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Sharp, chestnut eyes followed the woman leaving the training grounds with a grin that took up at least half of her face. They watched as she gesticulated wildly while explaining something to whoever she was talking to on the phone and narrowed as she cackled over something the person on the other line said. A thin eyebrow raised as her cheeks flushed, the smile turning to a smirk effortlessly, her head shaking in fond disbelief and her bottom lip bitten to conceal a either a loud laugh or a giggle, she was too far to be able to tell. Something weird was going on.
Mai was many things, a bitch, a meanie, an asshole with unresolved abandonment issues, and some would even call her weak, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Quite the opposite honestly, she took pride in being smart enough to notice certain patterns within the people she coexisted, sure her ego could be her downfall when she refused to admit some of them. But in her mind, she knew things some people would gloss over.
One of them was her teacher’s unusual giddiness, she glowed in a way that was hard to miss, even her voice was softer at times and that was certainly an outside influence. She didn’t want to pry, but she was interested in knowing who was the one responsible for it, less for herself and more to know if she was good enough for someone as kind as Utahime. The woman had helped her a lot, from the times she cried by herself over her whole situation with Maki, to her self-doubt, and she even heard hours of ranting about her finally successful love life, Utahime spent so many evenings stroking through her short hair and offering useful pieces of advice. She was grateful and figured that she needed to know who to shoot in case the woman she admired so much ever got hurt by her lover.
“Why are you staring at Utahime-sensei like that, Mai? It’s kinda creepy,” Momo’s voice made her jump and she immediately turned around with wide eyes and a sure blush all over her cheeks.
“I’m not being a creep, stop!” She started slapping her girlfriend’s arms playfully. “She’s just weird.”
“What do you mean, baby?” Momo asked, snaking her arms around her waist and nuzzling her back.
“I don’t know,” she muttered, analyzing their teacher’s behavior for the last couple of months just to be sure, then she gasped, for dramatics of course. “Sensei’s got a girlfriend.” She whispered as if telling a conspiracy.
Momo let her girlfriend go and stood by her side, frowning as Utahime seemingly scolded whoever she was talking to. It was different from when she told one of them off, but it still could be just a friend, her frown deepened when she fully processed Mai’s words.
“Pause,” she started, turning to look at the other girl and holding both of her hands to coax her to do the same. “First things first, why do you even think she likes girls?”
“Look at her and tell me she likes men.” Mai deadpanned. In reality, she had come out to her teacher in her first year, terrified of what she would say, her hands had only stopped shaking after Utahime told her it was okay, she was also a lesbian. But she would let her girlfriend reach her own conclusions, it wouldn’t be right to out the woman like that.
Momo nodded and narrowed her eyes trying to picture her beloved teacher having any sort of intimacy with any kind of man, it was impossible to make it look natural, she sighed.
“You’re right,” she looked at her girlfriend again. “But she could be talking to a friend.”
“She’s not,” Mai placed her hands on Momo’s shoulders and looked down at her. “I’m telling you that woman is in love.” There was so much conviction in her voice that not even a lawyer would dare to argue with her.
Listen, Momo loved gossip, she loved knowing who slept with whom, and she loved observing people’s behavior and commenting on it with her friend but talking about Utahime’s love life was kind of weird. It felt more like an invasion of privacy than usual, unfortunately, Mai had such a mischievous look in her eyes that she knew her girlfriend would snoop until she got a satisfactory answer. She sighed in resignation.
“Let’s say you’re right, what are your bets?”
“Another sorcerer that’s for sure, from where I have no idea, but I’d say Tokyo.”
Momo tilted her head. “It could be a normal person?”
“It’s not,” she shook her head and sighed at the other girl’s inquisitive look. “Before I asked you out I talked to her for some advice and she said that she was glad I liked you because it was good to have someone to share the burden of the job with.” She muttered, blushing from the tip of her ears to the base of her neck.
“You told her about me, that’s so cute,” Momo cooed.
“Shut up.”
“Never,” she got on her tiptoes and kissed Mai’s lips gently. “Anyway, the goodwill event is in two days, and a lot of people usually go.” She mused.
“Mystery woman will for sure be there,” Mai said gleefully, she loved when they could just scheme like normal teenagers.
They shared twin grins and faced their teacher again, she was hanging onto every word her lover had to say, adding something every now and then but mostly just nodding to herself. Mai was itching for a good story, and she felt like this would be a good one.
Mai watched Utahime’s behavior from then on, how her lips curled up at random moments of the day, how she had a barely concealed skip on her step whenever she left to go home, and how giddy she got whenever her phone pinged.
And most importantly, how happy she was on the drive to Tokyo.
Her mood only changed after Miwa mentioned she would finally meet the Gojo Satoru, which was to be expected given how much she hated the man, but still, something in her was glad to be there. Mai just had to figure out why, and one would think that it was stupid to have that as a concern when everything was crumbling around her. But if she thought too much about her sister, the competition, and Sukuna’s vessel she would decidely explode.
So after losing and having to deal with a special grade curse, she focused on how Utahime’s worries dissipated the moment she stepped on the infirmary, how the stiff of her shoulders relaxed after taking a single glance around and most importantly, Mai frowned as she watched the doctor that healed and patched them up was able to reassure her teacher with a few words and a hand on her arm. They seemed to be really good friends, she was glad Utahime had someone to count on in moments like that.
Still, as some of her cuts were bandaged she wondered if her teacher was able to contact her girlfriend and tell her everything was fine. She hoped Utahime had some time to do it, just thinking about being in the situation of mystery woman brought chills to her spine in worry.
The last day came around and she couldn’t wait to go back, Tokyo really wasn’t for her. She barely saw Utahime all day so there wasn’t even any fun sneaking around to do, to make things worse the cafeteria was full, and why they let Panda eat there she didn’t know but it almost made her pack her bags and get a metro ticket. His fur got everywhere after some time, it was unbearable.
Mai was saved by her peripheral vision catching Utahime leaving the table she shared with Mei Mei and a lanky old man she didn’t know the name of, she elbowed her girlfriend and lightly nudged her head in the same direction. Both of them stood up and Momo claimed they were going to make out just to make sure they would be the only stalkers around, the disgusted sounds from their classmates were enough to reassure her it would be fine.
They followed quietly, their footsteps so light they could barely be heard. Thank god for her paranoia making them practice stealth, identical frowns on their faces as Utahime walked into the infirmary.
“What is she doing there?” Mai asked, already leading the way so they could listen through the door.
“I heard your sister say that Dr. Ieiri is on lunch break so it’s empty, maybe she’s meeting the mystery lady here?” Momo whispered back, already leaning her ear on the wood.
“Darling, please.” They never heard Utahime whining before, it was disconcerting.
“Just be good and wait a few hours, Hime.” Mai frowned, the voice was familiar but she just couldn’t place a face to it, Momo had the same look, and both of them shrugged.
“I really can’t wait that long.” Mai definitely didn't want to know what they were talking about, she had an inkling and would throw up if it progressed further.
“Sounds like a you problem.” Momo had to put her hands on both their mouths to stop them from laughing, mystery woman had jokes.
Something that sounded like a tongue clicking made Mai straighten her back, she knew that disapproving gesture well enough to have an automatic response to it.
“You’re so mean.” Momo closed her eyes and imagined her pouting, it fitted perfectly.
“You still love me.” Utahime scoffed at that, but the girls could hear the sounds of lips meeting. It was disgusting but they dealt with it in the hope of hearing the name of the woman who had their teacher so whipped.
“Did you at least eat something today, my love?” Mai had never heard such a loving tone coming from Utahime before. It was like she had honey on her lips, speaking with reverence and something that could only be described as pure love.
“Yes, don’t worry about it.”
“I’ll always worry about you, dear, you know that.” Momo made a gagging motion but Mai thought it was adorable, she knew she felt the same way about her girlfriend, and it was reassuring to know that it wasn’t weird to be that attached to the one she loved.
“Yeah, I know. I love you,” more kissing sounds and she was almost compelled to just give up, but then silence greeted them for a few seconds. “Go beat Satoru’s ass.” First name basis? They must've been close, that should narrow down the suspect list.
Utahime giggled, they would never admit it but their bodies felt warm at their teacher’s happiness. Maybe it was hope, if they could be this giddy in the middle of the chaos that is living as jujutsu sorcerers then Momo and Mai could do it too. They would, she knows it.
“I will,” another kiss. “For you.”
That was their signal to step away from the door and hide in a nearby corner. Around five minutes later they spotted Utahime leaving with her face neutral but the sparkle in her eyes couldn’t fool them - the way her lips were visibly swollen and sort of red was also unmistakable.
Momo signaled them to leave but as she did so Dr. Ieiri left the infirmary with a small smile that could not be anything other than soft, loving, sweet. Suddenly, the interactions from the day before made sense, the way the doctor stroked her arm, how easily she could calm the overly stressed teacher down, and most importantly, how Utahime managed to go missing every time they went to Tokyo in way that no one could possibly find her. Nobody would look in the infirmary of all places.
They shared grins and just by the look in their eyes anyone would know they were plotting something, the car ride back would be interesting.
Momo and Mai found a way to put all the boys in a car with Tokyo’s driver and Miwa rode with the principal as she usually did. Sometimes they felt bad she had to work so much but at the moment it was heavily appreciated.
Around halfway Mai’s eyes locked with Momo’s over the rearview mirror and they nodded to each other discreetly, they knew Utahime was suspicious, she had a right to be with all the not-exactly-subtle stares and whispers.
“Sensei,” Mai started, gaining a hum as an answer. “Are you and Dr. Ieiri dating?”
Beating around the bush wouldn’t help and she wasn’t a patient person to even try to do it subtly so she took the chuckle Utahime let out as surprise rather than mockery.
“Well…she’s my wife, so…yes?” She shrugged like her being married was common knowledge and not a groundbreaking revelation. Momo choking on nothing made her frown. “You didn’t know?”
“How could we possibly know?” Momo screeched.
“I never tried to hide it from you guys, from Gakuganji sure, but you?” She shook her head. “All the other students know already.”
“Oh my god,” Mai muttered.
“Wait, how long have you two been together?” Momo asked almost in desperation, if it was more than five years she would flip, there was just no way she didn’t know.
“Nine? Almost ten years,” Utahime smiled to herself, probably remembering how it all went down, the horrified scream Momo let out was just white noise. “She confessed a little after her high school graduation, on the same night I got the scar.” She looked at her right to see Mai’s mouth agape.
Utahime laughed again and went on to tell them how everything began and everyone else found out, including the Tokyo students and most of the teachers they knew. It was both mind blowing and disappointing that not only they were the last ones to know but also that not a single classmate of theirs thought was pertinent information to share, Mai would definitely slap the shit out of them later.