinks about it, his memory doesn’t really go back that far. He was too concerned with finding his own footing that week that he didn’t really have time to worry about what anyone else was doing. 

“And after that, It just felt like we were friends,” Yuuta continues. “Bonded somehow. I remember sitting in the infirmary and wishing you would wake up. I needed to know you were going to be okay. I needed to know you wouldn’t…” 

His voice trails off, starting to waver. He sounds as if he might cry, just talking about it. Toge’s heart all but stops in his chest when he realizes why that might be. Rika. 

She’d died when they were young. Toge can’t even imagine what that had brought up for him, watching one of his classmates bleeding out after what he went through with her. He watched her die, powerless to do anything about it, and he was seconds away from repeating the ordeal with Toge. 

Yuuta shakes his head, brushing it off and starting back up again. 

“But it was obviously one-sided,” he recounts. “You didn’t even really know who I was back then. You’d barely even make eye-contact with me.” 

Toge blanches. He knew exactly who Yuuta was back then. That’s why he avoided eye-contact. What would he possibly have had to offer the most popular person in their grade? Nothing at all. Every time Yuuta came anywhere near him, Toge bailed almost immediately. It seems exceptionally foolish now. He can’t even really think of a good reason for it. He must have come off as cold and severe.

“I won’t lie,” Yuuta tells him. “I was too afraid to talk to you. You were so intimidating.” 

Toge’s throat cries out with pain as he coughs something out like a laugh. Toge? Intimidating? In what universe? 

“You were so mysterious!” Yuuta defends. “You never talked to anyone, you ruined every grading curve by being the smartest person on the planet, and on top of it all you had purple eyes. Who has purple eyes, Toge? No one!” 

If Yuuta doesn’t stop, Toge’s going to undo all of Ieiri’s efforts with bitter laughter. That portrait of Toge that he’s painting is so egregiously faulty. Was that really how he saw Toge? Mysterious? The smartest person on the planet? 

Yuuta was really taking notice of his eyes? Even all the way back then? 

“Plus you were just so… confident,” Yuuta continues. Toge starts to choke again. “Stop that!” he scolds, face flooding with concern. “You’re going to hurt yourself!” 

Toge waves a hand, half-promising to settle down. Yuuta doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he continues anyway. 

“I just really admired the way you carried yourself,” Yuuta says seriously, not letting up. “You have this quiet strength to you, Toge. I don’t know if you know that about yourself. When you’re around, everyone else is instantly more at ease. They know that you’re the kind of person who can be depended on, no matter what. You saw how our friends acted this week. As soon as there was a problem, they turned to you.” 

Toge wishes the watering in his eyes was an aftereffect from the pain, but it isn’t. Yuuta’s saying so many nice things that Toge can’t even keep up with him. Perhaps the best one of all though, is hearing him say our friends. Hakari, Kirara, Megumi, Nobara, Yuuji- they were just as much Toge’s friends now as they were Yuuta’s. 

He has to admit, it felt good to be leaned on throughout this process. Toge felt… important. He’s always known that he was smart, but it was different to use his cleverness for the sake of something. Not once in his life has anyone ever been reliant on him before. Toge surprised himself by realizing the feeling was not at all unpleasant. 

“I wish I had your steadiness,” Yuuta tells him. 

The words are so simple, but Toge thinks it’s the best compliment he’s ever received. Perhaps he’s just a tad bit smug to know that he has something that Yuuta Okkotsu is lacking. 

“And I wish…” he tries, eyes downcast. “I wish I had worked up the courage to talk to you when we were still first years. I feel like we wasted so much time. All these years, we could have been friends. We could have been together.” 

He’s right. It really does seem like a shame that they wasted all that time. Toge’s head is swimming, though. 

Things have gotten so complicated between them. Yuuta’s secret. Toge’s curse. Gojo’s rescue. The way those things interacted wasn’t pretty. The process of learning to trust one another had been excruciating for both of them. Toge peeled back so many layers of himself that by the end of the ordeal he just felt raw beneath Yuuta’s gaze. Yuuta has seen him exhausted, seen him cry, seen him cursed. With Yuuta he’s been at his best, and arguably, at his very worst.

Toge had been so sure that once Gojo was back, that the two of them would have no reason to continue being friends. Now, he can’t remember why that was. The connection that has been forged between them seems immutable. 

Going into the last week, Toge remembers being furious at Yuuta. He feels his eyes fluttering shut as he tries to find a reason for that. He knows he must have had one at some point. No matter how he tries though, he can’t access that feeling. 

Instead, his mind wanders to the future. It seems impossible to him now that the two of them could go even a day without seeing each other. They’ve fallen into a rhythm now. Breaking it would be unnatural. 

“You’re tired,” Yuuta notes. “Ieiri will be back soon to monitor your treatment. You’ll probably need another session with her. You should rest till then.” 

Toge forces his eyes back open, reaching out his hand to Yuuta. He has something to say before he nods off again. 

“Don’t strain yourself,” Yuuta tells him, jumping up and catching Toge’s hand. He gives it a gentle squeeze. “You don’t need to say anything. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here when you wake up again.”

Toge shakes his head, adjusting the positions of their hands. Yuuta isn’t understanding him properly. He presses his index finger into Yuuta’s palm and starts tracing, at a loss for any other means of communication. 

“C,” Yuuta reads, interpreting the first letter. “L,” he recites as Toge continues, looking up for confirmation. “A-”   

He pulls back suddenly, silencing Toge’s hand by clasping it between both of his own. “You’re kidding. You want me to go to class that badly?” 

Toge nods. If Yuuta’s well enough to be here, he’s well enough to go to class. Perhaps it’s the brain fog that Toge is swimming in right now, but he’s sure that he’ll feel much better if Yuuta attends his lessons today. They came for Toge the second his academics started to slip, so who’s to say that they won’t come for Yuuta next? Yuuta has so much more at stake if things go wrong for him. 

“Fine,” Yuuta groans. “I will,” he announces, sliding a hand beneath the hair on Toge’s forehead and resting it there. “But only if you promise to go back to sleep okay?” 

Toge manages to nod his head just a little, careful not to disturb Yuuta’s hand. He doesn’t want to risk it being pulled away. His eyelids are growing heavier by the second, already primed to cater to Yuuta’s request. 

“Toge…” he starts. “You know that all of this only worked because of you, right? At every single stage, you were the one who pulled us through. You’re the reason we brought Gojo back. None of it would have been possible without you.” 

He breathes out a dismissal, shaking his head ever so slightly. If anything, the opposite was true. For as long as he can remember, Toge has always liked doing things on his own. Since the moment he arrived at this school, he’s prided himself on his independence. It wasn’t till he began working on this project with Yuuta that he realized he could ask for help. 

The contributions that every single person made to this rescue, right down to Nanami’s last minute interventions, were completely essential. This only worked because they all banded together. Even a month ago, Toge would have outright refused to ask for that kind of help. 

He’s grown during this, then. Maybe they both have. 

“So you have to get better quickly,” Yuuta instructs. “Because what will the rest of us do without you?” 

Toge disregards that, because he can’t stay awake even a second longer. He falls asleep in that exact position. Yuuta’s hand is still on his forehead, brushing back his hair. 

Gojo is rescued. Toge is safe. Yuuta is here. It’s the most peaceful he’s felt in years. 

“Wow,” Megumi says dryly, peeking at the notes Maki is copying down. “I would’ve thought that with all the fancy tutors the clan provided, at least one of them would have done something about your handwriting.” 

Maki and Megumi are arguing in the library, much to Toge's chagrin. Now that Megumi isn’t so weighed down by Gojo’s absence, his real personality has started to shine through- and it seems as though Maki’s casual snarkiness has finally met its match. Call it a family resemblance. 

“So I guess there really wasn’t any real advantage to growing up there,” he tacks on with ambivalence, clearly trying to get a rise out of her. His funeral, as far as Toge is concerned. 

“Save it, punk,” Maki huffs back. “Before I decide to rewrite your face instead.” She matches Megumi’s scowl so perfectly that Toge can’t tell if it’s mocking or genuine. As it turns out, Zen’in blood is more damning than Inumaki. It’s eerie how similarly their faces move.

Toge actually finds it sort of amusing to see someone challenge her like this, but does it have to be right now? They have so much studying to catch up on. 

It’s been almost two whole weeks since Gojo’s rescue, and Toge is still mitigating the academic disaster he’s made for himself by skating by for an entire month instead of properly studying. He likes to be ahead, and right now he still feels completely behind. He’s been going back and teaching himself everything he half-learned while daydreaming about multidimensional mathematic equations during their classes. It already feels like a lifetime ago.  

Missing three whole days of class after the rescue certainly didn’t help. Ieiri had him patched up in full by day two, but demanded he take an additional day off for recovery. Healing magic is so taxing that Toge really didn’t have it in him to argue with her when he was first sent back to his dorm, but by Wednesday afternoon he was already restless and itching to be back in class. After that and a few days of vocal rest, Toge thinks of himself as back to full capacity. 

Which just left the shambles of his coursework. If he were anyone else, he’d be satisfied with the ground he’s already made up, but Toge won’t be happy till he’s undeniably the best in his class. Some things have changed about him over the last month or so. That hasn’t. 

Toge is looking up and over his shoulder before he’s even conscious of it, just in time to see Yuuta striding in through the front door and heading towards their usual table. 

“Look who it is,” Maki greets as he approaches. “Gotta admit. It’s still shocking to see you in a library, Yuuta.” 

“Do I really come off as that much of a slacker?” Yuuta frets. He brushes off the distraction rather quickly though, turning to face Megumi. “Hey, I just ran into Yuuji. He’s looking for you. Something about the greenhouse?”  

“Ah,” Megumi jolts, consulting his wristwatch. “I’d better head out.” 

If Toge isn’t mistaken, he looks a little pink as he collects his things, shuffling his usually neat files into his bag gracelessly. What he’d be doing with Yuuji Itadori in the school’s greenhouse after dark, Toge doesn’t want to consider too deeply. As he leaves them, Maki buries her face in her hands, letting tufts of her bangs poke out from between her fingers. 

“They could at least try to be subtle about it,” she groans. “Whose idea was it to be friends with the underclassmen again?”  

Yuuta slides into the open seat Megumi left, not daring to say even a word on that subject.  

The three of them have been hanging out like this pretty regularly now. Yuuta has wedged himself effortlessly into their dynamic as if he’d been part of it all along and Maki has been remarkably cool about it. To the naked eye, it probably looks like Yuuta and his friends have adopted Maki, but Toge is fairly certain it was the other way around. Megumi and the other underclassman have fallen under her wing and Yuuta is allowed to join them at their table in the dining hall. She’s quite discerning, so that’s no small feat. 

“Don’t be mad,” Yuuta primes, catching Maki’s attention instantly. She’s always ready for an excuse to be mad. “But I actually came to steal Toge for a little, if you can spare him.” 

Toge’s not sure what to be more confused about- the fact that Yuuta is asking Maki’s permission to take Toge somewhere, or the idea that Yuuta thinks Toge is even close to being ready to leave the library tonight. He only just settled in. There are a hundred other things he wants to accomplish tonight before turning in, and getting distracted with Yuuta’s shenanigans is not on that list.

“Oh, I suppose I can allow it,” Maki tells him with mock-magnaminty. “Nah, I actually have to go meet up with Nobara anyway. I’ll catch up with you all later, yeah?” 

Yuuta confirms eagerly, looking genuinely excited about the prospect. Toge has started to realize that all of Yuuta’s friends were a direct result of Gojo. Hakari and Kirara had been asked to look out for him, and Megumi and his pals were always around. Before Toge and Maki, he’d never actually had any friends of his own making. 

“Nobara, huh?” Yuuta whispers once she’s out of earshot, leaning in conspiratorially. “She could at least try to be subtle about it,” he teases, turning her words against her. 

Oh. Oh. Actually, Maki had been pretty subtle about it, if Yuuta is suggesting what Toge thinks he is. Huh. It seems like Maki doesn't mind being friendly with the underclassmen all that much after all. 

“So, what do you say? Can I steal you for a bit?”

Instead of offering an answer, Toge instinctively clutches his book close to his chest.  Yuuta gets the point.

“I know, I know,” he concedes. “I wouldn’t dream of pulling you away from your precious library, but it’s not me who’s asking. Gojo wants to speak with you.” 

Toge perks right up at that, book long forgotten. 

Gojo’s presence has resumed on campus, almost in full. The trials have been canceled and his classes are being reassigned back to him starting on Monday. Everything is back to normal, but there’s still one loose end that’s been nagging at Toge: Gojo still hasn’t offered anyone an explanation for his actions. Toge was starting to doubt they were ever going to get one, considering how sensitive some of his work outside of campus is. 

This sounds promising though. Toge has been wanting to touch base with Gojo ever since he got back, but other than a brief and fruitless visit while Toge was still half-passed out in the infirmary, they haven’t gotten the chance. Maybe it’s misplaced, but Toge feels entitled to at least a few answers about his travels, considering what they went through to get him back. 

Toge wastes no time packing up his things. It’s getting into late November now, so he’s finally deemed it cold enough to pull out his winter coat. He shrugs the tan duffle coat over his shoulders, looping toothy buttons into leather strands and tucking the ends of his scarf into its plaid lining. Yuuta watches every movement with interest, looking up at Toge from his seat. Toge blinks at him expectantly, waiting for him to get up so they can go.

“Oh,” Yuuta realizes, jumping up. “Right.” 

He lets Yuuta lead the way, so he doesn’t realize it right away when they pass the uniform closet with Megumi’s path. From a few steps behind, Toge can see that Yuuta is holding his broad shoulders with complete confidence, so he decides not to call him on it. Maybe it’s impolite for them to visit through Megumi’s portal? It’s probably more proper to announce themselves through the front gate. 

It still feels a bit strange for them to be walking down the faculty hall though, even if they do have an invitation to be doing so. At the very least, they don’t run into any of their teachers as they arrive at the end of the corridor, where Gojo’s small universe waits behind thick walls. Yuuta walks up to it and gently raises his hand to the wallpaper.  

“So, uh,” he sputters. “Apparently there was a trick to this the whole time.” 

He knocks methodically against the wall, keeping a quick and careful rhythm, and it starts to shift instantly. Toge narrows his eyes, remembering what all that they went through to get into it the first time. Yuuta scratches the back of his neck nervously. 

“Sorry about that,” he says, unable to resist an excuse to apologize. He gestures to the door as it reveals itself. “After you.” 

Toge stalls. The first time they accessed it, the whole point was that Yuuta had to go first, since he was on the list of accepted people. Had he already forgotten? At this point, Toge wouldn’t put it past him. He looks to Yuuta curiously, who is smiling at Toge brightly.

“That’s why I brought you this way,” he explains. “Gojo registered your magic with the door earlier this week. You’re officially allowed to enter and exit as you please.”   

Toge feels himself soften immediately. Could that really be true? Gojo trusted him that much?

“Go on,” Yuuta encourages.  

Tentatively, Toge steps forward. When his fingers connect with the gilded doorknob, he feels a crackle as both magics interact. A spark of electricity pricks at his thumb and the handle gives way, granting him entrance. It’s dark already on campus, but Gojo’s sky is at the peak of twilight.

Toge feels his breath catch as he’s greeted by streaks of gold lacing the sky, illuminating layers of vibrant pinks and purples and indigos that peel back into the night sky above their heads. It’s the most beautiful sunset Toge has ever seen, closer to an exaggerated artist interpretation than to real life. How is Gojo doing this? Is it all an illusion? Does this world have its own sun?

In all honesty, Toge sort of doesn’t want to know. It’s hard for him to look at magic and not wonder exactly how it works, but for once in his life Toge doesn’t want to worry about the mechanics. He just wants to enjoy it. Yuuta is just a breath behind him, taking in the view- the sunny proof that Gojo is back and exactly where he was always meant to be.

“There’s no one quite like Gojo, is there?” Yuuta remarks, voice tinged with relief. 

Toge shakes his head no. There really isn’t. 

They take an easy pace to the cottage, walking side by side as the sunset deepens. Toge considers how much calmer Yuuta has seemed since Gojo returned. He isn’t different, per se, but he is more relaxed. He smiles freely. He tells jokes. Even his magic seems more settled, no longer having the need to be at constant alert. Toge can’t be sure quite yet, but it even seems like the dark circles under his eyes have lessened. He’s sleeping again. Eating, too, which Toge can be sure of, since they take their meals together now. 

Actually, they do pretty much everything together now. Maybe the trauma of this ordeal has bonded them. Tonight is their last obligation to it. Somehow, Toge doubts that tying a neat little bow around the whole thing will be enough to change anything between them. 

Gojo is waiting for them at the door, silhouette backlit by the house lights as he leans against the frame. He’s wearing mortal world clothes again, something he never does on campus. The jeans he wears now are dark and sleek, giving a more mature feel than the ones he wore the day he met Toge for the first time.  Toge prefers the torn up, light-wash version, but maybe that’s just him being sentimental. 

The sleeves on his thin cotton shirt are rolled up, and he’s drying a ceramic mug with an old rag. Had he been doing dishes or something? Satoru Gojo doing housework. It seems far too menial for the strongest. 

“Thanks for coming,” Gojo greets. “How have you been recovering?” 

It’s clear he’s addressing Toge, so Toge nods enthusiastically, hoping to show enough energy to dispel any of his worries. Gojo smiles warmly at that and welcomes them both in. 

“Jackets and winter things can go on the hooks,” he instructs. Reluctantly, Toge parts with his scarf, knowing that Gojo chose his wording purposefully. Yuuta flashes him a knowing look, commiserating. 

If not for sheets covering the couches, Toge would have completely forgotten this room was recently torn up and stitched back together. Gojo works fast. He must still be working on getting the furniture clean from soot. With a cringe, Toge hopes that none of the pieces were speckled with his blood. That would be quite a nasty stain to lift from a velvet couch. He has to remind himself that Gojo can definitely handle the task before he gets himself too worked up about it. 

“Ah, Yuuta. A few of my herbs have gone south,” Gojo reports. “Why don’t you go tend to them real quickly?”

Yuuta nods dutifully, perking right up at the idea of being useful. Toge realizes that Ieiri’s magic- healing magic- must have the ability to work on plants, as well. That would be pretty nifty. Toge will have to inquire about it with Yuuta later. 

As soon as the door to the greenhouse clicks behind him, Gojo steps closer. 

“I let them get parched on purpose,” he tells Toge in a low voice. Gojo has a way of making people feel important, and today, he’s doing it by letting Toge in on a secret. Even knowing what he’s up to, Toge still feels it working. He can’t help but feel smug to be let in on the scheme, a connection forming between just the two of them. “I just needed to get him out of the way for a few minutes. I’ve been wanting to ask you. How’d you do it?” 

It takes Toge a second to figure out what he’s asking. How did they save him? He grimaces at the idea of having to explain it all from scratch. He’ll have to find a pad of paper. 

“How’d you get him to wear a color other than black?” 

Oh. Toge lets out a breath of relief, freed from what surely would’ve been an extremely long-winded explanation. 

He doesn’t really have a good answer for Gojo, though. It wasn’t a conscious effort. Toge had simply offered him a white shirt one day, and for whatever reason, Yuuta had decided to wear it. He’d noticed the all-black thing before obviously, but he hadn’t been thinking about it too hard at the time. It did make sense that Gojo was commenting on it now, though. Yuuta had worn that shirt especially for him the day he returned. 

“I’ve been trying for years to no avail,” Gojo admits. “Ever since everything with Rika went down, it’s like he’s been in eternal mourning. I was starting to think he’d be dressed for a funeral all his life.” 

Toge hadn’t put the two things together before. He thought that Yuuta simply liked wearing black. It matched the generally somber aura he gave off before Toge got to really know him. He hadn’t realized it had anything to do with Rika. 

Now, Toge feels a little guilty about it all. Just a few nights ago, Toge talked Yuuta into letting him lighten one of his undershirts, turning true black to a dusty navy that matched his eyes. He’s even started favoring a white button up with his uniform lately. Toge had been so pleased about that, but now he worries that it was done at Rika’s expense. She had been right there when Toge messed with both garments, though. Surely if she was unhappy about it, she’d have let Toge know. She isn’t exactly the type to stay quiet. 

Maybe she wants Yuuta to move on and stop grieving. She always does seem to be trying to lift his spirits, playing jokes and ruffling his hair from beyond. Perhaps that’s why she tolerates Toge’s presence in the first place. 

“You’re good for him,” Gojo says offhandedly. 

Toge’s chest tightens with anticipation as he waits for him to elaborate, but he never does. He’s pretty sure he knows what Gojo means, though. Yuuta doesn’t seem as sad these days as he once did. Toge had chalked that up to Gojo’s return, but he dares to wonder if maybe there was more to it. 

“All better,” Yuuta tells them sunnily, heading back in. He looks back and forth, trying to get a sense for their expressions. He opens his mouth, as if to remark on it, but Gojo beats him to it. 

“I imagine you two have some questions for me,” he says in a grand voice, clearly ready to shift into more official business. “I’ll be honest. I can’t tell you all that much. But there’s one thing I’d like you both to see.” 

He shifts his body, making himself parallel with the fireplace in the center of the room. Toge notices immediately that the objects displayed above it- the rope and the dual bladed dagger- have been shifted, allowing room for a small silver box behind the glass. It looks like the depictions in Toge’s book, but even from afar Toge can see shapes disturbing the surface of the cube. Eyes.

Toge gasps. 

“Is that…?” Yuuta ventures. 

“The prison realm,” Gojo confirms. “Neatly tucked away, where it can never contain another person ever again. It’s officially out of commission.” 

Toge and Yuuta stare at it for a long moment, trying to make sense of his words. Can Gojo do that? Take an entire dimension out of commission? Toge swallows nervously as he considers the properties of the other artifacts Gojo keeps sealed behind glass. If they’re anywhere near as dangerous as the prison realm, Toge prays they’re never disturbed. 

“There are things you don’t know,” Gojo says somberly. “It isn’t something the two of you should worry about, but there are rumblings of a war beyond the walls of this school. But with this,” he says, gesturing to the little cube, “Our odds have been greatly improved. With the Prison Realm out of the picture, we stand a real chance of ending this conflict before it begins. That’s thanks to you, Toge.”

He turns to face him as Toge shakes his head vehemently. Yuuta is just as much a part of this as he was, maybe more. Nothing was done alone. He motions eagerly to Yuuta, hoping to spread the praise. 

“Both of you,” Gojo corrects, nodding sagely. “But Yuuta is family. He had an obligation to me. But you, Toge, did not. In fact, quite the opposite.” 

Toge lets the words hang in the air for a moment. Of course, he knows what Gojo is speaking of. The curse. 

Yuuta’s lip twitches, face unreadable. Toge still hasn’t told him about where the curse originated from, so he probably has no idea what Gojo is referring to. Gojo keeps his eyes trained on Toge, though. Toge can feel the weight of his unwavering gaze even through the blindfold.

He speaks the truth. If anything, Toge should have been delighted to let a member of the Gojo clan languish in the prison realm. It’s what any of the clansmen before him would have done. But saying that Toge has no obligation to Satoru Gojo would be entirely false. He’d never have the life he does now if not for Gojo. He knows that well. Getting into this school was no accident, and Gojo is the one to thank for that. 

Toge shakes his head, dismissing the notion. He will always owe Gojo a debt, both for his intervention in Toge’s admission process and for all of the great teachings he’s provided since. In fact, there are probably a hundred other things that have happened behind the scenes that Toge is indebted to him for. Gojo has been protecting their universe for as long as Toge has been alive.

“Why are you contesting me?” Gojo asks, curious. “Because of a measly recommendation? That was simply what you were owed, Toge. I’d have done that for any student as talented and hardworking as you, just to have you at my school. You shouldn’t regard that as a favor.” 

Toge tries hard to process that. He knows that if he hadn’t been working at a high-level with his magic, he never would have been admitted to the academy. He hadn’t considered that Gojo’s motivation for helping him get accepted could be anything other than guilt, though. That’s surely what his guardians thought about the matter. Coming to see Toge that day had to be an attempt at atonement, a make-good for years of dismissal. There’s never been any other explanation for it until now. 

Maybe it isn’t so unbelievable to think there could have been more to Gojo’s choice that day.  Toge looks at the group he helped assemble for the rescue mission. For the most part, they were a group of outcasts. Children from the mortal world, the rejected wards of great clans, sorcerers with strange and unaccepted magic. None of them fit in the academy’s traditional mold, but they all had one thing in common. They were all brought here by Gojo. Recruited. 

Together, they comprised some of the most powerful students on campus. Was Toge included in that? Had he really been brought to this school based on skill? Did Gojo really think he was that valuable? 

A few weeks ago, Toge never would have been able to accept that. But now that he’s actually been useful… it’s something he could actually allow himself to consider. 

“I know that you were essential in this effort,” Gojo continues. “If not for you, I would still be imprisoned. I’m in your debt, Toge, and it's important to me that I repay my debts.” 

Again, Toge would like to deny him, but something about his tone makes him go rigid and still. It’s unlike their teacher to speak so seriously, but right now he is grave. 

“There’s really only one thing I can offer you,” Gojo tells him. He turns his back to Yuuta and Toge, slowly approaching a console table backed up against the wall. His hand rests on a small wooden drawer.

Toge can’t explain why, but all of a sudden the hair on his body is standing on end. The atmosphere has shifted. The short pause before Gojo speaks again seems to last a lifetime. 

“What if I were to break your curse?” 

Toge’s ears start to ring. He doesn’t even have the awareness to gasp, yet he feels his eyes widening and his heart beginning to pound. All the air has left the room. 

Did he just hear that correctly? 

No. No, he couldn’t have. Toge’s curse can’t be broken. Toge knows that. Years of studying and searching for answers have led him to one simple conclusion- a curse of his caliber, aided by centuries of escalation, could never be broken. 

So what is this swelling in his chest? Why does he find himself leaning in to see what Gojo’s doing? Why does he believe it? 

If it were anyone else, Toge would dismiss the idea altogether. But Gojo is larger than life, more powerful than a god. If he believes in something, then it’s true. It has to be. He can see things that aren’t there. He knows things that can’t be conceived by anyone else. He’s the six-eyes. And if he says Toge’s curse can be lifted, that means it is truly possible. 

Toge doesn’t know what to do with himself. His hands are shaking. Cold sweat runs down the nape of his neck. He completely loses track of his surroundings, Yuuta included. 

“I could free you from your curse,” Gojo continues, careful. “If that’s something you wanted.” 

Slowly, Gojo slides open the drawer, revealing a small hand mirror. It’s made of silver, boasting intricate designs so emphasized by tarnish that it could only have come from a time long, long ago. Toge can feel the glow of its magic even from across the room, emanating something warm and heady. He feels himself bob forward towards it, his balance suddenly off. 

He’s managed to stop himself from swaying by the time Gojo appears in front of him, gingerly holding out the oval-shaped artifact to Toge. 

“That’s what you want more than anything, right?” Gojo asks. He nudges the mirror closer, beckoning Toge to take it. 

Toge takes a moment to steady himself, gripping his hands into fists in an attempt to get them to stop shaking. Something about this moment feels monumental. This is what Toge has been waiting for all his life. A means of breaking his curse. Right now Gojo is offering it to him clear as day. 

So why is Toge hesitating? 

In all the years he’s imagined living without his curse, he’s never imagined what it would be like to actually break it. He could never think of a situation realistic enough to feed the fantasy. Now that it’s unfolding before him, Toge isn’t sure how to act. He doesn't know what he should be like. Excited? Amazed? Relieved? He wants to feel those things. Instead, all that he can recognize in himself is apprehension. He pushes through it, reaching out for the mirror and weighing it in his hands. 

It’s heavy. The scalloped edges press into Toge’s palm. Its magic laces into Toge’s bloodstream, taking over like a drug. Even without instruction, he knows exactly what he’s meant to do. He raises the mirror slowly, bringing it to his face. When he sees what’s staring back at him, he can’t help but gasp. 

It’s him. It’s him without his curse. 

The person looking back at Toge shares his expressions and features, lips and eyebrows quirking in time with Toge’s. The skin is pale like Toge’s. The shape of his face and nose are all the same, the familiar structure unbroken. The similarities stop there. 

In place of silver hair, Toge is sporting a dramatic sweep of sandy, dark blonde hair. The jarring, unnatural hue of his eyes has softened into a pale sage color, an exact match to the scarf Toge has worn every day this school year. And of course, the most glaring of all-

Toge’s sigils are nowhere to be found.

He pokes out his tongue, just to check. He can’t help himself. He keeps shifting his cheeks, waiting for the illusion to shatter. Surely his sigils are beneath the surface, ready to rear their ugly darkness at the drop of a hat. He’s sure that the second he makes the wrong move, the whole thing will unravel. He’s watching for it, waiting. 

And then he realizes exactly what it is he’s waiting for. 

Suddenly, the mirror's intoxicating quality turns noxious. The golden liquid it’s been pumping into him reveals itself as rotten, nothing but bile creeping back up Toge’s throat. There is no more euphoric dizziness. The dreamlike haze he’s been wading through has been sucked right out of the room, leaving Toge with nothing but horror as the veil is pulled back. 

The person who’s staring back at him in the mirror right now, the person he has strived to be all his life, is a complete stranger. 

It isn’t Toge. It’s a version of him, maybe, but it isn’t him. Everything that makes Toge who he is has been stripped away. He realizes within a second that he doesn’t just hate this idea of himself, he despises it. He resents the way it looks as if someone has washed him away, treating all of his distinct features as impurities to be scrubbed clean. 

Toge has spent so long wondering what he’d be without his curse. Now he knows. He’d be nothing. 

The sigils, the restrictions he’s faced all his life, and his greatest strength. They’re all the same. The idea of removing any of that, of risking the one thing that distinguished him- the very thing that saved Gojo- makes him sick.  

His magic acts without his permission, bursting out of him and sending a winding crack right down the center of the mirror. The shock of it is so great that Toge lets the mirror fall to the ground, yanking his hand free as if he’d been burned by the object. 

It tumbles on the ground with a great cacophony as the glass shatters. 

“Toge?” Yuuta jumps, panicked. “Are you okay?”

Toge’s hands fly up to his face, frantically searching for signs of the sigils as if he could actually feel them by touch. They’re still there, right? Toge hadn’t felt anything happen. Surely the magic of that mirror wouldn’t be potent enough to break Toge’s curse just like that. The sigils must be there still. They have to be. 

“Nothing has changed yet,” Gojo assures, finding the source of Toge’s distress in an instant. “We’ll only go through with this if you’re sure it’s what you want.” 

Finally, Toge can breathe again. He sucks in a breath, drinking in the oxygen as if someone had been holding his head underwater. He’s still himself. That’s all he needs to know. 

“It’s a lot to consider,” Gojo tells him. He collects the mirror without comment, ignoring the fact that Toge has condemned it to pieces. “We’ll talk about this another time, hm? You can always come to me if–”

Toge cuts him off, shaking his head resolutely.

He knows exactly what Gojo was going to say. Toge can always come to him if he changes his mind. But Toge already knows he won’t. He has never been more certain of anything in his life. Whatever that mirror was, whatever it promised to do to him, Toge wants no part in it. 

“Alright then,” Gojo says, his voice carrying a certain finality. 

Even with the whole ordeal done with, over as quickly as it started, Toge is trembling. His head is swimming, too overwhelmed to process properly. He needs to get out of here. 

“If that’s all,” Yuuta pipes up, coming in for the save. “We should really be getting back. Toge has a lot of homework.” 

“Oh, just Toge?” Gojo jabs, politely overlooking Toge’s pitiful state and turning the attention on to Yuuta. “Go on ahead. Remember that the both of you are welcome here anytime, even if it’s just to avoid a meal at the dining hall.” 

They exchange goodbyes and Yuuta leads Toge out, a hand pressed against the small of Toge’s back. Without his guidance, Toge’s not sure he would’ve remembered to move his feet. His brain and body have both come to a complete halt. They’re both so overwhelmed that they don’t even catch themselves falling into the routine of walking straight to the storm cellar. 

“Is this okay?” Yuuta asks, leaning down to hike open the entry. 

Toge nods. Tonight, the shadows seem like the least of all possible evils. Toge’s stomach certainly can’t handle teleportation right now, and he’d very much like to avoid a long trek through the school. A walk in the dark actually sounds sort of merciful right now. 

Yuuta offers his hand and they plunge into the darkness, walking single file. They’re only a few steps in when Yuuta stops suddenly. 

“Oh,” he realizes. “That’s right. I’m supposed to keep talk–”

Before he can finish the thought, Toge has launched himself at Yuuta. His fingers fumble in the darkness, clutching fistfuls of Yuuta’s shirt until he is sure his hands are wrapped around his waist. He presses his face into Yuuta. Toge just needs a moment. He just needs a moment like this, to outwardly freak out instead of holding it all in, and then he can go on again. 

Yuuta’s magic wobbles a bit, unsure of how to respond to the sudden threat, but eventually Toge feels him soften as he realizes what’s happening. He rests a hand on the back of Toge’s head, weaving his fingers through Toge’s hair. 

“That must have been shocking,” he says tenderly, choosing his words carefully. “I’m so sorry he blindsided you like that.” 

Toge shakes his head into Yuuta’s chest, hoping he can discern the motion. He shouldn’t apologize. It wasn’t his fault. No one could have predicted Toge would react this way, not even himself.

“I know you can’t really respond properly right now,” Yuuta acknowledges. “But are you sure? That this is really what you want?” 

Slowly, Toge nods. He understands why Yuuta is confused. None of this makes any sense. It was only a few weeks ago that Toge was genuinely touched by Yuuta’s offer to help him break this curse. Toge isn’t that much older than he was when he lived and breathed to change his circumstances. But that’s just it. 

Toge doesn’t want to change. 

Finally, Toge can put a name to the emotion he’s been feeling for the past few minutes. It’s grief. 

Grief for an old dream- a force that fed him, spurred him on, and even defined him for a time- a dream that he has now so clearly outgrown. He doesn’t need it anymore. He doesn’t need to daydream about another version of himself. He likes who he is right now, no change necessary.   

He presses tighter to Yuuta, if such a thing is even possible. They can’t see each other, not even faintly, and perhaps that’s the reason Toge is being as bold as he is. Whatever the reason, it just feels right.

“For what it’s worth,” Yuuta muses. “I like you just as you are. Always have.” 

Even without a clear view of Yuuta’s face, Toge believes that wholeheartedly. For a moment though, he lets himself imagine a shy smile crossing Yuuta’s face as he says the words. 

Eventually, Toge releases him from the embrace, looping his fingers back into Yuuta’s as they continue the journey. Neither of them says anything through the rest of the tunnel. Toge finds that he doesn’t even mind. He’s adjusted to this brand of darkness. 

When they emerge, Toge doesn’t feel nearly as overwhelmed as he did a few minutes before. 

“Did you want to go back to the library?” Yuuta asks half-heartedly. Toge doesn’t even bother with a response. They both know that Toge is done for the night. He’ll just have to make up for lost time tomorrow after class, or before Hakari’s party on Saturday. It turns out he was serious when he told Toge they would celebrate with a party when the rescue efforts succeeded. Toge was the first one invited. 

Halfway down the hall to his dorm room, Toge realizes he left his scarf at Gojo’s. He lifts a hand to his exposed face, but for once, he can’t bring himself to care. Screw the council. What an asinine rule they’d arbitrarily invented for him, deciding he had to be covered up at all times. 

When they get to Toge’s door, they both linger. There’s a moment, and not a short one, where Toge realizes he doesn’t want Yuuta to leave yet. Before he can think up a way to express it though, Yuuta starts getting antsy. He hasn’t said a word since they left the uniform closet, lost in thought. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asks. “At breakfast?” 

Toge manages a smile. Of course. It’s late and there’s no real reason for Yuuta to come in or for Toge to follow him back to the tower. They’ll see each other tomorrow when Toge has had time to fully gather his thoughts on everything that happened tonight. Yuuta will be a few minutes late, as always, but Toge won’t mind because it takes that long for his tea to steep anyway. Their table will smell like his bitter, black coffee, and Toge will welcome it, because it will mean that he needs to wake up, and if he needs to wake up, that means he slept last night.

As Toge starts fiddling with the lock on his door, Yuuta says goodnight and starts down the hall. Once Toge gets it open, he turns to watch Yuuta go, still wondering if it’s not too late to ask him to stay a little while longer. 

Yuuta is already gone. 

“That was fast.” 

Teleportation magic usually is. A second ago, Yuuta was leaving Toge’s dorm. Now, he’s back in Gojo’s living room, where the sheet is pulled back on one of his couches. Gojo is lounging back casually, almost as if he was waiting for Yuuta. He’d been expecting Yuuta to come back here tonight, or else he’d have retired to his chambers for the night already. Yuuta’s stomach flips at that. If he knew Yuuta would have questions, that already starts to confirm some of his suspicions. 

“You came for Toge’s scarf, right?” Gojo prompts. “He seems to have left it behind.” 

“Oh,” Yuuta wanes. Maybe he is jumping to conclusions then. He goes and collects Toge’s scarf from the hook, wrapping it gently around his hand so it won’t graze the floor. It’s surprising that Toge left it. Yuuta had been so lost in thought himself that he didn’t even notice. 

“Unless you have another reason for coming here?” Gojo challenges. 

“What just happened?” Yuuta asks, voice flat. “That mirror… it wasn’t… isn’t it…” 

“Tsumiki’s?” Gojo fills in. 

Guiltily, Yuuta nods and lowers his eyes. He’d been avoiding bringing up her name. It’s been a long time since she’s been well enough to live in this house, and Yuuta knows that’s not an easy topic. It was probably unavoidable, though. Yuuta has been trying to remember where he’d seen that mirror before from the moment Gojo brought it out, but he hadn’t connected the dots until a few minutes ago. 

“Yes,” Gojo confirms. “From the mortal world. Not a speck of magic to it before I enchanted it this morning.”

“I don’t understand.” Yuuta tries to shake the accusation out of his head, genuinely trying to give Gojo the benefit of the doubt here, but he can’t quite stop himself from asking. “So that mirror couldn’t have broken Toge’s curse?” 

Gojo sighs. 

“No,” he admits, mood darkening. “At this point, nothing could. I’ve looked into that curse before. It’s set in stone. No amount of magic or cleverness could undo it.”  

Yuuta doesn’t get angry very often, but suddenly he is furious. 

“Then why would you offer?” he cries out. “If you knew you couldn’t break the curse? What if Toge had accepted? It would have been cruel to–” 

“I knew he wouldn't agree.” Gojo interrupts, holding a hand up. He leaves no room for disagreement. His voice is stony and sure.

How? How could you possibly know that? Yuuta wants to argue, but of course, he already knows. It was the hallmark of Satoru’s magic, being able to instantly understand the trajectories of any given situation. Toge wouldn’t have even felt Satoru’s eyes raking him for information as he extracted it. Knowing Gojo, he knew exactly how this night would play out from before Toge even walked through the door.

Yuuta looks down at the scarf in his hand, which only confirms the theory. Gojo had gone out of his way to separate Toge from it, just so the grand reveal would be more dramatic when Toge looked into the mirror. Every single detail of their interaction had been premeditated, and Toge, the smartest person Yuuta knows, hadn’t even realized he was playing right into Gojo’s hands. 

“And in a way, I have broken his curse,” Gojo continues. He tilts his head back, considering his words carefully. “A curse is something you bear, unchosen. Now, Toge has had the chance to decide his own fate. He’s been released from wondering how his life would be different if he’d never been marked.” 

“Respectfully,” Yuuta breathes. “That’s bullshit.” 

Gojo laughs heartily, amused by Yuuta’s crude mortal world language. It’s a beautiful sound. One that Yuuta had forgotten to even miss in all the chaos of these arduous weeks. “Perhaps,” his teacher admits playfully. “But you’d be wise, Yuuta, not to disturb that peace.”

If Yuuta has learned anything over the last few weeks, it’s that he’s absolutely terrible at keeping secrets from Toge. Actually, it’s more than that. He doesn’t want to keep secrets from Toge. But this- just this- if it will ensure Toge’s happiness, Yuuta will take it to the grave. It’s not his place to unbreak a curse. He won’t be doing it just because Gojo told him to, though. He’ll do it because he believes it’s what’s best. If that changes, even for a minute, Yuuta will make a different decision. 

Yuuta sighs as he collects his magic to head back to Rika and the tower. If he’s making this promise to himself, to tell Toge everything, then there’s one last secret Yuuta will need to share with him. 

He stops at Toge’s before heading back for the night, carefully looping the forgotten green scarf around the door handle for Toge to find in the morning. For a moment, he thinks about knocking, but he can’t quite find the nerve. The last thing he’d want to do is disturb Toge.

He opts to walk back to his dorm instead of teleporting, dragging his feet as he goes. He doesn’t want to go back there alone. 

Originally, Yuuta and Toge had decided to get ready together, but Maki insisted they do it separately. 

“If he’s going to do this, he’s going to do this the right way.” She still hasn’t forgiven Yuuta for Halloween weekend and considers Hakari’s party tonight to be something of a make-good. “Don’t make it so easy on him.” 

Admittedly, she has a point. A few days after the rescue, Yuuta finally hit a wall and slept for pretty much an entire weekend straight. Hakari and Kirara spelled the door to his tower shut so no one would bother him. It left Toge ample time to finally tell Maki everything he’d been keeping under wraps. 

He thought she’d be more interested in hearing about all of their initial failings while trying to free Gojo, or at least about the process of unearthing Gojo’s clues, but she couldn’t have cared less about any of that. She was more curious about Yuuta and Halloween night. 

“I cannot believe he didn’t take you to that party,” she seethed. “He literally invited you, Toge! You never would have even considered going if he hadn’t brought it up!” 

The rant went on for about an hour, and even now, Toge could trigger it all over again just by bringing it up. It had felt really good to tell someone about it at the time, to finally know that he wasn’t crazy for feeling as hurt as he did, but now he worries that he made a mistake. She’s been furious with Yuuta ever since. Of course, Yuuta doesn’t know why, which has been really fun for Toge whenever the three of them are together. 

His own fault, really. If Toge hadn’t gone into so much detail about the matching outfits he’d crafted for them to wear that night, Maki would only be about half as mad. Still, it felt sort of nice not to hold anything back. It had taken a long time for him to write it all out for her, but to Toge’s surprise, she never once grew bored or tired of waiting for him to do it. They spent their entire Saturday holed up in his room, bundled up in layers of sweaters to combat the draft from Toge’s windows. It had been a long time since they’d been able to spend that kind of lazy, aimless time together. It felt like sure proof that all was finally right with the world. 

He only felt slightly bad about selling Yuuta out like that. At the very least, Nobara had her own set of grievances with Yuuta, so Maki’s behavior didn’t stand out all that much. Something about Yuuta getting a field trip canceled. Toge can’t say he’s so bothered by that, since he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to attend something like that anyway. It’s an insane idea, but for some reason Toge finds himself wondering if that’s why Yuuta got the field trip canceled in the first place. Of course that couldn’t be true, since it was before the two of them were close, but it does just sound like something Yuuta would do.

Just when Yuuta is about to join them, Maki starts to scoot out of the room. She claims it’ll ruin things if she’s there when he arrives. 

“Make sure he says something nice about your outfit,” she demands, gathering herself to go. “To make up for last time.” 

Toge rolls his eyes at her. There’s really nothing special about his outfit. That was the difficult part of wearing nice clothes to school everyday- it was hard to dress for an occasion. He wears his uniform jacket and a button up almost every day at school, so he really doesn’t feel like wearing anything resembling a suit.

Instead, Toge has opted for a cream sweater that fits loosely and tucks into the front of his pants. The fabric is of good quality, thin and soft and buttery against Toge’s skin. It’s easily the nicest piece of clothing he owns- mostly because he dug for it in the lost and found bin a couple years ago and unearthed the cast off of someone far more wealthy than Toge ever will be. It’s was a bit big for him at the time, but maybe Toge has grown into it. The finicky collar wasn’t really designed to sit beneath a scarf, so it’s a good thing that Toge won’t be wearing one tonight. 

Yuuta won’t notice, Toge scribbles onto one of his pads. He points at it a couple times before she can head out. She gives it a quick glance. 

“For you he will,” she assures. Her voice is sweet in a way that Toge can’t decide if she’s mocking him or not. It’s never a good sign for him when he can’t figure out what Maki is up to. Usually, it means that she knows something that Toge doesn’t. He frowns at her as she flits out, hating to be out of the loop. 

She promises to see him later tonight, and then she’s gone, leaving Toge to second guess his outfit choice for what must be the hundredth time that night. Maybe he should have put more effort into this. Are all of Hakari’s parties as fancy as the one at Halloween? Toge should’ve asked someone. 

It’s too late to do anything about it, because Yuuta is already at the door. Toge wastes no time answering it.

Yuuta is wearing a white button down that is surely missing a few buttons. Toge can catch traces of his silvery necklace underneath as it trails down his chest. The shirt is tucked all the way into his black pants- and were his trousers always that high-waisted? His hair is slightly mussed, too. Like he fluffed it up on purpose. 

Toge takes back every rude mental remark he has ever made about Yuuta’s ability to dress himself. Clearly, he doesn’t need Toge to pick out party outfits for him. He’s set. 

“You look great,” Yuuta says immediately, not missing a beat. It’s so fast that Yuuta almost wonders if he’s been coached. He reaches out and tugs at the collar of Toge’s sweater. “I like this. Is it new? I’ve never seen you wear it.” 

Toge stares at him, shocked. There’s no way he could have known that. Maki must have jumped him in the hallway or something. 

“Should we go?” Yuuta asks. Toge is too stunned to do anything but say yes. As they head out, Toge instinctively reaches to his neck to tighten a scarf that isn’t there. It stops him in his tracks for a moment, but ultimately he doesn’t change his mind. He spells the door locked and neither of them mention that something is missing. 

The hallways have already emptied out for the night, so it’s just the two of them walking to the party. It hadn’t felt strange to plan to walk over together, since Toge really didn’t want to go alone, but now there’s something odd about it just being the two of them.

It’s made worse by the fact that Yuuta hasn’t said a word. It’s just the two of them, walking shoulder to shoulder in complete silence. 

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Yuuta says finally, stopping abruptly. “Before we go.” 

That’s why he’d been acting strangely then. Toge stills his loafers and looks up, wondering what it could be. He can’t help but feel his heartbeat quicken as he studies Yuuta’s face, though he’s not quite sure what he’s anticipating. Yuuta looks very serious, a strange contrast to his party outfit and his easy attitude as of late. 

“I know about the curse,” Yuuta says, eye trailing to the floor. He doesn’t see Toge tilt is head in wonder but, “All of it,” he confirms. 

Toge takes a deep breath, processing this. Perhaps Gojo gave him a history lesson of sorts after their visit on Thursday. Whatever the case, Yuuta was always bound to figure it all out for himself eventually. Even before he speaks, Toge already knows what the next words out of Yuuta’s mouth will be. 

“So I want you to be honest,” Yuuta continues, blinking rapidly. “Did I… Did I curse you?” 

Toge reaches for his hand, startling Yuuta into looking back up at him, and shakes his head. No, he thinks vehemently. You could never. 

“It’s just…” Yuuta struggles, sounding pained. “It wouldn’t be the first time, Toge. It wouldn’t be the first time my magic was responsible for hurting someone I loved.” 

Toge wobbles a bit at that. Someone Yuuta loved. It takes Toge a moment to figure out what that meant. 

“Rika?” he asks cautiously, surprising Yuuta with the sound of his voice. 

“Not just Rika,” he says immediately, shaking his head. “I feel like maybe I wasn’t entirely honest with you about the council, about the—“

He stops himself when he spots the twisting expression on Toge’s face. He doesn’t want to hear that word. Execution. Not tonight.

“I know,” he says apologetically. “But it’s something you should hear. I shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy your friendship. Not unless you know the whole truth.” 

Toge doesn’t accept that. The idea that Yuuta shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy something. It’s a ridiculous notion, and yet, not a surprising thing to hear Yuuta say. There’s always an apology caught in his throat, ready to spill out at a moment’s notice. Toge has never quite understood that timidness in him. It doesn’t make sense, knowing everything Yuuta is capable of. 

He rubs at the pocket of his slacks nervously with his thumb, still not quite able to meet Toge’s eyes for more than a few seconds at a time. There’s something jumpy about him all of a sudden, and the set of his jaw is more than a little strained. He’s gearing himself up for something. Toge gives his other hand a squeeze as it rests in his. It’s his quiet way of letting Yuuta know that he’s listening and willing to wait. He doesn’t need to worry, not when it’s just Toge around. The two of them are past judgment.  

Finally, Yuuta finds his strength. His magic goes still and he looks Toge straight in the eye.

“The council was right to do what they did,” he reports. “In fact, they should have followed through on it.” 

Toge fights the urge to snatch his hand back. He doesn’t want to hear Yuuta talk like that. He wants to argue, and assure Yuuta that isn’t true. There’s something to his eyes though, something broken and vulnerable and impossible to back away from. Toge can tell that right now, Yuuta just needs Toge to stay. 

Yuuta waits, checking to see if Toge will push back on him at all after the bomb he’s just dropped. When Toge is silent and still, he continues. 

“I couldn’t always control my magic,” Yuuta explains. “Sometimes, I still can’t. But back then… it was impossible for me. I had no idea what I was doing. And it’s no excuse, but Rika’s spirit hadn’t passed over yet. She wasn’t as docile back then, either. She was capable of a lot. We both were.” 

Toge has always thought it must have been terrible for Yuuta to grow up in the mortal world, being able to do the things he could. He’d have thought that about anyone though. Living in a world that adamantly denied the existence of magic, even when proof was all around them, was absolutely unthinkable to Toge. 

It would be even worse to be as powerful as Yuuta is and stuck in that world. It must have been terrifying, not understanding what you were. Toge didn’t have much growing up, but he at the very least had that. Whether he liked it or not, there was never any question about his identity. 

Rika is another matter altogether. She’s already a handful in her current form. Toge can’t even imagine what she would have been like at her peak. Being tied to a vengeful ghost is no small responsibility. What was it like for Yuuta, to be so young and so weighed down? How did he ever make it through? 

“I hurt people,” Yuuta concedes. “I hurt a lot of people.” 

Toge’s heart breaks for him. Yuuta’s lip begins to tremble, just as it did that day in the library, when he first told Toge about Gojo’s disappearance. Even all these years later, he is haunted by this. It’s still present in his mind. 

“I didn’t mean to. Of course I didn’t mean to,” he clarifies, as if Toge wouldn’t have already figured that out just by knowing Yuuta. “But the things that I did before I could fully control my magic… they’re unforgivable, Toge. The council should have punished me for it. To the full extent.” 

It makes sense now, why Yuuta is always so careful.

Yuuta has described his magic to Toge in many ways, and never once favorably. Once he told Toge that he had too much magic, though Toge is certain there is no such thing. Even more worrisome, that night in his room when they fought about their techniques. He’d described his magic as darker than night. He told Toge that he should be horrified by the things he could do, which of course, Toge isn’t. He could never be afraid of Yuuta. 

Still, those interactions look different to Toge through this lens. This is why Yuuta carries himself the way he does, always so cautious and penitent. Why he wears all black. Why he appears so gloomy. Why he doesn’t sleep. He’s not proud of his magic. He’s ashamed of it. 

It makes sense. A person as gentle and kind-hearted as Yuuta could only see magic that powerful as a burden instead of a blessing. For years, there was no productive outlet for the abundance of his magic. Of course it was bound to leak out in unfortunate ways. But that isn’t Yuuta’s fault. There’s no doubt in Toge’s mind that he did everything he could to protect the people around him, even if they were perfect strangers. 

After all, isn’t that how Yuuta met Toge in the first place? Through an instinct to keep others safe at all costs? He risked everything for Toge that first week of school. If the nature of his technique had been exposed while he was dealing with Naoya and healing Toge, he would have faced execution. All that, just to help a boy he’d never even spoken to before. 

Of course, it can’t be easy for him to be praised for the part of himself he is most afraid of. But Yuuta is worthy of that praise. 

“I just thought you should know what kind of person I am,” Yuuta tells him, eyes still grazing the floor. 

I could never be half as good as you, Yuuta once said to him. Finally, Toge knows what he meant by that. For some reason, Yuuta thinks that his magic makes him worse in some way. Maybe Toge will never understand the extent of what happened during Yuuta’s time in the mortal world, but he does know one thing for sure. Yuuta isn’t just good. He’s the best person Toge knows. 

“Yuuta,” Toge whispers. Yuuta looks right up, wearing an expression of shock and delight at hearing his name from Toge’s lips. His face is so pure. He’s easier to read than a book, at least for Toge. Toge already knows exactly who Yuuta is. 

“You don’t… you don’t hate me?” Yuuta asks, voice small. 

Toge shakes his head gently. Yuuta doesn’t seem entirely at ease yet, though. It’s not enough. Toge can give him more. 

He threads his fingers through Yuuta’s, and gently tugs Yuuta down to the floor with him. The two of them crouch as Toge examines his new canvas, not breaking the connection. For a moment, Toge feels as if they’re just children, writing messages in the dirt with a stick on a playground.  

Toge points a finger to the tiled floor and calls on his magic, deciding on his message. He hadn’t gotten that far yet. The first thing he thinks of might be a cheat, since they aren’t technically his words, but saying the foremost thing on his mind seems like the most honest thing to do. He drags his finger across the floor, pressing firmly enough that his magic leaves a mark. 

I like you, he writes. Just as you are. 

It’ll take too long to write the next bit, so Toge looks over to him and mouths it instead. Always have. 

Toge takes his newly free hand and wraps it around his knees, tugging them closer to his chest. He tilts his head, resting it on his knee, and watches Yuuta sideways as he looks back to Toge’s message one last time. He’s still studying it, hungry to consume as many as Toge’s words as he can while they’re still available to him. It takes almost a whole minute for Yuuta to stop gawking and look back over to Toge. When he finally does it, he inhales sharply, like Toge has surprised him somehow. 

“I…” he starts, voice shaking. 

Eyes locked, Toge awaits his response patiently. He stares at clear blue, seeing straight through. But the moment passes, and Yuuta shakes his head, catching Toge’s hand and pulling them both back up to their feet. 

“Come on,” he says, tugging at Toge’s arm. “I can’t deliver the guest of honor later, or Hakari will bite my head off.” 

Toge all but groans. He definitely appreciates the sentiment, but it’s clear that Hakari has taken his promise to Toge that day far too seriously. All week, he’s been appearing next to Toge at the strangest times, in the halls or the library stacks, and assaulting Toge with questions about preparations. Toge has tried to gently explain that he doesn’t know a single thing about parties, but Hakari is relentless. Yuuta assures Toge that that’s just how Hakari is, though. When he gets an idea in his head, he’ll stop at nothing to make it a reality. 

It doesn’t take them long to get there. Because all of this is already down to a neat science, the door to Hakari and Kirara’s common room looks completely unsuspecting. It’s completely quiet and no light peeks out from beneath the door, obvious spellwork, but crafty nonetheless. If a teacher walked by and didn’t know what they were looking for, they’d never discover a party was being held just a few feet away.

“Are you ready?” Yuuta asks. 

As he opens the door, a blast of sound hits them. They scurry inside, knowing well they have to close the door quickly to keep the secret alive. When Toge can actually examine the room though, his jaw drops. 

Hakari was not kidding around. 

Toge has always heard that his parties were opulent- lush and immersive with their decorations-but Toge had no scope for it up until now. 

“It’s a tea party,” Yuuta explains. “Hakari was complaining that you wouldn’t tell him what you wanted, but then he remembered that you liked tea, and he sort of just latched on.” 

Tea party is an understatement. Fine china sets of tea cups and saucers have been suspended from the ceiling, dangling down and turning slowly as they catch and refract light. The sleek wooden floors have been stenciled over with a floral pattern that carries up onto the walls and ceiling. It’s like standing inside a teapot. 

“I’m not so sure you’d want to drink the tea though,” Yuuta warns, gesturing to one of the fountains across the room. “It was made by Hakari, after all.” 

Toge can only imagine what that means. He’s not looking to have a repeat of that night at Gojo’s. He wants to know that all of his actions tonight are his own. Plus, it would be a shame not to remember even a single detail of the enchantments here tonight. 

The outfits alone are enough to take Toge’s breath away. All the girls are wearing florals and pastels. Their looks are soft and romantic, all sweetheart necklines and puff sleeves. Kirara skates by in a frothy dress made entirely of sheer tulle that skims the floorboards as she passes. She throws Toge a little wink before charting her path to Hakari, who wears a glossy floral suit coat with gold trim, almost as if he were a teacup himself. A light pink rose sticks out of his lapel, an exact match to the color of his girlfriend’s dress. 

He looks over his shoulder and spots Toge and Yuuta at the entrance, raising his glass to them with a smile. Toge thinks they should probably go say hi, so Toge can thank him for all of the effort here, but Yuuta seems to have other ideas. 

“Would you maybe… want to dance?” 

Below the chatter, there is a hum of strings, though Toge can’t find a single instrument or player anywhere around the room. Still, it’s light and jubilant, and when Yuuta holds out his hand, Toge can’t find a single reason not to take it. 

After they make their way to the center of the floor, Toge rests both hands on Yuuta’s shoulder and feels them relax beneath his touch. Yuuta places his hands on either side of Toge’s waist. It should be awkward. They have no idea what they’re doing, simply shifting feet back and forth as they hold on to one another. They’re not even in time with the music. People are looking. It should feel all wrong. 

It doesn’t. 

“Do you see now why I was so nervous to talk to you when we were first years?” Yuuta recalls. “Everyone’s watching you. They all wish they could be the one dancing with you.” 

Toge is genuinely sure that that isn’t true. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Everyone wishes they were dancing with Yuuta. If Toge were watching Yuuta dance with someone else, he’d be jealous, too.

Oh. That’s not something Toge has ever considered before. It’s true, though. If Toge saw Yuuta doing almost anything with a person other than Toge, Toge gets the feeling he would hate it. It just never occurred to Toge before this moment, since there’d never been an opportunity for it. Since mid-October, their first day in the library, Toge has rarely seen Yuuta with anyone else besides their immediate friends. He’s always with Toge. 

He’s always with Toge. 

Nervously, Toge shakes his head, dispelling Yuuta’s sentiment. If anything, people are looking at him because his face is uncovered. It doesn’t have anything to do with who he’s dancing with. Yuuta frowns at that.

“Of course they’re looking at you,” he presses. “You’re beautiful, Toge.” 

Toge’s body goes rigid, the sway of their dance going suddenly still. 

“And don’t even pretend that you’re not,” Yuuta argues with Toge’s dismay. “Everything about you is special.” 

He reaches up and flicks at a piece of Toge’s hair, tucking it back. He goes to do the same thing on the other side, but this time he’s slow about it, rubbing the strand between his fingers reverently before he lowers his hand. Toge is still frozen as Yuuta stares at him, mystified. He feels his heart in his throat. His skin tingles where Yuuta is touching him. 

“Am I scaring you?” 

Toge almost says no right out loud. He catches himself with a swallow, managing to shake his head ever so slightly. He doesn’t want Yuuta to think that for even a second.

“The truth is, Toge,” he continues, keeping his voice low. “I might like you a little too much.” 

It’s impossible to know what that means, and yet Toge lets himself dare to hope. He wants too much. He wants everything Yuuta will give him and more. 

“I hate the library,” Yuuta states, letting go of all hesitancy. “It’s dusty and all the books are too serious. But I still smile every time I think about it because now I know I can always find you there. I’ve never once woken up early enough to eat breakfast at the dining hall before class, but you invited me to meet you there and suddenly it’s ten times easier to get out of bed. I didn’t think…”

He trails off, taking a moment to replenish his courage. Toge stares at him, lips parted in awe.

“I didn’t think I’d ever care for anyone again after Rika,” he says solemnly. “But then you appeared and you made it so easy.” 

Toge’s lips twitch with all the words he wants to say in return. How he despised Megumi’s path of shadows until it was an excuse to attach himself to Yuuta. How using his speech had always felt messy and wrong until the moment he could use it to help Yuuta. Toge has been so lonely all his life that he started to believe he just liked being alone, but now, he would go completely out of his way just to see Yuuta. 

I hate climbing stairs, he wants to say, but I love- 

The realization hits him all at once, and Toge can’t contain it any more. If he can’t express himself through words, he’ll just have to find another way. 

Toge pitches forward, terribly unsteady but completely sure of his movements. It takes a tilting of his head and a moment of fumbling as eyes fly shut, but finally it lands. Toge’s lips are on Yuuta’s, warm and soft. 

But I love you. 

He’ll find a way to tell Yuuta that one day. He’ll find a way to tell Yuuta all of it. In the interim, Yuuta can have this, a placeholder for his many sentiments. 

When Toge finally pulls back, he’s shocked with himself. He can’t believe what he’s just done. Unbidden, he has kissed Yuuta Okkotsu. It was hasty and brief and unskilled, but it was. 

Yuuta’s face has gone blank, but his head bobs forward toward Toge as Toge pulls back, chasing the contact. Toge studies his face, trying to discern how Yuuta feels about it. It distracts him from the tugging at his chest and the strange feeling of idleness on his lips. They feel wrong, now that they aren’t touching Yuuta’s. It’s almost as if the two of them had been ripped apart instead of separating purposefully. 

Another impossibly long moment passes without response, and Toge starts to worry he’s read this all wrong. The doubt must cross his face, because suddenly Yuuta reacts. He wastes no time, hooking his hand around Toge’s jaw and drawing him closer, confident in every way that Toge wasn’t. 

Now that they’re both clued in, sure that this is something that both of them want, there is no hesitation. They give way to each other, the kiss deepening. It’s so natural, so right, that Toge can’t believe that there was ever a time that they weren’t doing this. The tension in Toge’s body dissolves as he relaxes into Yuuta’s warmth. 

When they finally come up for air, reality dimly filters back in through Toge’s ears. He hears cheering and recognizes the voices as Hakari and Kirara. Moments later, scolding tones and words Toge can’t make out from Maki and Megumi. The first words he’s actually able to understand are Nobara’s.

“Fucking finally,” she breathes. 

Suddenly, Toge and Yuuta are both laughing. This had all seemed like such a monumental discovery just a moment ago, but apparently their friends already had it all figured out. 

“I’m being selfish again,” Yuuta murmurs, leaning in to place the words into Toge’s hair. “Keeping you all to myself.”  

He laces his fingers between Toge’s and they rejoin the party. 

It’s everything Toge thought it would be and more. People take after Toge and Yuuta’s lead and dance on the hardwood floors and the music shifts into something so loud that they can barely hear each other speak. Even without a drop of alcohol, Toge feels the night taking on a hazy, dreamlike quality.

It’s not just that he’s here, it’s that he’s here with friends. There is not a single moment where Toge feels disconnected from things, the way he always has in the walls of this school. Everywhere he looks, he finds assurance. A smile from Maki, a razz from Hakari, a whispered secret from Nobara. And the whole night, Yuuta doesn’t leave Toge’s side even once. Their hands are sweaty from the constant connection, and yet neither of them make any effort to pull away. 

The best part of the night comes after the party, though. They slip out just as it starts to wind down, chasing one another down the halls and up the impossible set of stairs leading up to Yuuta’s room. Maybe Toge is blinded by joy, but he swears that Rika’s candles have never flickered with such vigor. When they’re finally inside, Toge pulls out one of the notebooks on Yuuta’s desk and gets to work. 

He has so much to tell Yuuta. 

Chapter Text

"Oh, I can’t

Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

My house of stone, your ivy grows

And now I’m covered in you"

“ivy,” by Taylor Swift

Finding Toge is actually a much simpler task than Yuuta made it out to be. 

Once he steps through the heavily-barriered doors to the grandest room on campus, Yuuta wonders why he bothered with any other possible locations in the first place. Toge would never go to the dining hall without Yuuta. His dorm room is rarely ever occupied these days. Maki’s was on the way, and that’s the only reason Yuuta checked, but there was really only one place that Toge Inumaki would be holed away on a school night. 

There’s moonlight streaming in through the windows, the dusty lit of Tengen’s magic radiating from the shelves, and a halo of silky, silver hair. Toge would claim that he can always tell when Yuuta has entered a room from the loud presence of his magic alone, but that doesn’t explain why Yuuta has found him like this so many times- the crown of his head pointed out to the world as he immerses himself entirely in whatever book he’s currently reading. He doesn’t look up until Yuuta is only a couple of steps away. 

The smile he greets Yuuta with is automatic, reaching his face the second he understands what’s going on. Yuuta can tell he’s been in here for a few hours by the dazed, sleepy look in his eyes. He stretches towards the ceiling, sweater riding up his stomach as he tugs his shoulder to one side, slow and cat-like. For a second, Yuuta’s forgotten why he came in here in the first place. 

“Should I expect to find you here every day till finals?” he teases, sliding into the seat across Toge’s. They’ve only got another week or so before examinations begin, but Yuuta has no doubt that Toge would receive top marks if they were to take them all tomorrow. He likes studying, though, so Yuuta doesn’t bring it up. 

Toge taps on the table, redirecting Yuuta’s attention to the graining of the wood as it slowly rearranging itself in front of his eyes. 

Every hour. 

Yuuta laughs as the letters scatter back to their natural placements, magic dispersing. “Not every minute?” he challenges. 

Toge squints and shoots Yuuta a coy, closed-lip smile, like maybe he’ll spare Yuuta a few of those precious minutes… if he’s lucky, that is. 

Yuuta is chuckling, but Toge’s eyes are already drifting downwards again, back to the pages of his book. He glances nervously out the window, as if the moon hanging down in the sky was peering over his shoulder to check his work and remind him of the passing time. It is getting dark awfully early these days. 

Right. That’s why Yuuta came in here. Best to get on with it before Toge tries to shoo him away, or worse- make him start studying again as well. 

“I’ll let you get back to studying,” Yuuta promises, “I just had a question for you first.” 

Toge tilts his head, curious. 

“What are you doing for the solstice this year?” 

It’s been years since Maki entertained the idea of returning to the Zen’in estate under any circumstances, and Toge hasn’t gone home once since he first arrived at school. The school normally empties out between terms and over certain holidays, but the two of them always stay put, generally holed up in Maki’s room to avoid the dreaded pity invites of their faculty. After getting roped into an awkward dinner at Utahime’s their first year with all the other unclaimed students, they decided it would be better to simply keep to themselves. 

At this point, they have their solstices down to a science. Maki saves up all her magic-based favors for a solstice, when magic is in abundance, and the two of them make a night out of it. Toge charges a few of her artifacts and Maki, ridiculously, insists on “paying” for his magic with some sort of gift or trinket from town. It’s not much compared to what some families do for the holiday, but for them, it’s tradition.

The walk to Maki’s dorm that night is more than a little uncomfortable. He’s really not sure he can ask this of her. She’s constantly teasing him about wanting to spend all his free time with Yuuta as it is, and he fears that this might really push her over the edge. 

But Yuuta won’t be going home to the mortal world, and he rarely ever leaves campus. He’s just as orphaned as they are, in that sense. Toge couldn’t possibly just leave him alone for the holiday. He has to swallow his nerves and just ask Maki directly. He scribbles it on to her legal pad as soon as he reaches her room, so nervous that his handwriting is actually shaky. She barely even glances at the paper to see what he’s asked her. 

“Oh yeah, sure,” Maki answers, bored. “He already talked to me. We’re in.” 

Toge blinks at her. They talked about the solstice already? Without him? 

“We were chatting about it in weaponry class the other day,” Maki explains. “Nobara’s around over break too,” she adds sheepishly. “She and her pals are probably going to come and join too, make a whole deal of it.” 

Toge can’t help but frown. He loves the idea of all their friends joining them of course, but solstice is usually a time meant to be spent with family. He doesn’t want anyone to stay on their account, especially knowing how laidback their plans usually are. Their families probably have much more lavish celebrations in store. 

“You’re worrying,” Maki notes, not looking up from the study guide she’s making- a study guide that Nobara will likely inherit next year when she takes their same classes. “Stop that.” 

He puffs out a breath of air indignantly, but he knows he should probably heed her advice. They all had a pretty turbulent last few months, and it’s probably a good idea for them to hang back for the break in order to recoup. Toge can’t say he’d be eager to travel himself right now. The idea of two blissful weeks without worrying about studying or dimensional magic is quite possibly the greatest gift he could receive this season. 

Wandering over to Maki’s bed and settling down on the edge, Toge dares to let himself taste the idea of solstice spent with all his friends- a whole group of them instead of just the one. And a boyfriend, no less. His world really has gotten so much bigger over the last few months. 

“That’s okay, right?” Maki sits straight up in her chair, suddenly completely alert. She turns around to face him, mouth curled downwards. “If you’d rather it be just us, that’s totally fine. I just thought this would be sort of better, right? To have everyone?” 

Toge nods, in complete agreement. It’s more than okay. 

Three finals down and three more to go, Toge is starting to feel like his brain is melting out of his ears. He fell asleep cramming in Yuuta’s room last night, and Rika wound up having to lick him awake with magic- a sensation that Toge did not find entirely pleasant and would not like to repeat- in order to save him from a late arrival to class. 

He’s officially read the principles in Higuruma’s textbook so many times that they’ve stopped registering as words, so he figures it’s time to take a walk and give his brain a break. There’s something else that’s been gnawing at him anyway, and if it’s distracting him even a little bit, getting it sorted out could technically count as being productive. 

Now that there’s going to be six of them for the solstice, Maki’s room is really too small to accommodate everyone. Toge’s is no better, and while Yuuta’s is slightly better, he has doubts about how Rika would react to a sudden influx of strangers in her space. There’s an obvious solution, though. Toge is friends with someone who has plenty of space. 

Hakari Kinji should no doubt be in a library himself right about now, but he opens the door for Toge after just a couple of knocks. He and Kirara are holed up in their common room, likely making preparations for the end of the year bash they’re throwing to celebrate finals being finished. 

He welcomes Toge in, gesturing vaguely to their bar cart and telling Toge to help himself. It’s the middle of the day. He shakes his head, politely declining. “What can I do for you?”

Embarrassed to be caught showing up just to ask a favor, Toge figures he won’t take up any more of Hakari’s time by beating around the bush. He drafted the proposal earlier, so he slides it out of the back pocket of his satchel and hands it over. 

Maki and their friends might not have big enough rooms to host them all, but Hakari and Kirara certainly do. 

He makes a baffled expression as he reads the note, abruptly crumbling it and tossing it halfway across the room to the nearest waste bin. “Yuuta didn’t tell you? He already asked–” 

“Don’t you dare,” Kirara warns, slapping a palm over his mouth before he can finish the thought. She smiles at Toge broadly, not removing her hand. “Venue is all sorted, babes. All you have to do is show up.”

Hakari gently removes her hand from over his lips. “What she said. We’ll see you there, yeah?” 

Toge blinks, stunned. Hakari and Kirara are joining them as well? He tries not to be too thrilled about the idea, since surely the two of them will get a better offer than hanging out with a bunch of underclassmen in the next week or so, but if it’s true, it’ll mean everyone will be back together again. 

The eight of them- the ones truly responsible for bringing Gojo back- haven’t had much time together since that all happened. Classes have kept them too busy, and if they all find themselves in the same room, it’s usually through the drunken fog of a party, where no one really has the chance to talk. This will be nice. 

Kirara brightens at the excitement in Toge’s eyes and wishes him luck on his finals before he goes. He feels like he’s floating the whole walk to the cafeteria. He’s never had a holiday like this before with so many people. It’s a total novelty to him. 

Yuuta and Yuuji are hunched over a table in deep discussion when Toge arrives. Yuuta looks up first, smiling and waving Toge over. Toge sneaks in a quick peck to his cheek as he sits down next to him. 

“What was that for?” he asks, looking anything but disappointed by the surprise.

For inviting all our friends, Toge thinks. 

It’s one of those things he wishes he could just tell Yuuta with ease. Instead, he places a hand on Yuuta’s coffee cup and commandeers the foam on his latte to leave him a little message. What are you up to?

Yuuta nearly jumps out of his skin when he reads it, which tells Toge just about everything he needs to know. Yuuta has definitely been acting squirrely lately, and it has everything to do with their solstice plans. Now that Hakari and Kirara are involved as well, Toge is certain of it. 

“Nothing,” Yuuta blurts. “Absolutely nothing.” 

Before Toge can press him on it, Yuuta leans in and distracts him with a kiss- a kiss long enough to seriously toe the lines of what’s acceptable on school grounds. He’s very lucky that Toge is too flustered to call him on it, not to mention unwilling to ever turn down a kiss from Yuuta. 

His lips don’t taste like coffee the way Toge has grown accustomed to over the last few weeks, though. Instead, there's a lingering scent of sugar that Toge can’t quite name. Fruity, sweet, and fragrant. Toge tilts his head as they part, perplexed. 

“What would I possibly be up to?” Yuua asks sweetly, suddenly entirely sure of himself. It’s like he absorbed all of Toge’s confidence during the kiss and kept it for himself. 

“Well I told Nanami I’d come early to help him pass out tests,” Yuuji announces, standing up from his seat. Toge sort of had forgotten he was here in the last minute or so. “You nailed it though, Yuuta. Exactly how I remember it.” 

He scoops something off the table with a napkin as he goes, so subtle that Toge almost doesn’t notice. He can’t get a good look at it as Yuuji departs, so he shoots Yuuta a questioning look instead. What was that about? What was exactly how Yuuji remembered it? Yuuta is totally holding out on him here. 

“What are the chances I kiss you again and it distracts you enough to not ask any more questions?” 

Slim. Toge shakes his head to let him know that, but sensing he won’t get any answers either way, he shuts his mouth and collects on that kiss. 

Toge was thinking too small. Why settle for Kirara and Hakari’s common room when you can spend the solstice standing in a place made of magic itself? 

Gojo’s pocket world is even more beautiful tonight than Toge has ever seen it before, sky practically thrashing with the brightest of aurora borealis, and Toge knows why. Magic is stronger at the solstice, making it a perfect time to do any kind of casting- and, in this case, strengthening established spells.

When Toge was a kid, every once in a while he’d have a day where his magic would call so easily. Instead of having to churn and unspool it from deep in his core, it would soar right out of him, completely unfettered. By nightfall he’d be basking in the glow of his improvement, thinking proudly that all of his devoted training had finally paid off. Then, his grandfather would bring a dish of candies out to the table after dinner. Toge’s heart would sink. Those shiny, metallic wrappers were brought out for only the most auspicious of occasions. Solstices. He cursed himself for never knowing in advance, but at the time, he never really had a need for calendars. Every day was the same. 

This year, Toge is very much aware of the date. It was decided that they’d all camp out for the night. Megumi scouted out a clearing just west of the cottage the last time he was here, and Yuuta popped in early this morning to gather some kindling for a fire. The rest of their preparations- at least, from what Toge knows about– really just involved gathering everyone up and dressing for warmth. 

“I swear he’s making it colder on purpose,” Megumi mutters, rolling his eyes. “He just wants us to come back inside.” 

Toge highly doubts that, considering when they stopped inside to say hello on their way in, pretty much all of the younger members of their faculty were in Gojo’s living room, chatting by candlelight and sipping on mulled wine as they lounged on Gojo’s new furniture. Toge doesn’t get the sense he’s particularly pressed for the company of children right now. 

“Stop complaining,” Nobara snaps at him. She’s wearing mittens though, and she’s dragged her section of the log closer to the fire than anyone else- not to mention that she’s sitting so close to Maki that there’s no way she isn’t thieving at least a little body heat. 

Megumi grumbles something under his breath and sits back down.

“We should probably get started before anyone gets frostbite,” Yuuta quips. Toge knows for a fact that he’d turn himself into a human furnace with magic before he let any of their friends get so much as uncomfortable, though. “It’s getting late.” 

With Gojo back where he belongs, this world acts in accordance with their own. The sun set quickly while they were building up the fire, and Toge didn’t even notice the light fade out until suddenly they were only lit by the orange wisps of flame. Yuuta tilts his head up at the sky, examining the fake constellations. Toge squints at them, wondering if there’s any sense to any of it. 

“Gojo put some famous configurations in,” Megumi offers. They’re all gazing upwards now.  “Mortals take that astrology stuff fairly seriously, right? We could get him to put in some of yours. He likes making additions.” 

“I know mine!” Yuuji trills. “The fish one. Pisces.” 

“That’s mine too,” Yuuta admits. They two of them start discussing the idea of letting Gojo hanging stars up in the sky like its a fucking art project when Yuuta suddenly turns to Toge. “What’s yours?”

Toge stares back at him blankly. He has no idea. That kind of thing has never carried much weight to him, and while the two worlds mirror each other in many aspects, Toge’s not really sure star signs made the jump. He hates being caught not knowing something, though. 

“When’s your birthday?” Yuuta asks, making it easy on him. 

“You don’t know?” Nobara asks sharply, unamused. “That’s pathetic.” 

Yuuta’s face flashes with worry, but Toge rolls his eyes, brushing it right off. He’s never told Yuuta when his birthday is, so how could Yuuta possibly be expected to know that? Toge can tell he’s about to offer a stammering apology when Maki interjects and puts him out of his misery. 

Toge really wishes she hadn’t. 

“It’s October 23rd,” she says easily. 

Yuuta gasps, looking to Toge with horror. “No it isn’t.” 

Toge has no choice but to nod, because, yes, last he checked, he was born on the twenty-third day of October. 

“But that’s only a week before Halloween!” Yuuta cries, outraged. “We would’ve been friends already by then! We were working on Gojo’s release all throughout October. I probably even saw you that day.” 

Toge falls silent because Yuuta didn’t probably see Toge that day, he definitely saw Toge. They actually spent the majority of that day together, sifting through the library during lunch and then meeting up again that night after dinner to work on the Gojo equation. Toge remembers it well. 

It’s not like he went out of his way not to mention his birthday or anything, but it didn’t seem particularly relevant at the time. Celebration was hardly what they needed to be worrying about considering their circumstances at the time. Toge wasn’t looking for any kind of disruption, and he didn’t want Yuuta to feel as though he had to fuss about it, so there was no real reason to bring it up. 

Birthdays were never really much of an affair at the Inumaki compound anyway. Maybe it would mean some sort of special meal or dessert, but any baked good he could have had there paled in comparison to whatever the dining hall at the academy served on an average Tuesday night. This year on Toge’s birthday, they were serving little squares of toffee cake with a layer of brown butter frosting so thick it left teeth marks. Between that and a night of productive studying with Yuuta, Toge has absolutely no complaints about how he spent that birthday. Especially considering that when he got back to his dorm that night, he found that Maki had stolen three extra portions and left them outside his door under a napkin. 

Toge has no intention of telling Yuuta about any of this, but Maki sure does. “Toge wasn’t in his room that night.” Her tone reeks of accusation. “Nor was he in the library. Wonder where else he could’ve been.”

Yuuta has crossed the line from worried to genuinely distressed. “What?” He looks over to Toge, mortified. “Did we spend your whole birthday together and you didn’t even think to tell me?” 

Toge shrugs. Oops. 

“That was twice you fucked up in what, the span of a week?” Maki challenges. Toge shoots her a warning look, flashing with rage. She cannot seriously be bringing that up right now. 

“What are you talking about?” Yuuta asks her, not following. “End of October…” 

The color drains from his face. Not everyone in the group knows what he’s referencing, but the first years certainly do, and they avert their gaze. 

“I am still so sorry about that,” Yuuta laments, clutching Toge’s hand. Toge knows he means it too, because this is about the hundredth time he’s apologized for everything that transpired between them. Toge shakes his head, trying to brush it off, but no one is ready to move on. 

“Wait, what’d he do?” Kirara asks, leaning in. Her starry eyes have lit up at the idea of hearing a scrap of gossip, flicking back and forth between Toge and Yuuta hungrily. 

Nobara throws her mittened hands up. “No. I cannot rehash this again. Men are scum, and we’ll leave it at that.” Kirara only looks more interested, but Toge has never been more grateful for Nobara’s hatred of men than he is in this moment. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but can we get back to spellwork?” Hakari slips a bronze flask out of his pocket. “I swear it’s getting fucking colder.” 

The plan was to stay out here most of the night, if not to sleep out here if they could get comfortable enough, but Toge doubts that’s the case anymore. It is feeling pretty cold out here all of a sudden. Just the thought of Gojo’s constantly burning hearth is enough to make Toge a little warmer. Candles, tea kettles, knitted blankets and plenty of couches… Gojo did say they were welcome to come inside at any time. 

“It’s. On. Purpose.” Megumi’s jaw is so tight that he can barely get the words out, teeth gritting together. “He’s probably been planning this since we asked to use the space. He’s mad that we’d rather spend the solstice outside than with him.” 

Kirara lolls her head back and forth, considering. “I don’t know that that’s it. He seems pretty popular!” 

“There’s a whole party in there,” Hakari agrees. “Give it up, kid.” 

“No, he threw the party as cover,” Megumi insists. “So we wouldn’t suspect anything.”  

“You’re overthinking it,” Nobara tells him, but her breath is icy. Actually, it suddenly looks like they’re all smoking, puffs of warm air crystallizing each time they take a breath. 

“Look- we’ve all had Gojo as a professor,” Maki points out. “I know as well as anyone how annoying he can be about shit, but come on. if he really wanted us inside, wouldn’t he be making things a lot more uncomfortable for us? Surely the all powerful Satoru Gojo could do a little better than making it a little chilly outside.” 

As if on cue, a frigid gust of air rips through the trees and the colors dancing in the sky have suddenly become imperceivable. There’s something blocking their way. Toge has to blink to make sure, since he’s never seen them in this world before, but he’s fairly certain those are clouds. 

He’s still squinting at the sky when something lands in his eye. He’s barely recovered when he feels something wet gliding across his cheeks. When he’s able to open his eyes again, there’s no denying what’s floating down from the sky. 

Snow. 

“That’s it!” Megumi bellows, taking off his hat and throwing it to the ground. He stands up quickly. “I’m going in there to give him a piece of my—“

“Megumi,” Yuuji interrupts. He catches the other boy’s arm and looks up at him through a hazy, smiling expression. “It’s beautiful,” he says, gesturing to the big,fluffy flakes skating down through the air. “And your hair. It’s so cute!”

Sure enough, several puffy snowflakes have found purchase on Megumi’s wild raven hair. Megumi’s cheeks are suddenly cherry red, and not just from the cold. Without another word, he sinks back into his position next to Yuuji, all resolve melting away with the snow on his skin.

Toge takes a peek at Yuuta, wondering if his dark hair is singing a similar tune. Unfortunately, Yuuta is wearing a dark hat, but Toge is still able to reach out and thumb a wayward fleck off of one of his eyebrows.

“No fair,” Yuuta murmurs. Toge pulls down his earmuffs to hear him better. “Your hair is practically the same color.”

“We’re doing a spell or I’m going inside.” Hakari is grumbling as though he’s displeased by all the public displays of affection, but Kirara is carefully raking the snow out of his hair and smiling up at him. 

“Yuuta,” Maki prompts, turning to him, “You got the goods?” 

Toge furrows his brows, confused. Yuuta? He hasn’t mentioned anything to Toge about tonight’s planned spellwork. Through the haze of finals, Toge had sort of forgotten that someone would have to actually pick something out. He usually just does whatever Maki asks him to.

It is customary to do something related to magic on a night like tonight, though. It would be a shame to waste perfect conditions. Toge should have made the connection sooner. But what did Yuuta manage to prepare that Toge wouldn’t have noticed? 

Yuuta pats his pocket. “We’re all set.” Toge can tell by the smirk creeping up his face that he’s deliberately not looking at Toge, trying to act as if this is all perfectly normal. Toge gives him a little bump with his shoulder and it cracks Yuuta’s smirk into a full blown smile, but he still doesn’t look over. 

Maki starts passing around pieces of paper, and Toge’s heartbeat starts to trill with anticipation. Finally, he’s about to get to the bottom of all the antics over the last couple of weeks. 

“It’s a partner spell,” Nobara announces. 

“Kinky,” Hakari interjects as Kirara chuckles.

“And we’re all doing it, so I don’t want to hear a single complaint,” Maki tacks on, ignoring them completely.

Yuuta snatches the last sheet of paper from her before Toge can reach for it. “You’re not reading it out loud, so you don’t need it anyway,” he explains happily. Toge rolls his eyes. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.  

The partner pairing are pretty obvious to all of them, since they’re all already sitting in couples. Megumi and Yuuji, Hakari and Kirara, Maki and Nobara, and then, of course, Toge and Yuuta. If Toge didn’t know better, he’d think they all planned a group date on purpose. 

“What’s the object we're infusing?” Hakari asks, squinting. 

“Objects,” Yuuta corrects. He and Yuuji exchange wild grins, and Yuuta finally reaches into his pocket, revealing eight perfectly pink candies wrapped in parchment paper. “These are really common in the mortal world- you can buy them anywhere- but I couldn’t find anything like it here, so Yuuji and I thought it could be a fun vessel.” 

“Bubblegum!” Yuuji cries with glee. “Man, there really isn’t any chewing gum here. I didn’t even think to miss it.” 

“We’ve been trying all week to get the taste just right,” Yuuta explains to Toge before facing the rest of the group. “Now usually, these lose their taste after the first few minutes, but tonight…” 

Yuuta doesn’t even use a spell. He just closes his fists gently around the little candies and calls upon his magic. Toge can feel it all come rushing in around him. The solstice is powering Yuuta up so much that Toge swears the inside of his palm is glowing as he surrounds it all in magic. Finally, it fades and he smiles, pleased with himself.

“... I’m pretty sure it’ll last till sunrise.”

“Show-off,” Maki accuses. Everyone laughs, because even though Yuuta tries so hard not to be, he really is a showoff, just by virtue of being born with that much magic. 

That doesn’t stop him from blushing. “Let’s just get started, shall we?” he says shyly, passing out the candy. Toge receives his piece last, and he swears Yuuta sneaks an extra little layet of magic around it before passing it over. 

“Happy solstice,” Kirara says cheerily. Everyone echos the sentiment as they turn towards their respective partners.

Shimmering in magic and now with a healthy layer of snow coating his broad shoulders, Yuuta slides his hand into Toge’s. Against all odds, it’s perfectly warm. “We’d better do this before you freeze,” he murmurs, but Toge stopped feeling the cold a long time ago. “Are you ready for your surprise?” 

His surprise? Toge was under the impression that this was a surprise for everyone. He looks around at their friends, all turned inward and focused on one another and their energies. No one is saying anything, so no hints there. 

Yuuta deposits the second piece of bubblegum in Toge’s hand and clasps it shut with his own. “I’ll do the spell. You just add a little magic, okay?” 

Under any other circumstance, Toge would insist on pulling his own weight, but tonight he’s too dazed by the falling snow and the high of heightened magic to protest. That, and the Idea of this mystery Yuuta’s been weaving for the last couple of weeks finally coming to an end is to tempting to delay. Yuuta’s magic sizzles against his hand, so delightfully warm that Toge almost feels guilty for keeping it all to himself.

Yuuta whispers something under his breath that Toge can’t quite make out, and then it all comes to a sudden stop. Toge stares down at the wrapped candies, and waits for Yuuta to model what he’s meant to do next. Yuuta simply unwraps the parchment and pops the candy right into his mouth.

“You have to chew it,” he instructs. “It’s sweet, you’ll like it.” 

Toge flushes, thinking of the accidental preview he snuck last week when the taste was lingering on Yuuta’s lips. He did like it. Very much. 

Yuuta is practically vibrating with anticipation, so Toge figures he can’t put off trying it any longer. Despite the part of his brain that says to savor this candy in small bites, he follows Yuuta’s demonstration and puts the whole thing in his mouth at once, slowly working it between his molars until it starts to soften. 

“Did it work?” 

Toge looks up, startled. He swears Yuuta’s lips didn’t move just then. That, and the voice wasn’t muffled by the howling wind that’s picked up in the last few minutes. In fact, it almost sounded like the voice came from within his own mind. But if Toge can hear Yuuta, would that mean–

“Yuuta?”

The smile that bursts onto Yuuta’s face is unlike anything Toge has ever seen in his life. He heard that. All Toge did was think, and Yuuta heard it. His own voice. It sounds just like him, but there’s no noise, no magic, no curse.

For the very first time, there is no barrier between them.

“Say something else,” Yuuta urges. “Or think it, I guess.” 

“Is this real?” 

It certainly doesn’t feel real. The idea that Toge could be speaking with someone like this, unfettered, is entirely impossible for grasp. He doesn’t even have time to second guess it, though. The second he thinks something in full, it’s in Yuuta’s head as well. 

Yuuta nods, answering his question. This is real.

“Maki helped me adapt the spell. It creates a mind link between both users. We tied it to the bubblegum, so the connection will last as long as the flavor does.” He chuckles, out loud, before adding, “It’s sort of invasive, now that I think about it. Maybe I should have asked permission before entering your mind.” 

“You’re always welcome here.” 

Toge doesn’t even really think about that sentiment before sending it into Yuuta’s mind. Apparently, he doesn’t need to. That knowledge was bone-deep. 

Yuuta’s eyebrows pull up the way they always do when he’s trying really hard not to cry. It does nothing to help him. They’re already brimming on his lower lash line, ready to fall. 

Toge looks around at their friends, all looking deeply into one another's eyes and not speaking, and suddenly he wants to cry, too. The spell was meant purely for Toge, and yet they all decided to participate. The number of solstices they’ll all have in their lives is finite, and for some reason they are all willingly spending one of them here to share in this special moment. Toge can’t help but be overwhelmed by how much he cherishes his friends right now. He feels so incredibly loved as he see them all gathered around the fire and smiling silently, snow sticking to their hair and coats. 

Then there’s the fact that Yuuta was at the helm of it all. He went through so much effort, getting everyone involved and finding the most perfect spell in existence to bridge the communication gap between them. He even went out of his way to make sure it would all be a surprise. All of that, just for Toge. If that isn’t love, Toge doesn’t know what is. 

“No one has ever done anything like this for me before.” Toge can barely believe he’s stringing that many words together with such ease, that someone is actually hearing them. “Thank you.” 

“Happy Solstice, Toge.” The best Solstice Toge has ever had, easily. “I’m sorry I missed your birthday, among other things.” 

Toge shakes his head. “There’s nothing to forgive.” 

“I’m going to stop talking now,” Yuuta vows. “I want to hear everything you have saved up to say. Anything. I just want to hear your voice.” 

Of course, Toge has no idea what to say. The longing in Yuuta’s voice is too genuine to turn down, though. He’ll have to come up with something, so he forces himself to start at the same place he always does: knowledge. 

“Today is the darkest day of the year,” he reminds Yuuta. “And yet, it’s a symbol of brighter days ahead. Every day after today will have more light.” 

Yuuta’s eyes crinkle at the sentiment, and Toge means to continue down that road of good thoughts, but the next part slips out of him without permission. 

“And I'm very jealous that you worked on a spell with someone other than me.” 

The laugh Yuuta lets out is so loud that it can only be compared to a roar. All of their friends whip around to see what’s going on, and for a moment, Toge basks in the glow of the idea that Yuuta has just given them all reason to believe that Toge has a hidden talent for humor they’ve all been missing out on over the years. 

“I’ve only been inside your head for a matter of seconds,” Yuuta remarks, “And I’m already learning so much about you. I didn’t know the great and fair Toge Inumaki was capable of jealousy.” 

Toge gives a little shrug. “Only when it concerns you. Can I tell you a secret?”

“All of them, preferably.”

“As lovely as this is, I already feel like you can read my mind half the time.”

It’s one of the things Toge loves most about him. He’s able to see right through Toge in a way that no one else can. Maybe Toge can’t always give him words, but he listens in every other way that matters. Yuuta wants to hear everything Toge has been saving up to say, but Toge doesn’t have anything pressing. Yuuta has been understanding him perfectly for weeks now.

After that, Toge loses track of time. Eventually their friends start peeling off, and as predicted, the weather softens considerably after Megumi heads inside. They’re the only ones who stay out all night, and Toge’s jaw feels like rock after a night of chewing nonstop, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’d take any amount of cold and effort to find himself here, surrounded by the freshly fallen snow and watching the light of the sunrise slide up Yuuta’s skin.

The connection between them finally fizzles out as the light starts coming in, but Toge doesn’t grieve it. A new tradition has just been born.