Chapter Text
As the sharp sword pierced the ugly cursed creature's core, a shriek that shook heaven and earth caused the young man's eyes to narrow slightly. The disgusting surface was slashed by the blade, leaving only black smoke that poured out and gradually disappeared.
“Gyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooohhhhhhhhhh”
After letting out a breath, the black-haired teenager sheathed his sword and quickly ran towards the civilian who had just been attacked after accidentally entering the danger zone.
“Are you okay?”
The person who had been performing extremely skillful and graceful swordsmanship movements just a moment ago now had an extremely worried and anxious expression on that neutral face. Just looking straight into those ocean-colored eyes, you can feel the kindness and gentleness that makes you want to cry.
What reason does such a kind, gentle person have to hold the hilt of that deadly wine-red sword? But the kinder a person is, the easier it is to embark on a difficult path for the people they love. Maybe, just maybe this boy was also fighting for someone, someone important to him.
“Fortunately, it was on time..thank you so much”
The young girl breathed a sigh of relief, and the worried lines on the teenager's soft face suddenly relaxed.
“You don't seem too surprised by those creatures, do you?”
Yuta noticed that this girl did not panic or ask about the ferocious cursed spirits from earlier like normal people.
"Actually, I'm also a 'window'. How unlucky was I to be attacked by the cursed spirits earlier after just reporting to the assistant directors."
Yuta sent a text message to his assistant that the work was completed, as well as a notice to prepare the car to go back to school. Then he greeted the young girl one last time.
“Goodbye, I'll go first”
Before Yuta could lift his foot, he was quickly pulled back by a call. the young girl quickly rummaged through her backpack, then pulled out a small box that looked like some kind of sweet.
“This is for you”
Yuta was surprised, gently pushing the box with a polite gesture.
“Um, no need..this is my job, well..I also get a salary from this job.”
The girl wondered how honest this boy with puppy eyes could be, with this personality, he is definitely the type of person who cannot easily integrate into a toxic office environment...But she had to admit that Yuta was definitely a precious child. The girl pushed the box into Yuta's hands.
“Come on, take it, you just saved my life, today is November 11, take it home and eat with your lover.”
Although Yuta felt relieved that the young woman's spirit seemed to have returned to a stable state, her overly excited spirit made him a bit scared. Girls...are scary, in many different ways.
“Um..I-I don't have a lover…”
Even though he had handled that hideous monster so skillfully just now, this boy was still just a teenager who was still easily shy about issues like this. For some reason, the young girl felt even more excited.
‘I have to try my best! What if my advice will become cupid's arrow connecting the souls of the most adorable couple in the world!! Ah, my heart will explode'
“But..you have someone you like, right?”
The girl asked a trap question with a drawl, as expected, the pale skin of the black haired teen's cheeks and neck was easily dyed red. The deep blue pupils appeared spiral streaks, showing the young man's confusion.
‘Bingo~’
Yuta seemed too panicked to notice the older girl's proud yet cunning smile.
“I guessed right, huh? What step have you reached?? Do you have any plans to confess your love to that person yet??”
Dozens of questions that even Yuta had never dared to think about suddenly rushed into his body, making his brain feel like it was about to explode. Yuta used a higher-than-usual, slightly broken voice to protest.
“It's not like that! That person... is very special, if it weren't for him, I would probably still be locked in that dark, stuffy, dimly lit room right now. But…we can't be together…Even though our relationship had not yet begun, it was at a dead end without any hope. Actually, I thought, am I mistaken between admiration and that ugly feeling?"
The girl held her breath as she listened to her sincere confessions like star-shaped candies being trampled and broken under someone's shoe. Perhaps it was a bit strange that Yuta would tell this stranger the thoughts that always squeezed his teenage heart. But maybe because they were strangers, Yuta was able to explain, because strangers don't take each other's problems seriously.
'He...seems to really like that person, huh..'
The young woman smiled, placed the pocky box in the younger man's palm and winked.
“Just try this innocuous game for a bit as a precious memory between the two of you. Listening to you, that person seems very kind, surely he won't be too bothered just because of a small game, right?"
Hearing the reassuring words from the strange girl made Yuta's heart calm down, that's right...sensei is very kind, to Yuta, Gojo-sensei is the kindest person in the world.
“Thank you…”
Finally, the white-shirted kid accepted the pocky box without any hesitation. The young girl nodded proudly and said goodbye before walking in the opposite direction.
“Good luck~”
‘Why did it turn out like this..’
Looking at the very ordinary box of Pocky lying in his palm, Yuta sighed and looked at the unfamiliar but not unfamiliar scene through the car window. Missions always appear in random locations, so it is very rare for sorcerers to receive missions in the same location within a short time.
‘Well..it's not certain that we'll meet each other..right?’
Because they are all special grade sorcerers, their work is very busy, and the opportunity to meet each other is even less than with others. Today Yuta had time to go back to school to have lunch and rest which was better than any other day, let alone meeting that person..
'...'
How long has it been since he heard his teacher's voice..? The heavier the responsibility, the more work piled up, the meetings and gentle jokes gradually disappeared, leaving only an empty space that silently appeared in a small corner of the teenager's heart.
Even though Yuta told himself that with the current position of both himself and that person, these feelings were selfish...he should have been the one to understand better than anyone else...yet..
‘I want to meet sensei…’
Yet Yuta still let those selfish thoughts invade his heart, easily defeated by loneliness.
His fingers, delicate but a bit calloused because they were used to holding weapons, gently rubbed the surface of the light blue rectangular box. Only the sound of the engine lasted throughout the asphalt road filled with green trees. Just like that, the teenager's immature mind continued to flow all the way back to school.
...
As he walked through the familiar path leading from the main gate to the student dormitories, Yuta tilted his head back, looking at the clear blue sky and the rays of sunlight blocked by the canopy of towering giant trees. Every time Yuta walks on this road he feels very refreshed, it feels like all the remaining ashes from the cursed spirits are being washed away by the sky.
“Umm~”
Taking a deep breath then relaxing his shoulders, Yuta still did not take his eyes off the towering sky. He really liked this route...really, Yuta always thought that the person who designed this scene was really good.
‘I'll go back to the dorm to shower, have lunch and then um…read a book? I wonder if anyone is free...'
Yuta walked leisurely, hands clasped behind his back while thinking about the remaining plans for his free day. Sometimes special grade sorcerer will be scheduled to take breaks in the middle of the day based on work progress and the number of remaining tasks. Actually…this is mainly Gojo-sensei's opinion and influence. One time Yuta was severely scolded by his sensei for vomiting and nearly fainting while working.
‘Fufu, Gojo-sensei was really scary that time..he's always scary when he's serious, my heart felt like it was about to jump out that time.'
But sensei is so harsh because he's very kind... right?
'I wish...I could repay that kindness even just a little'
Yuta felt like, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach the burden on that person's shoulders. Why is the sky up there so high and so far away? How can he get there..?
“What are you looking at?”
“???”
Instead of the blue sky, occupying Yuta's vision was a color even more beautiful than the sky.
“!! Gyah!”
The round puppy eyes blinked a few times before a high-pitched sound of surprise burst out and the foreheads of the two special grade sorcerers collided painfully.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch, it so hurts”
Both special grade sorcerer, one with his head raised to the sky, the other sitting down on the ground, simultaneously hugged the poor foreheads that had just strongly impacted each other.
“..ughgg”
Yuta used his hand to rub his red forehead while pitifully shedding tears. Gojo bent down to pick up the black blindfold that had fallen due to the sudden impact just now.
“Yuta..if you hate sensei then you can say it directly, why do you have to be so cruel..ouch”
The white-haired teacher's handsome face hung with a heartbreaking expression that looked so fake it was laughable. But instead of exposing the teacher's foolish joking appearance like the other students, this honest student quickly bowed and repeated his apology in his high-pitched, neutral voice.
“Ah! I'm sorry, I was a bit startled just now so..sorry sensei! W-are you okay? It looks so painful..”
Looking at his student's panicked appearance made Gojo feel that if he teased this child any more, he would really burst into tears from worry. Even though Yuta was used to Gojo's not-so-serious teasing, he was still prone to panic sometimes because of the worry that was deeply engraved in her core.
‘It always looks so interesting.’
Gojo always silently (obviously) enjoyed Yuta's panicked, stammering appearance that had never changed since that first year. Even though Yuta now has a calmer demeanor, his core personality has never changed.
'It's been a long time since I've seen Yuta like this, it's so refreshing ~ it's okay to tease him a little more, right? Hehe'
Gojo walked around, bowed low so that his handsome face was on the same level as the student still squatting on the ground, then flashed an evil smile.
“Yeah, yeah it really hurts, Yuta, will you rub it for me?”
Forgetting his own pain, Yuta looked at his teacher's face from a close distance with unbelievable eyes.
“Eh, but..”
The more Yuta delayed and did not comply with his teacher's wishes, the closer Gojo pushed that handsome face, causing the young student's shoulders to jump.
“Yuta? Come on”
In the end, because there was no way to resist the obvious magic from the white-haired sensei's handsome face, and also due to Yuta's own soft attitude, he slowly raised his hand, hesitated for a while before continuing the movement. When the student touched Gojo's bangs, Yuta's shoulder twitched slightly, his confused eyes gradually giving way to curiosity.
'Wa..super soft..just like cat fur..'
Yuta shook his head slightly to get rid of those stupid thoughts, his delicate hands carefully running through the annoying white curls that easily distracted people, to touch sensei's forehead, which was still slightly red from the earth-shattering collision just now, and then gently rub it to make the pain go away.
‘Just like a child..’
Yuta's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a low sound at an alarming distance.
“Yuta, say ‘that’”
Yuta made a resigned face, why was he the one embarrassed when sensei was the one who was begging like a child. The special grade student took a deep breath and started saying 'that'..
“Pain, pain quickly goes away, pain, quickly goes away ~ Goes away ~”
'So embarrassing..!!!'
Yuta bit his lip, he was so embarrassed that smoke rose from the top of his head. Well..when Yuta was little, his mom or nee-chan always read 'that' to comfort him, but he himself never read 'that spell' himself to distract children from the pain. What's even more embarrassing is that the person Yuta is comforting is not even a child! Yuta is comforting his teacher!
“Yuta do you want me to rub your forehead too?”
The mean teacher suddenly stood up straight, making that amused smile no longer within Yuta's reach. Hearing the teasing question, the student frowned.
“Um..I'm fine”
Somehow, when Yuta hastily refused, his heart immediately sank...Seeing Yuta's disappointed expression, Gojo couldn't help but feel amused, reached out his masculine hand to his student's high forehead, which was revealed thanks to his new hairstyle, gently rubbed it, and couldn't help but laugh, making the white-shirted kid's ears heat up.
“Be careful next time, okay?”
The little student's face heated up, his lips pursed slightly because of the strange feeling tingling in his stomach.
'This person is really...'
Yuta knows that his teacher often has unpredictable actions but..
“Did you finish work early today?”
Gojo asked as the two walked to the dorms together, Yuta nodded while trying to forget the super weird situation from before.
“Ah yes, I just finished a long mission in Kyoto and quickly handled an emergency mission near Kansai so they gave me a few days off, how about sensei?”
Although Yuta felt shy because of what happened earlier, his heart was still like a flower budding when he met his beloved teacher. It had been many days since he had heard his teacher's voice, let alone a voice in a relaxed state.
Although Yuta didn't mind hearing Gojo-sensei's voice when he was in a bad mood or his voice when he was seriously discussing the mission, but being able to be comfortably next to sensei like this is really very happy..
'Wow, he smiles like he's about to bloom'
Anyone looking in can see the aura of happiness surrounding the little student. Gojo felt a bit proud when he saw that expression of his student. A teacher must be happy when his students look forward to seeing him often, right?
“The investigation went more smoothly than expected, so I went back to school to take a shower and then go to lunch. There was no class today, the first year class had a mission in Kyoto. The kids are gradually growing up, no one needs this GLG teacher anymore."
Gojo made a sad face that looked even more dramatic than some TV series, making Yuta laugh. To be honest, Yuta is also very happy when his juniors are progressing further on the jujutsu path. The stronger Itadori, Fushiguro and Nobara become, the lighter Gojo-sensei's burden becomes..
‘What a relief..’
The corner of the white-haired teacher's eyes captured the image of his student's reassuring smile, looking even more beautiful than the sunflowers of late summer. Gojo's joking mood also suddenly became gentle.
“Yuta encountered many happy things today, hm~?”
Yuta was a bit startled when his teacher caught him red-handed. He smiled shyly while lightly scratching his cheek.
“Haha..yeah”
Finally arriving at the dormitory, they walked to two paths divided between the student dormitory and the teacher dormitory. Before walking in the opposite direction, Gojo patted Yuta's neat hair.
“Let's have lunch later, unless you already have an appointment?”
Yuta held his breath, his heart working at maximum intensity, he quickly nodded.
“I-I don't have any appointments so it's fine..”
Gojo waved briefly as he turned to leave.
“See you later”
The special grade student sighed, it seemed like the after effects of the joke from earlier still lingered, so Yuta reacted too strongly to Gojo's suggestions..
‘Regulate your emotions, Yuta..but, having lunch with sensei--’
“Fufu”
Yuta doesn't often invite Gojo to lunch because he's afraid of disturbing his teacher's time with others in case he has an appointment. Um..but Gojo-sensei isn't the type of person to feel bothered by this matter? It's just that Yuta thinks too much..It's said to be 'unusual', but it's not often that they meet each other, so the 'unusual' of 'not often' would be very rare.
So Yuta is really happy to be able to eat with his teacher because this is a rare occasion..why are there so many happy things today, huh?