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i.
A particularly rough toss from Panda leaves Nobara on the floor, her breath heavy as she overcomes the feeling of being winded. She can only muster up the strength to place an arm over her forehead to block the sunlight from blinding her, a noise of frustration leaving her lips as she lay there. Ugh. She’s been training for weeks and she just hasn’t been able to get past Panda’s high offensive and defensive capabilities. If an outsider saw her, they’d think she was obsessed with this– she has been dedicated to training for hours each day since their seniors’ proposal to join the Goodwill Event, even asking her furry senior to join her on the practice grounds after hours.
It wasn’t like Nobara was particularly in love with the idea of sweating for hours on end, finishing her day with aching muscles and intense hunger. Training simply kept her mind off of things–sad things. It had been a few weeks since Itadori’s passing and it still weighed heavy on her mind. Had she been stronger, maybe things would have been different. Yeah, she hardly knew the guy, but that didn’t soften the blow of his untimely death. He had a solid heart and was someone Nobara had (begrudgingly) come to enjoy being around.
Nobara comes to it when a bottle hangs above her, casting a shadow as the bottle sweats onto her face. Nobara blinks in surprise before peeking past her arm to find the culprit behind the stray droplet of water. She’s met with Maki expectantly staring down at her, water in hand. “Here,” is all Maki says.
Nobara graciously takes it, sitting up to sip on the beverage. “Thanks, Maki,” she says, crossing her legs as she rests and smiling at her senior, though the smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“What’s got you down?” her senior asks, peering down at Nobara through rectangular glasses.
Nobara shrugs in an attempt to show nonchalance. “Y’know, I’ve been training every day and I still just can’t get a good hit on him,” she frowns, her lip jutting out as she explains her annoyance with her current predicament. She looks down at the bottle in her hands as she tugs on the wrapper, pulling part of it off. “You would think because he is a panda that he’d be slower in his movements, but he’s just too fast and strong.”
“Panda?” Maki questions, seemingly considering Nobara’s explanation. There’s a brief moment of silence between the two as Maki appears to think up her next words. Nobara thinks she is trying to find a nice way to say, ‘maybe someday.’
However, the older girl surprises Nobara with her words. “Just kick him where it hurts. He’s not immune to that,” Maki states simply.
Nobara opens her mouth to say something before shutting it again. She supposes that is one way to go about it. At the end of the day, he was a man after all. Nobara’s hands stop fiddling around with the bottle, “I didn’t think about that. Thanks.”
It is Maki’s turn to sit stunned as Nobara pushes herself off the ground and tosses the bottle to her. She walks right up to an unsuspecting Panda, kicking his Panda bits. “Gotcha!” Nobara announces with a triumphant grin before turning to face Maki with a thumbs up as Panda dramatically falls to the floor. This victory is theirs to share.
ii.
Nobara wouldn’t say she’s obsessed with social media. She’s simply someone who happens to use multiple apps, consuming her memes in different ways– her priority being Instagram, of course. She had to maintain her OOTD (outfit of the day) posts and share the yummy foods she tried after missions and during her weekend excursions. She also had to keep up with the silly video trends, even filming a few herself with some of her classmates.
Social media was a pivotal part of her social life. For her, gaining access to another’s social media is almost like an invite into their life. These profiles provide an inside look into what people enjoy and how they choose to present themselves. That’s why when the topic of social media comes up around Maki, Nobara’s ears perk up as she tries to feel whether the older girl has any. They’d recently become acquainted with each other and Nobara thought they hit it off, being two of the only girls in the school. Even so, the topic of social media hadn’t quite come up yet until Inumaki showed them a funny meme he found reposted on Instagram at the dinner table. Laughs are exchanged, and the topic eventually shifts from that, but Nobara still itches to know about the other girl’s attitude toward it.
In what Nobara hopes is smooth, Nobara offers to help Maki clean up the dishes while the boys dispose of the trash. There is silence between the two as they play their game of wash and dry. As the last dish makes its way into the first-year’s hands, she begins, “So… about Instagram. Do you have one?” So smooth.
Maki nods with an easy “Yeah,” drying off her freshly washed hands with a nearby towel.
“Oh really? What sorts of things do you post?” Nobara asks, folding the towel in her hand and leaning against the counter.
“I don’t post much.”
“Oh, I see. We should change that,” Nobara offers, standing still until a thought pops into her mind. The younger student then holds her phone out to Maki. “You should add me.”
When Maki does, Nobara mentally pumps a fight in the air in victory, excited to add her upperclassman. The conversation only lasts a few more minutes before both students retreat to their respective rooms, Nobara eager to see her feed and, hopefully later, help create new posts with the older student.
If Maki woke up to 50 notifications, Nobara wouldn’t feign ignorance. She would own up to it, ten toes down since this exchange adds a new layer to their friendship. Friends hype up each other’s posts even if they are months or years old.
iii.
Nobara first shakes her head to swing her bangs out of her face as she sits, leaning over her notes at the table. One hand holds her pen, the other marks her place in a textbook as she notes the difference between linear and nonlinear equations. She’s just finished writing her second example when her once-moved hair falls back into her line of vision. This time she blows the copper locks with a puff of air in a weak attempt to move her hair aside, but it flops back down, covering her eye and tickling her cheek.
She can only muster the strength to sigh. How annoying. This almost makes Nobara yearn for a bald head. Almost. She’d be too worried that a shaved head would reveal some sort of deformity.
Her brows furrow as she squints to see past her displaced hair. Her efforts are to no avail. Sure, she can go back to her room for a headband, but she is already comfortable in her seat at the table in the communal lounge and would rather not get too distracted while she’s focused.
“You look pitiful,” she hears a familiar voice say, breaking the silence. If it had been one of the boys, she would have chewed them out. However, the voice comes from Maki, who is seated across from her at the table, and Nobara likes Maki. She’s one of the few students with functioning brain cells, one of the girls as Nobara liked to think about it.
Although her words may sound abrasive to an outsider, Nobara doesn’t take it personally. On the contrary, such words are followed by the older student dropping a hair tie onto the notebook Nobara attempted to fill. Nobara looks up at the older girl, placing her pen down after Maki motions at the hair tie with her chin.
“I keep extras on me,” is all she says.
Nobara lifts the tie and opens it with her fingers. She then pulls her hair back in what is barely long enough to be considered a ponytail.
In a sign of gratitude, Nobara reaches over to her bag on the chair beside her, pulling out a bag of chips and holding it out to Maki. When they first met, Nobara was surprised to find out the older girl was a fan of junk food. Her skin appeared too clear for that. It wasn’t fair.
When Maki takes the bag, the younger student smiles, with an “Even” although she’s sure Maki would’ve shared the hair tie either way.
iv.
“What? No way!” Nobara exclaims, her inside voice long forgotten after Maki reveals she had never played a game of Smash, let alone any game console. She can see the older girl wince at her volume, but Nobara is in too much shock to care. It was just the two of them anyway; no need for manners, Nobara tends to think around Maki.
“Not even Mario Kart?” she gawks, eyebrows raised as high as ever. The older student’s head shake leads Nobara to her feet, her hand raised in a stopping motion. “Wait here,” she commands, although ‘here’ is Maki’s dorm room.
In a couple of minutes, Nobara returns to the older student’s room, pink bag in hand, wires spilling out from her haphazard packing.
“I’m back,” she declares, pulling out a Nintendo Switch from the bag, and handing it over for Maki to hold as Nobara sets the bag down and makes herself comfortable on the floor next to her upperclassman. She pulls the controls off the sides, handing one to the older girl before she props the screen up against her bag as a makeshift stand.
Once controls are explained and characters are selected (Nobara is Yoshi, of course. Maki selects Daisy), Nobara eases Maki into the gameplay with simpler courses. However, tension starts to rise as the older girl grows more comfortable with the game, Nobara beginning to break a sweat as her competitive nature finally decides to reveal itself. It’s not like the first-year was known for her chill anyhow.
Throughout the evening, many games are played between the two, both girls sharing many courses, laughs, sighs, and (friendly) shouts.
v.
Nobara’s first instinct is to be annoyed, their Halloween evening of festivities interrupted by some urgent matter in Shibuya. She’d been looking forward to the night all month, excited to return to the dorms to dress up in dumb costumes, indulge in sweets, and exchange spooky stories with her classmates. However, plans change and both she and Maki are left to shadow Maki’s drunk uncle on some urgent mission. That definitely throws a wrench in her fun.
Thanks to their new recommendation to become First-Grade, Nobara finds herself on many more missions, accompanying those of that rank in hopes of joining them. She’s honored, really, honored to be considered, but it is also something that makes her tired. The responsibility of higher-ranking sorcerers isn’t something to laugh at.
During the car ride over, there’s a brief explanation of the situation– many holes and details yet to be provided even to their manager. All Nobara can do is nod in acknowledgment, unsure what to make of it. After a moment, the car becomes quiet again, the only sound is the hum of the engine and the low music playing from the speaker. Nobara uses this time to think as she leans against the window.
At least today she’s with Maki, she decides, trying to find the bright side of the situation. Nobara truly enjoyed being around the second-year student, looking up to Maki for her abilities and strength—both mentally and physically. She was effortlessly cool and Nobara loved that about her.
“Y’know Maki, I really do like you,” she says, smiling at the other girl. “When tonight is done how about we ditch the boys and just hang out together.”