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“Miwa!” Mai’s voice snaps, accompanied by a loud clap of her hands that startles Miwa out of her seat. Her chair tips, and she goes tumbling to the ground, hitting her shoulder hard against the wooden floorboards.
Mai looks down at her, unimpressed.
“Sorry,” Miwa apologizes sheepishly. She pushes herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her arm where there’s sure to be a bruise forming. She looks around and finds the classroom has been completely deserted apart from the two of them. Not that it was very full beforehand, but…she doesn’t recall Mechamaru or Utahime-sensei leaving…?
“Class is over,” Mai informs her helpfully. She turns away without offering to help Miwa up. Miwa doesn’t expect that sort of kindness from Mai, but it would’ve been nice. Instead, she’s left stranded on the floor as Mai strides towards the door. “If you’re feeling sick, you should see a doctor. If not, pay more attention, because next time, I’ll just leave you here overnight.”
Miwa huffs out a quiet sigh. She waits for Mai to leave before using her desk to pull herself to her feet. She gathers her things quickly, unsure how much time she lost while deep in thought. She knows she has a problem with zoning out sometimes, but it’s never been this bad. It only got to this point after—
Miwa grits her teeth.
After the exchange event.
She knows what the problem is, too. And it’s not guilt or shame over the Kyoto school losing to a team half made up of first years, in case anyone was curious. She’s over that, even if she still wishes she hadn’t been so utterly useless during the team battles that turned into some crazy special grade curse fight she managed to sleep through. It has nothing to do with their loss or her being put out of commission by the cursed speech user, though.
It has to do with Maki.
Miwa tightens her grip on her bag, face heating as she power walks through campus.
Zen’in Maki, Mai’s twin sister. A sorcerer with no cursed energy, who has to rely on cursed tools imbued with power by others in order to fight. Miwa was assured she wouldn’t be an issue to handle during the exchange event, but Maki makes up for her lack of cursed energy with incredible strength and incomparable combat skills. Miwa never stood a chance against her, even pulling all the stops with her simple domain—Maki was simply too good.
And Miwa figured, she would look back on her fight against Maki in anger at how they made her into a complete fool. But no matter how hard she tries to dredge up that sense of frustration, it all fizzles away as soon as she brings Maki’s face to mind. Because Maki is…
Miwa yanks open the door to the dorm building, then slams it shut behind her.
Maki is hot.
Miwa wants to spar with them again knowing full well they’ll win, just so she can be pinned down beneath them. She wants to see Maki hovering over her, breathing heavily, covered in sweat, holding a sword against her throat. She wants to be rendered utterly powerless, to face Maki’s smug victory grin and know she will never be able to compare to them.
It’s so horrible, but Miwa just can’t stop thinking about it. Ever since the exchange event, all of her thoughts have been haunted by Maki.
“Good game!”
Miwa jumps, turning to look for the source of the voice. It sounds a bit like Mai, but she’d never be so nice, especially since they lost, so—
Oh. Of course. It’s Maki—making a bee-line for Miwa, for some reason.
“You too!” Miwa replies, hoping her smile doesn’t come across as too anxious. “That was a really good hit, even if Momo-san caught the ball. You totally would’ve gotten a run if she wasn’t allowed to use her technique.”
Maki snorts. “My bad for forgetting about that, I guess.” She comes to a stop standing across from Miwa, just a touch too close for comfort. Miwa is sort of afraid she’s going to be pummeled into the ground, even though Maki doesn’t look particularly angry right now and her words didn’t carry any sort of threat.
Miwa swallows thickly. “Um, well…” She looks around Maki, hoping she might catch sight of one of her classmates and be able to use them as an out. “I should probably, uh, find my friends…”
“Gojo said he expects us to all eat dinner together,” Maki informs her. They shake their head. “I don’t know what’s up with him, but it’s easier if we don’t argue. I came to let you know. Panda and Kugisaki went to collect your other classmates using whatever force necessary.”
Briefly, Miwa is struck by a vision of Panda carrying Mai to the dining hall, holding her up over his head as she kicks and screams and demands he let her down.
“We can walk over together,” Maki offers, her voice interrupting Miwa’s thoughts.
“Oh! Y-yeah! Just— Let me grab my—”
Maki lifts Miwa’s bag for her before she can even reach for it. She swings it over her shoulder like it’s nothing, even though Miwa knows it’s heavy, because she’s the only one who ever has the foresight to bring extras of everything for any of her peers or upperclassmen who might need it.
Miwa’s mouth goes dry at the sight.
“I– I can carry it—!” she tries.
“It’s fine,” Maki assures her. “It’ll be faster this way.”
Miwa deflates, falling into step beside Maki. “I’m not that weak, you know,” she insists, though it comes out sounding more like a whine than anything.
Maki frowns at her. “I never said you were. Why do you think we went out of our way to have Inumaki take you down in the team battles?”
A quiet, “Oh,” falls from Miwa’s lips. Maki turns to face forward once more, but Miwa can’t draw her eyes away from them after that. A warmth settles in her chest, and she thinks, just maybe, Maki isn’t quite as bad as she first assumed.
Miwa idly pushes her food around on her plate, resting her cheek on her free hand and staring straight through the meal in front of her. Mai and Momo are coming up with some plan for how to commandeer the common room TV, but Miwa’s thoughts are…elsewhere. So she hasn’t really been contributing to the conversation.
She’s just letting their words muddle in her mind and turn into background noise while she gets lost in thought imagining Maki sparring with her. In a private training room, maybe—or the field if no one else is around. It ends with Miwa flat on her back, and Maki atop her, sparring stick pointed at Miwa’s throat. Their weight is heavy, but the pressure is nice. Miwa yields, because she knows when she’s lost, and Maki tosses their stick aside but they don’t move.
They reach down to Miwa, cupping her jaw with one hand, thumb pressed against her lips. Miwa’s breath hitches, heart hammering in her chest. Everything is so hot, and Maki is so close, and they’re leaning even closer, and Miwa squeezes her eyes shut on instinct, and—
“Miwaaaaaa,” Momo drawls, right in her ear.
“Ah!” Miwa jumps, the fantasy shattering. “Huh? What?”
Momo and Mai exchange a look. Miwa hunches her shoulders, hoping they weren’t somehow able to read her thoughts. If Mai knew she was fantasizing about her sibling like that, Miwa would probably have to drop out of school and flee the country. She could send money back to her family from Europe, right?
“You’re so spacey lately,” Momo complains. “Are you feeling okay? You know you don’t have to pay anything to see the on-campus doctor, right?”
“I’m fine,” Miwa mumbles, drawing in on herself even further. “Just a bit distracted.”
“You better not let the distraction interfere with your missions,” Mai bites. “That’s how you end up dead.”
Miwa winces. The words are harsh, but she knows Mai is right. She can’t afford to space out thinking about Maki’s biceps or what it might be like to kiss her while she’s supposed to be fighting curses. One wrong move during a mission can be a death sentence, and Miwa quite literally cannot afford to die.
“I won’t,” she promises.
Neither Mai nor Momo look like they really believe her, but they don’t push the subject. So Miwa turns her attention to her food that has grown cold and starts shoveling it in her mouth in order to prevent herself from saying stupid like Mai-san, how is your sister so hot and do you think she would crush me between her thighs if I asked?
By the time the movie ends, Miwa is surprised to find most of the other students have fallen asleep. She thought she was worn out after the baseball game, but she had no trouble watching the movie the Tokyo students picked out all the way through to the end. Mai is dozing with her head on Miwa’s shoulder, and Momo is curled up against Mai’s other side. Panda is sprawled out on the floor, and Inumaki is using him as a pillow. Itadori is asleep with his head in Fushiguro’s lap while Fushiguro seems to be on the edge of sleep himself as well. The Kyoto boys all departed after dinner—Mechamaru because he needed to charge his battery or something, Kamo because he insisted he needed rest, and Todo because he basically threw a tantrum about not watching something with Takada-chan in it.
Which leaves Miwa, Maki, and Kugisaki as the only three still awake.
Kugisaki shoots up while the credits are still rolling, saying she has to use the bathroom, and then she walks out with her phone in hand.
In the spot beside where she was seated moments prior, Megumi’s head drops as he seems to finally nod off.
Okay, Miwa thinks. This is totally fine.
She wiggles her way out from beneath Mai, taking care to prop her head up with a pillow. By some miracle, neither she nor Momo stir. She exhales a quiet sigh of relief, stretching her arms and looking to the only other person awake right now for guidance on what to do.
Maki has started cleaning, so Miwa follows suit, gathering the empty popcorn bowls and candy wrappers. They work in near-silence—broken only by Maki grumbling about her classmates’ inability to stay awake through one movie. Miwa doesn’t comment on that, although she’s inclined to agree that it would be nice if they weren’t the only two cleaning up after everyone.
Unfortunately, Miwa is used to this. Having as many younger siblings as she does means she’s very familiar with cleaning other people’s messes, and the habit did follow her to school. Which her classmates occasionally take advantage of. It makes her feel useful, though, so Miwa doesn’t mind much.
After they’ve finished, Miwa glances towards those still sleeping in the common room. Kugisaki never bothered returning, so Miwa has to assume she made it back to her own dorm. Everyone else, however…
“What are we going to do about them?” Miwa whispers.
Maki shrugs. “Leave them?”
“I don’t think they’ll be very comfortable…”
“Is that our problem?”
Miwa snaps her mouth shut. She supposes, technically, it’s not an issue she or Maki have to deal with. It would be nice if they woke the others so they could sleep somewhere that would be better on their backs—either in their own dorm rooms, or in the guest accommodations provided to the Kyoto students. But would the others even bother doing the same for them, if the roles were reversed?
“I guess not…” Miwa muses. She pouts. “But I don’t want to walk all the way back to the other building alone.”
“Sleep in my room, then,” Maki suggests. “We’ll grab a spare futon. I’ve got plenty of space.”
Miwa casts one final glance towards Momo and Mai, then turns her gaze up to Maki. She’s grinning like this is the best idea she’s ever had, and Miwa knows it’s dumb, but when she tries to turn Maki down, the words get stuck in her throat.
“Okay,” she agrees.
She follows after Maki without looking back.
On the car ride to a mission is definitely not the best time for Miwa to be hopelessly daydreaming about a girl who probably doesn’t even remember her name. However. Miwa was trying to clear her head by scrolling through social media, and it’s not her fault one of the suggested posts that came up on her feed was a photo posted by Kugisaki of her, Maki, and Itadori showing off painted nails. Maki actually looks like they’d rather be anywhere else, glaring at the camera and flipping Kugisaki off while she and Itadori grin brightly. But the glowering is kind of super attractive, actually, in a she might kill me type of way.
Miwa doesn’t even realize how long she’s been staring at the picture until Mai asks, “Is that my sister?”
“No!” Miwa exclaims, fumbling to shut off her phone. Mai is faster, though, swiping it from her grip and holding it out of reach while she studies the image. Distaste is written clearly all over her face. Miwa briefly debates unfastening her seatbelt, opening the car door, and hoping for the best.
“Is this why you’ve been so out of it lately?” she asks, contempt dripping from each word. “Mechamaru mentioned it’s been since the exchange event, but…seriously?” Mai looks up, lips curled in disgust. “Maki?!”
Miwa groans, burying her face in her hands. “It’s hopeless, I know.”
Miwa’s phone lands back in her lap. When she dares to split her fingers apart enough to stare at Mai through the cracks, she finds her expression has morphed into something entirely disinterested. She’s turned away, staring out the window and resting her chin in her hand. Miwa watches her reflection in the glass as she rolls her eyes.
“I can’t believe you,” she grumbles. “If I die today because you’re too busy daydreaming about my sibling of all people, I will come back as a curse to get revenge.”
“Understood,” Miwa mumbles. She shuts her phone off, opting for looking out of her own window for the remainder of the car ride instead of risking her phone again.
Although Maki said there was plenty of space in her dorm room, Miwa hadn’t expected it to be quite so…sparse. Even her own room back in Kyoto has more in it than Maki’s. Maki dropped her off here, and then told her to wait while she went to get a futon. With no other option, Miwa hesitantly planted herself in the chair at Maki’s desk, because she figured sitting on the bed might be crossing some sort of boundary.
There’s nothing else in here apart from the bed, desk, and chair. The closet door is pulled shut, and there are a few random knickknacks placed on the desk, but…nothing else. No extra shelves, or decorations on the walls. Mai mentioned that Maki applied for school here without their parents’ blessing, but the emptiness of this room makes Miwa wonder if it goes a bit deeper than that—just how much was Mai underselling the situation?
She doesn’t have time to dwell on it before Maki returns. Miwa offers to set the futon up herself, since she’ll be the one actually sleeping on it, but Maki waves her off. So Miwa watches her get it ready, and she tries not to stare, but there’s literally nothing else to look at. And why would she want to look at anything other than Maki anyway? She’s gorgeous.
Thankfully, it isn’t long before the futon is ready to go. Maki shuts the lights off, and they both climb into their respective beds.
“G’night, Miwa,” Maki murmurs, voice already heavy with sleep.
(Miwa’s heart skips a beat.)
“Goodnight, Maki-san,” she replies softly.
(For a long while, Miwa lays awake, staring at the ceiling and listening to Maki breathe.)
Miwa and Mai do not die on their mission, but Mai also spends the next few days seething and refusing to speak to Miwa unless absolutely necessary. She figures she must have inadvertently ruined her friendship with Mai forever, and glumly resolves to get over Maki if it that’s what it takes to get back on Mai’s good side. But before she can make any sort of progress there, Mai ends up cornering her in the common room.
“Um,” Miwa says, eyes darting around in search of an escape route. “Hi…?”
Mai thrusts her phone into Miwa’s hands. “You make me sick.”
Miwa blinks. She looks down at Mai’s phone screen and finds she has it opened to a text thread between her and Maki. It seems like something Miwa absolutely should not be seeing under any circumstance, but Mai isn’t stupid enough to accidentally show her something like this, so she takes a breath and starts reading.
Maki: hey i forgot to ask the cute girl w blue hair from ur school for her number. can u get it for me?
Mai: No.
Maki: are you sure? -.-
Mai: You don’t even remember her name.
Maki: it’s miwa
Maki: do i win?
Maki: c’mon pleaseeeMai: No. Suffer.
Maki: :/
The conversation is dated from the day after they returned to Kyoto following the exchange event.
Miwa looks up at Mai, and then back at the phone screen. It must be a joke, right? It must be edited or something? But, no, she had to scroll to read the whole thing. And she can still keep scrolling more, and the next conversation is from a week later, with Maki asking for her number again and Mai refusing once more.
“I didn’t think you had any interest in them,” Mai admits bluntly. She gives Miwa a once-over. “Obviously, I was wrong. I had too much faith in you.”
“Mai-san, can you please—?”
“I’m not letting Maki win,” she interrupts, turning away. “But I’m mistakenly leaving my phone unlocked here while I go to the bathroom, so if you happen to find the contact information for someone you want to talk to on there, that is hardly my doing.”
Miwa’s eyes widen as Mai walks out of the room.
She scrambles to copy Maki’s number into her own phone, then turns Mai’s off and leaves it on the table before rushing off to her dorm room. She shouts a THANK YOU! into the bathroom on her way, which gets her an angry SHUT UP! in response.
It does nothing to wipe the grin off her face.