Chapter Text
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Yuji Itadori gently knocks his wooden pencil against the clipboard in his hands, boredom overwhelming him. His foot taps on the white tiled floor beneath him, his little red sneakers squeaking against the flooring. His red hoodie presses against his neck, sweat forming as he stands still in the midst of the group of bored-to-death sophomores. Some important guy is talking — what was his name? Yuji can’t seem to remember. He wasn’t really paying attention. All he wants is to go home and play video games with his friends, but this biology-based school field trip just had to ruin the fun.
All he hears from the guy talking is mumbling something along the lines of secular biology and how it’s important to the understanding of life. Boring.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He stares at the pencil and how it seems to rebound off of the wooden clipboard, when it slips out of his grasp. It clinks to the floor, reverberating off of the tile. The instructor stops talking, clearing his throat as Yuji awkwardly bends over to pick it up. Some kids stare at him, but turn away when the biologist begins to speak again.
He doesn’t even wanna be in this stupid class. His grades are bad enough with his grandpa forcing him to take all these AP courses and shit… Sure, he gets why good ol’ grandpa doesn’t want him to be stupid, but come on. AP Biology wasn’t really a good suit for him anywa-
“Itadori,” a guy mumbles from beside him, nudging his arm with his elbow. “We’re walking.”
Yuji looks up at the voice, seeing that the group had begun to walk forward. He clears his throat, turning his head to the guy with the spiked black hair — his best friend, Megumi Fushiguro.
“Oops,” Yuji says. “Sorry. Where are we going?”
“Next room,” Fushiguro answers, his tone clearly a bit aggravated. “Are you paying any attention?”
“Uhh… Not really,” Yuji shrugs, starting to walk beside Fushiguro. “I don’t think I’m gonna get many life lessons from this guy, to be honest.”
“He’s qualified. Maybe if you used your damn ears, you’d know that,” Fushiguro mutters.
Yuji frowns. “Hey, I’m using my ears just fine!”
Fushiguro sighs, walking ahead with his clipboard under his arm. Attempting to catch up with him, Yuji shuffles forward.
“…So, uh.. you actually filling out this worksheet, or what?” Yuji questions, looking over Fushiguro’s shoulder.
“Yeah. I am,” Fushiguro says. Yuji begins to speak up, but he’s quickly cut off, “And no. You can’t have my answers.”
Yuji pouts, his bottom lip sticking out. “C’mon- You gotta cut me some slack here! I’m just tired, that’s all- I’m usually paying attention. Promise. Just an answer or two wouldn’t be that hard to slide over.”
Fushiguro rolls his eyes. “…Fine. I’ll give it to you at our lunch break if you stop being a pain in my ass.”
His eyes light up. “Yeah! Promise, promise,” Yuji nods quickly. Fushiguro just scoffs a little and goes back to listening to the biologist.
Quickly, Yuji breathes in as soon as Fushiguro turns away. He presses his hand against his face, praying he isn’t flushed. Jesus- why’d he always have to make a fool of himself in front of Fushiguro? He’s all mysterious and cool or whatever, and Yuji… wasn’t.
Yuji really wishes he had something cool going for him. The most “interesting” thing about him was his pink hair, and that wasn’t even that cool. Fushiguro on the other hand… he was special. His hair was all spiked up, but it was in such a natural way that it almost looked like he just woke up that perfect. His eyes were dark, like a deep void he could just get lost in… and he did. Frequently. It was embarrassing, really. And god, the way he dressed was so casual yet also formal at the same time- Is that even possible? Well, it is now. His moody demeanor only made him more likable, too. Fushiguro had once told him that it usually drives people away, but Yuji never felt that way. He was drawn towards it, if anything. And Jesus, don’t even get him started about the-
“You in the back, with the pink hair,” a sharp voice suddenly cuts into his ear. He immediately looks up.
“Huh?” Yuji sputters, stripping himself from his daydreams.
“Ah, you’re alive,” the biologist chuckles. “Do you have an answer to the question? We haven’t heard much from you today.”
He freezes a bit, his jaw wavering. “Uhh.. could you repeat the question?”
A small laugh ripples through the group, causing Yuji’s face to redden even more.
“Shh, shh- Of course,” the biologist says, clearly a bit amused at his lack of attention. “It isn’t a knowledge based question, so don’t worry. If you were to be in the biological field, which part would you be most interested in studying?”
Yuji purses his lips. He couldn’t even name one branch of biology if he tried. He looks down at his empty paper, as if that could save him.
As he almost blurts out some random “ology”, Fushiguro clears his throat and silently leans his paper towards him, where twelve branches of biology are listed in clean, crisp writing. His eyes scan the words. Zoology… boring. Genetics sounds tedious. Biochemistry? That sounds like hell.
He realizes that people are staring at him, so he just choosing one of the words and speaks up.
“Uhh- microbiology,” Yuji says, nodding as if confirming his choice. “Small things- micro, dare I say, are, uh… interesting.”
The biologist nods. “Good answer. Microbiology is a fairly difficult branch to go into. I’ll bet your mind is pretty sharp if that’d be the one you’d decide on.”
“Yep,” Yuji answers. “You know it. Super sharp.”
Fushiguro leans the paper away, looking back up to the lecturer before Yuji can show a sign of appreciation. He lets out a breath.
“..Alright, but I’m sure you’ve all heard enough talking for now. I believe now is about time for a lunch break, if I’m on schedule?” the biologist looks at the teacher, who nods in agreement. “Good, good. Meet back here at… 12:15, so in thirty minutes. I’ll walk you through a quick lab that we often do here to observe the specimens we receive. Have a good break, all of you.”
Chatter begins immediately after the biologist finishes speaking, everyone breaking off in their own separate friend groups. But, Yuji doesn’t have anyone to go to. So, he walks into the hallway, leaning against the wall.
As he begins to space out, a familiar voice comes up beside him.
“I have the answers,” it says. Yuji looks up, and it’s Fushiguro.
“Huh?” Yuji says, squinting his eyes.
“The answers. To the paper,” Fushiguro says, slowing his words a bit.
“Oh. Right. Uh, I’m gonna use the bathroom real quick. Had a huge bottle of water before coming here. Gotta stay hydrated, right?” Yuji says, the words spilling from his mouth before he can stop them.
“..Uh huh. Have fun. I’ll be inside if you need me,” Fushiguro responds, backing into the room again.
“Wait,” Yuji blurts. Fushiguro raises an eyebrow, slowly turning his head back around. “..Uhh… I just wanted to say thanks. For the answers, and for saving my reputation back there. I would’ve looked real stupid if I said what had come to mind. Head biology guy probably woulda’ kicked me out for stupidity, huh?”
Fushiguro’s face relaxes a bit — a rare occurrence. “Oh. Yeah. That was nothing. Glad it helped, I guess.”
“Helped a lot. You always do,” Yuji spills out, then stops his words immediately. “I mean, uh-“
“Just go piss, dude,” Fushiguro says flatly.
Yuji nods instantly. “Yes! Right. I’ll do that. Thanks again-“
Fushiguro shrugs, giving a little wave as Yuji skitters off into the hallway.
Yuji’s face is bright red as he walks through the halls, his steps increasing in speed as he takes more steps. Good god, that was terrible. The hell does “you always do” mean? He’s totally giving it away. That look Fushiguro gave him was not one of, “awh, this guy is so flustered and cute”, it was a “what the fuck is this guy doing?” kind of look.
Step, step, step.
His footsteps still increase in velocity as he walks, if that’s even possible. He’s gotta get his shit together or something. That was terrible.
He then attempts to slow his steps when he realizes he has no idea where he’s going. He doesn’t even need to use the bathroom. In fact, he hadn’t even drunk anything that day. He lied to Fushiguro just to get out of that weird ass situation.
Attempting to turn around, he hesitates. Which way did he come from again? Why did each hallway look the same?
Yuji narrows his eyes, spectating each of the ways. But, neither seems right.
Well, crap.
He slowly picks up his feet and goes the way that is usually correct — to the right. The right seems right.
But, as he slowly walks down the hallway, nothing he passes seems familiar. He walks past doors on doors on doors, all the same. Why were they all so similar? What is this place, hell?
Regardless, he still walks. It’s dead silent besides for his footsteps.
Step, step, step.
He then halts in front of a door when he hears a small hissing noise from inside. He raises an eyebrow, attempting to peek in through the window beside the door. It’s mostly blocked off, but the paper used to sheath the window is fairly see-through. Inside, there seems to be a blue, pulsing glow resting upon the countertops. Yuji frowns, confusion filling his mind, as well as curiosity.
No. He should walk away. This is a biology center — it’s definitely something important, and knowing him, he’d probably break it. But that blue light really is enticing him…
Oh, what the hell.
He then cracks the door open. He half expects the door to be locked, but to his surprise, it slides open, a long, almost comical creaking noise following the opening. Stepping inside, he shuts the door so as to not be seen by anyone. His chest feels as though it droops as soon as he steps inside, the ambiance clearly not settling well in Yuji’s stomach. Turning his head, he spots the source of the blue light. In fact, it’s many sources.
Flung across the walls of the room resides spiderwebs reaching the ceilings and almost crawling onto the floors. Hundreds of little spiders creep along the webs, sneaking around as if they’re hunting. The bright blue light comes from panels on the wall, shining through the webs and creating crazy patterns on the opposite wall.
“What the hell…” Yuji mumbles, stepping towards the webs. The spiders look normal. Eight legs, eight to twelve eyes each. The ambiance of the room is the only thing really throwing him off. Well, not the only thing. A room filled corner to corner in spiders isn’t particularly a normal sight.
He silently steps around the room, his eyes darting down to the notebooks and ripped pages that lie across the metal table. It’s pretty dark, so details of the papers are hard to observe. Scalpels and other sharp tools reside on a tray, some tinged with thin droplets of blood on them.
Sure hope that’s spider blood, Yuji thinks with a gulp.
He looks back up at the spiders, titling his head in fascination. His feet lead him closer, and like an idiot, his hand raises to the web. The seemingly calm spiders let out an audible hiss — something that Yuji didn’t know they could even do.
He quickly nods, backing up a bit. “Right, uh- I’ll take that as my sign to leave. Didn’t mean to disturb the peace-“
His words are cut off when his sneaker’s lace gets caught on the edge of the table, causing him to trip backwards. Papers fall to the ground, and the tray with all the sharp objects clang to the ground with a loud bang. Yuji freezes, attempting to adjust himself as the bang silences. He looks up at the web, and the spider he’d just had his eyes on had disappeared. The others seem to have paused their movements, their little head tilted towards where he was seated.
“…Hell no,” Yuji says, urgently standing and brushing dust off of his knees. Without hesitation, he runs to the door, slamming it behind him.
As he swiftly makes his escape, his footsteps do not falter. That shit was creepy. Yuji can do weird, but not that kind of weird. He can’t do creepy crawly shit like that. It’s not even like he’s an arachnophobe or anything. But that? That was more than weird.
He keeps stepping, praying he’s going in the right direction, when his steps get cut off by a voice behind him.
“Um. Itadori?” A voice says. He whips around, paranoid of every person and noise. It’s a girl in his class — Nobara Kugisaki. “We’re starting up again and we didn’t know where you went. The hell are you doing?”
“Oh- uh.. just got lost looking for the bathroom. Big place,” Yuji says, swallowing his spit and attempting to brush off his paranoia.
“You sure? You look like you saw a ghost or something,” Kugisaki scoffs.
“No, no. I’m fine. Just really had to pee. But I found it, so- I’m good now. I’ll, uh- head back,” Yuji says, his words coming out quicker than intended.
“Um… okay,” she says, turning back. Yuji takes a deep breath before following her.
As he walks behind her, he suddenly feels a small pulse on the back of his neck. It feels like a little heartbeat — subtle, but quick. He reaches his hand back to itch it, as if it were a scratch, when a sudden pain shoots through his spine as soon as he makes contact with his skin. He winces, a low gasp coming from his mouth. Kugisaki whips around.
“The hell is up with you?” she questions.
Yuji squints his eyes in an attempt to subside the pain. “Ow- sorry. Think a bug bit me or something.”
Kugisaki narrows her eyes. “…You’re so weird.”
Yuji almost retaliates with some flippant response, but he can’t bring himself to do so when he picks a bug off of his neck, bringing it to his sight.
It’s one of the spiders.
Kugisaki’s eyes widen. “Ew! What the hell is that?! That’s so gross, throw it away-“
Yuji snaps out of his surprise. “I- Right, okay. Um-“
He goes to a nearby trashcan, throwing it in the trash. It sits at the bottom, dead with a few twitching limbs. A small blue glow resides in its belly, but it slowly fades out as its movements stop. He clenches his jaw, backing up.
“…You better not get me sick ‘cause of that,” Kugisaki mumbles, then continues to walk. “Weird ass spider.”
Yuji nods, his steps hardly moving as he stares at the trashcan. He then breaks eye contact with it, clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck. The spot it had bit was warm, as if it inserted a sort of venom into his skin. He shudders, continuing his hands’ ministrations on his neck. Surely, the spider couldn’t have had some contamination. Right? If it was at a lab, it’s gotta be safe. And besides, it could’ve been an unrelated spider.
Maybe Yuji was just crazy. That’s gotta be it.
Crazy.