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After the raid came to an end, every single Jujutsu High student was transferred to Kyoto where they would resume their studies and training. Not many days passed, maybe 1 or 2 but Yuta and Maki weren't talking as much as they usually did, and even when they did, it was only casual talk, nothing more than that.
"Yuta!" Panda yelled, waddling over to Yuta. Before Yuta could give a response Panda followed up" We need to have a talk" the little plush said, gasping for air
"Yeah sure, what is it?" Yuta asked, kind of oblivious to Panda's concern
"You need to make up with Maki, you two are freaking me out!" Panda stated
"It's weird to see you two avoiding each other"
"I think she is still mad at me for going along with my plan instead of listening to her" he said scratching the back of his neck "I tried apologising multiple times but she keeps dismissing me"
"Then wait until you have some free time, go to her dorm and have a proper talk" Panda continued, now calmer than before
"Wouldn't that bother her?" Yuta asked
"Eughhhhhhhh...if she truly wants to forgive you she won't "he said, tired of Yuta's spinelessness"Go get'em, tiger" he finished, hitting him on the shoulder
Yuta eventually put Panda down and resumed his training, however Panda's words kept repeating over and over in his head"if she truly wants to forgive you...". At that moment he made up his mind and decided that Panda was right.
As the sun started setting and people were leaving one by one Yuta passed by Maki's dorm. He stood there, frozen for a few seconds before knocking on the door.
"Maki-san, do you have a minute to talk?" He asked, his hand still hovering over the door.
He heard some footsteps in the distance before the door opened wide, with Maki leaning on the wall.
"What do you need?" She asked, almost annoyed
"I wanted to apologize for what I did," Yuta answered, staring at the ground
"C'mon in" she said, waving her hand for him to get in
Her dorm seemed much more customized than his own. Even though he didn't care much about his room and how it was laid out.
"I wanted to clear this up. We haven't had a proper talk in a bit" he confessed
"You almost killed yourself even though all of us said that you shouldn't swap bodies". Maki began
"It's like you forgot you're even human. 'Taking the role of a monster', that was one of the stupidest things you've ever said. We could have found another way but you decided it would be better to sacrifice yourself"
Yuta seemed pretty ashamed of himself, this time he wasn't as scared as exactly after the raid. Back then he thought Maki would beat him if there weren't so many people around, but now it was different, she sounded more disappointed and stressed than pissed off.
"You know how bad it felt looking like a lifeless body? You know how bad it felt seeing Rika, crying and holding it?" Her voice turned shaky. Sure, she was talking at a normal tone but something behind that rather angry voice was telling Yuta this conversation really needed to be had.
"I wanted to finish Sukuna off as fast as possible. And at the moment that was my only guarantee" he said, his head still angled downwards
Maki was sitting on the bed staring into nothingness,thinking about how to respond
"Yuta, i have a question" she said raising her head and looking him straight into the eyes
"Did i cross your mind before you made your decision" Maki asked, perfectly knowing she was being selfish but she didn't care for now
"Yes, you did" he answered, ready for her reply
"Did it occur to you that you're everything I've got left?"she continued pushing herself off of the bed, and heading in his direction
Yuta didn't know how to answer this at all. He thought of himself as purely somebody to rely on....not this. She was getting closer and closer, and Yuta did not know what to make of it
"How am I supposed to forget that you were going to leave when it's written on your forehead?"she asked again, tracing her finger along his stitches
Blue hour came in, and as Yuta was looking up, into Maki's eyes he couldn't see that beautiful amber, he couldn't even see that spark that never seemed to be absent. The only thing he could notice was the light reflecting off of her barely formed tears.
On her end, the moonlight only accentuated the hidden nuance of blue in his eyes, they were almost glowing, yet another reminder.
Yuta slowly got up, balancing himself on her desk and closed in the distance between them. The boy wrapped his hands around her, holding her tight, his hug resembling a desperate apology. At a loss for words, this was his physical way of saying sorry, over and over and over again.
She followed too, holding Yuta like she hadn't seen him in years.
For them, time seemed like it came to a halt, every second feeling like hours, letting those two poor souls find each other again.
As their grasp on one another weakened their eyes met again
"If you ever pull that bullshit again I'll make sure you can't stitch shit back together, i swear"
Yuta tried to hold his laugh in but that didn't really succeed, his already red face had a hard time containing his grin. Maki, too, began silently laughing at Yuta's face pointing out that he looked like a balloon for a few seconds. Yuta apologised for the last time before heading for the door
"Where are you going?" Maki asked looking at the boy
"It is pretty late and I think both of us need some rest for tomorrow so..." Yuta tried explaining
"You can rest here too" She said leaning on her desk
"Wouldn't I bother you?" He asked again, more and more hesitant about going back to his dorm
"You were the first being on this planet to see me open up like this and you still think you're bothering me?"she asked again, her tone more filled with annoyance
Yuta's reasoning pretty much went out the window the moment Maki revealed how his actions looked from her perspective along with the fact that he just bawled his eyes out a few moments ago
Every movement they made felt unreasonably awkward. After such a moment of vulnerability from each side you'd expect for anything after that to come naturally, but not in this case.
Yuta slowly sat on the bed waiting for Maki to get ready. He replayed every single word they exchanged analyzing everything that happened and decided that no matter what he will work to never have to resort to such desperate measures. He promised himself that he won't ever leave his lover all alone over again and he promised to try and give her the life she always deserved.
After everything that happened "The monster" and "The prodigy" were only people. People that only had each other left