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Shoko was less than pleased to see her two classmates in the infirmary so early in the day. She held back a sigh.
“What is it this time? Did you two fight again?” she asked.
“Don’t just assume that!” Satoru said, annoyed. “It’s been a few weeks since we fought, you know.”
A few weeks? Shoko didn’t think it had been that long. She remembered healing a scrape on Satoru’s chin, and Suguru had joked about how it was too bad Reverse Cursed Technique couldn’t heal a bruised ego. They had fought without cursed energy that day, and Suguru remained unscathed.
Later that day, there had been a series of mutilated bodies for Shoko to examine, all killed by the same curse. And after that case was solved, another took its place.
Maybe it had been a few weeks. Shoko had been busy recently.
“Shoko?” Suguru’s voice snapped her out of her reverie. When Shoko’s eyes met hers, she smiled; Suguru’s smile felt almost out of place down here, in a place where smiles were few and far between, but Shoko felt its warmth nonetheless. “We’re fine.”
“We’re breaking you out of here!” Satoru exclaimed. Suguru elbowed her in the ribs for her volume.
Shoko blinked at them. “It’s the middle of the week,” she said tiredly. Sometimes time felt warped down here, but she at least knew that much. “I don’t have the day off.”
When it was busy like this, missions and infirmary shifts were even prioritized over classes.
“It’s not a day off! Suguru and I have a mission, and Yaga said you could come with us!” Satoru’s grin took up her entire face. Her excitement was borderline suspicious
“Why?” Shoko asked.
“It’s a little farther than we usually travel for missions,” Suguru explained. “It could take a few days.”
“And we need you on standby,” Satoru added. Then she winked at Shoko and said, “Y’know, just in case something happens to Suguru.”
“You’re such a brat,” Suguru said, but there was barely any heat to it. Shoko was glad; she didn’t need to deal with their bickering before it was even time for her lunch break. “But yeah, you should pack a bag, we’re leaving for Kanagawa in a few hours.”
Kanagawa? They were going to the coast?
She guessed she would find out soon enough. Those two were stubborn, and Shoko never really felt the need to push back all that much.
“Come on,” Satoru said, holding out her hand. When Shoko didn’t move, Satoru took matters into her own hands, yanking Shoko out of her office chair and slinging an arm around her as they walked out of the infirmary.
Suguru wrapped her arm around Shoko’s free shoulder, and suddenly Shoko found herself smashed in between two very tall girls. Shoko wasn’t short by any means (she was above average), but she often had to look up when she was speaking with them—especially with Satoru (Suguru’s posture was pretty bad).
Shoko accepted her fate, and she let them drag her away from her station.
For the first time, Shoko would join Satoru and Suguru on one of their missions.
***
Transportation was easy enough. Once Satoru had gotten most of her energy out, she slid the purple headband she was wearing over her eyes and listened to music on her iPod for the rest of the train ride while Suguru read a book and Shoko flipped through some of the magazines she had picked up at the station.
It was nice.
The moment they stepped outside Jujutsu Tech, Shoko felt a weight lift off her shoulders. For the past few weeks, she had barely left the morgue, let alone the college.
When they first left the building, Satoru had joked, “Isn’t it nice to be outside, Shoko? I was afraid you had secretly turned into a vampire and that’s why you couldn’t leave.”
“Says the one who wears sunglasses indoors,” Shoko said.
“Hey! You’re paler than me right now, Shoko. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Shoko said, unbothered.
“I guess doctors are the worst at taking care of themselves, huh? So it makes sense—ow! Suguru, that hurt!”
Suguru scowled. “Now you’re just being rude.”
Satoru squawked indignantly, and while the two of them continued to bicker, Shoko felt herself smile.
It had been a while. It felt a little strange.
Shoko knew she felt things differently than most people. If she allowed herself to feel every emotion, day in and day out, she would never survive. With the things she saw…she would never be able to process it all.
To keep a steady hand (and a steady mind), she made herself numb to it all.
But her friends, they felt so much. They felt things for Shoko—happiness, sadness, and everything in between—when she couldn’t feel them herself, and she would probably never be able to properly express how much that meant to her.
She knew Satoru and Suguru were worried about her. They didn’t need to go out of their way for her, but they had done it anyway, jumping at the chance to drag her outside and away from the school.
Shoko knew she was lucky to have friends who would do that for her. She had no idea what she did to deserve this level of kindness, but she was grateful for it.
***
Shoko shadowed them on their mission, staying far away from the action, ready to help when needed.
There were a few injuries at the scene, but thankfully no casualties. They called an ambulance for those in need and Shoko subtly used her Reverse Cursed Technique when she could.
Satoru and Suguru emerged after several hours, having dealt with the Special Grade as a team. The fact that it was a Special Grade was probably the main reason Shoko was allowed to accompany them—as Special Grades themselves, they were equipped to handle it, but it didn’t hurt to have that extra reassurance. And they were still students, after all.
Satoru was covered in sweat, exhausted, and definitely a little irritable, but outwardly fine. Suguru’s uniform was torn in a few places, and she had a few shallow cuts on her arms and legs, all of which Shoko easily healed. It was obvious that she had consumed the curse, though, when Shoko saw that her face had lost all its normal color and composure.
When Suguru doubled over and threw up in the street, Shoko and Satoru were there immediately; Shoko kept her long ponytail out of harm’s way while Satoru rubbed her back, whispering soothing words until it was over.
Suguru recovered quickly, though. She apologized (unnecessarily) and Satoru snapped at her for being stupid (which was also unnecessary but not exactly wrong), and things were back to normal.
“I’m gonna commit an act of violence if I don’t eat in the next half hour,” Satoru said.
“I’ll be your accomplice,” Suguru said, smiling softly.
Shoko sighed. What was she going to do with them?
“Relax,” she said. “I already have a place picked out.”
While they did the heavy lifting, Shoko could at least take care of food and transportation back to their hotel—considering Satoru’s limited exposure to the outside world, she guessed that these responsibilities usually fell on Suguru’s shoulders, and Shoko was happy to take over just this once.
She had never gotten to do this before.
***
After she witnessed Satoru and Suguru consume a truly obscene amount of food—their metabolisms were insanely fast—Shoko corralled them into a cab, and they were finally free to clean up and rest.
Their train ride back to Tokyo wasn't until the day after tomorrow, so they had an entire free day to sightsee, just like Satoru wanted. Shoko wondered if Satoru exaggerated the severity of the mission to orchestrate exactly that; she wouldn’t put it past her.
Their hotel reservation had been booked under the assumption that there would only be two of them staying in the room, not three, so there was only one king-sized bed in the room. It was honestly funny to think about Satoru and Suguru having to share a bed frequently on missions, considering…
“Shoko, can you sleep in the middle? This one clings in her sleep,” Satoru said, pointing at Suguru.
“No, that’s you!” Suguru snapped, an irritated flush spreading over her cheeks.
When Shoko looked back at Satoru, she was unsurprised to see that her face was also bright red, although she tried to hide it by looking away.
…Yeah. Considering that.
Her friends could be a little intense. Shoko knew she liked girls—and she knew this was something they all had in common, even if they hadn’t talked about it yet—but she could never fall for either of them. The tension between them was entertaining at best and overbearing at worst. She often wondered when they would get their shit together. Knowing their specific brands of idiocy…it could take a while.
“Hey, Princess, hurry the fuck up,” Satoru said, irritation clouding her expression.
Suguru turned off the hair dryer she was using and turned to Satoru with an overly-bright grin. “I’m sorry, did you want my wet hair to drip all over the bed?”
Satoru flipped her off, and Suguru’s smile grew a touch more strained.
“Aw, is Satoru getting cranky? The real princess in the room probably needs her beauty sleep.”
Were they just going to recycle the same insults over and over? Last time, when Suguru was particularly annoyed, she had called her ‘Princess Gojo’ and Satoru didn’t speak to her for the rest of the day.
Before their argument could go any further, Shoko cut them off. They were both tired and irritable, which was a recipe for disaster. “Give her five minutes, Satoru,” she said.
Suguru had the decency to look a little guilty, and Satoru huffed but didn’t say anything else. Shoko called it a win.
When it was finally time to go to sleep, Shoko felt pleasantly exhausted. It would be the first time she crashed before midnight in…she can’t even remember how long. The two girls next to her had fallen asleep almost immediately, and Shoko basked in the quiet before following shortly after.
***
As it turned out, the answer to the question, ‘Who was more clingy, Satoru or Suguru?’, was both of them.
Shoko woke up facing Suguru, who slept with one hand tucked under her chin and the other reaching out, almost touching Shoko but not quite; one of her legs, however, was bent and entangled with both of Shoko’s. Behind her, Satoru fully had an arm wrapped around her waist, and Shoko could feel her breathing on the back of her neck.
Shoko was not going to let them live this down any time soon.
Shoko had never thought of herself as a cuddly person, but last night had probably been the best night of sleep she’s had in months, so she couldn’t complain.
It was nice. A little warmer than she was used to, but nice.
With that in mind, Shoko was lulled back to sleep.
***
Satoru had never spent a day at the beach before. She didn’t need to say it; it was obvious.
She was practically vibrating with excitement as she took them all to buy new swimsuits, flashing her credit card and even picking out a new pair of sunglasses that would match her suit.
People who only thought of Satoru as a stuck-up, overpowered girl with a shitty attitude clearly never saw this side of her, and they didn’t deserve to, Shoko thought. Satoru only let her guard down around the people she trusted, and there were very, very few people who made that list.
When Satoru removed her sunglasses to look out at the sea and took off her flip-flops, feeling the warm sand against her feet for the first time, the look of pure awe on her face was open for all to see.
Suguru wore a very similar expression, but she was only looking at Satoru.
Oh, she had it bad. They both did. Sometimes it was truly disgusting to witness, but Shoko couldn’t hold it against either of them in moments like these.
Satoru had chosen a tiny, pale pink bikini for herself, with pink heart-shaped sunglasses to match (somehow she pulled it off). Shoko wore a dark green one-piece that both Satoru and Suguru said looked nice with her hair.
Suguru’s outfit had taken a little longer to pick out. For a moment, Shoko thought she wouldn’t get one at all.
As soon as they entered the store, Satoru ran off in her excitement, and Suguru pulled Shoko aside with an anxious look on her face.
“I can’t wear this stuff,” she said, voice hushed. “None of the tops will even fit me, and then there’s…”
Her scars.
Shoko knew that was what she was referring to. She had seen them all, but Satoru likely hadn’t; as close as they were, Suguru still preferred to change in private. Shoko had only seen them out of necessity when Suguru had been injured.
“You don’t have to,” Shoko said. Then she looked at what Suguru was wearing: loose jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. “But you’re gonna get hot in that.”
Before Suguru could respond, Satoru showed up with a big smile and black athletic shorts with a short-sleeved black swimsuit top to match. “Try these on!” she said excitedly, before handing them off to Suguru and darting off in another direction.
Suguru couldn’t hide the soft smile that took over her face before she left to try them on. Shoko noticed that the tips of her ears were bright pink.
Now that they were at the beach, and Suguru had slipped out of the jeans she had on over her new shorts, Shoko could sense some hesitancy there.
She remembered telling Suguru in the infirmary, once, that it was normal for sorcerers to have scars. Growing up in a family of non-sorcerers, she might not have known this.
“But you don’t have them,” Suguru had said. “Satoru doesn’t have them.”
Shoko had responded, “Not yet, but we might someday.”
Maybe not the most comforting thought, but it was honest.
Once Satoru noticed Suguru in her swimwear, her eyes went comically wide. “Woah, Suguru! That’s a badass scar!”
At that moment, Shoko wanted to shake her. Satoru was loud, and very socially unaware at times, but it wasn’t her fault—growing up chained to the Gojo Estate had its consequences.
But still…did she have to point it out right away?
Suguru had a few small scars scattered across her arms, but the one Satoru was referring to was undoubtedly the big scar that went up her thigh, disappeared under her shorts, and reemerged over her hip, disappearing once again under Suguru’s crop top that extended just beyond her ribs.
Suguru had gotten it before coming to Jujutsu High; that much, Shoko knew, because she would’ve remembered an injury of that size and scale.
“What!?” Satoru snapped defensively when Shoko and Suguru both stared at her, wide-eyed. Satoru crossed her arms. “It’s fucking cool!”
Shoko closed her eyes momentarily and prepared to do some damage control—
“Really?” Suguru asked. It was the rare vulnerability in her tone that finally clued Satoru in on the emotional weight of the conversation.
Satoru smiled and pulled Suguru close to her in a side hug. “Yeah, it’s cool. And if anyone stares at it for too long and makes you uncomfortable, I’ll beat them up.”
That startled a laugh out of Suguru, and her laughter was contagious. Soon enough, they were all laughing and splashing each other in the ocean until they forgot that they were sorcerers with the weight of the world on their shoulders.
For now, they were just ordinary teenage girls.
***
The beach was fun.
Shoko watched Satoru experience the pain of getting saltwater in her eyes for the first time, which made her cry actual tears. This was right after she had dunked Shoko’s head underwater with no warning whatsoever, though, so Shoko didn’t feel all that bad for her.
At one point Suguru snuck off to buy Satoru a hat because she was afraid she would get a sunburn on the top of her head (honestly, Shoko thought it was a valid concern). Satoru refused to wear the hat until Suguru said, “It looks cute on you.” After that, Satoru wore the hat for the rest of the day.
To Shoko, it looked less ‘cute’ and more like a ridiculous floppy hat, but it was also free entertainment, so she said nothing.
By the time they got back to the hotel, they were all exhausted enough to silently collapse back into bed. This time, they didn’t bother trying to keep up the illusion of personal space. They fell asleep on top of the duvet in a pile of tangled limbs.
***
Early the next morning, when they were waiting for their train to arrive and Shoko was still half-asleep, she felt Satoru’s arms wrap around her from behind.
After this trip, she had a feeling that Satoru would be clingier than ever moving forward. Oh, well. She supposed it didn’t hurt.
“Our Shoko looks better, doesn’t she?”
“Get off me,” Shoko grumbled but made no move to shove her off.
“She does,” Suguru agreed with a smile.
“They were overworking you down there,” Satoru said, squeezing her tighter before she let her go. “Just because you’re the best at what you do doesn’t mean you’re the only one who can do it.”
“They take you for granted,” Suguru added. “You deserve to take breaks, just like the rest of us.”
Oh, they were both hypocrites…
But Shoko could hear the unspoken, “We missed you,” loud and clear.
She smiled. “Thank you.”
She didn’t need to explain herself. Her best friends understood.