Archive of Our Own

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"War. It brings massive changes to our daily routines, sceneries, just in general, life. Empty, quiet streets. Abandoned buildings with everything left behind. Unspoken fear, still lingering in the air, the uneasy feeling that something bad will happen in every corner you turn. It brings out a voice that gently whispers to you about your inevitable death.

So what's the point of it?"

Yuuta thinks to himself.

Since he came back from Africa, the world around him changed a lot. A war was waged, that claimed countless lives of innocent, in a sense, blind civilians. The ones responsible for it were cursed spirits, the ones who once hid in dark corners and shadows, not daring to leave their safe spaces, were now wandering the city freely, killing anybody who happened to be in their way.

Nobody knows how they managed to pull off such a big plan, especially with powerful sorcerers watching over the city, but alas, it still happened at the end of the day.

Now, the powerful sorcerers are fighting in the fronts, while the less powerful ones were left behind, to scout cities for survivors and take care of less dangerous curses.

Since Yuuta wasn't there when the war started, he was left with joining special operation gigs, that were there to help people in need.

The one that he chose to join, refered to themselves as "The Scouts" and usually worked on scouting out the areas for supplies and survivors, that they would bring back to their own camps. The Scouts were one of the more bigger and more powerful operation gigs that were located all around the country.

Right now, Yuuta was on a mission to scout the area for medicine and if possible, find some more survivors.

As he was walking around an abandoned mall, he saw a boy hiding from what looked like a powerful curse behind the counter.

But before could do anything, he heard the boy whisper something, just before the spirit was exorcised.

Yuuta decided to ignore that and approached the boy, quickly scanning him for injuries.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Yuuta asks.

The boy, for some reason, looked really familiar, with his silver white hair, purple eyes and a jacket that he had pulled up to cover his mouth and nose. He looked at Yuuta with an unreadable expression and nodded.

"Good. I'm Yuuta and I've come here to rescue you. Uhm, would you mind following me? I'll lead you back to a safe camp."

The boy energetically nods.

'Can't he speak normally? If so, what was it that I saw there?"

Yuuta thinks to himself. For some reason, a nagging feeling like he's forgotten something, something that would help him deduce they boy's identity. Whatever. Maybe the boy was silent to not lure in the curses? But he did exorcise the curse and it looked at least grade 2. Who knows why. But asking him would be pointless. How could he possibly answer if he can't speak?

As they're walking, the boy suddently taps Yuuta on the shoulder and shows him something that he has written in his notebook that he probably pulled from his backpack.

'Don't you recognise me Yuuta?'

Yuuta shrugs

"I feel like I've seen you before, but I sadly don't recognise you."

The boy looks disappointed as he quickly scribbles something down.

'I'm Toge. Inumaki Toge. Does my name ring a bell now?'

Yuuta looks at the boy with a surprised face.

"Toge? That's you? Really?"

Inumaki nods.

"I-I want to believe but... this is just so sudden, I'm not sure... I-"

Yuuta keeps mumbling to himself. What the heck is he doing?!

The boy scribbles down something again.

'Need proof?'

Yuuta reads the note and nods. 'Why not?' He thinks.

The boy unzips the top of his jacket, revealing the Inumaki family seals on his face, that only really one person could have.

"Toge's seals... you weren't lying!"

Yuuta says as he places his hand on the seals, Toge's face quickly changed to a surprised look.

"Wait- sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Yuuta quickly removes his hand, embarassed by his actions. Well he really ruined the atmosphere even more. He could feel a light pink creeping into his face, as Toge tries really hard to hold back a laugh.

"Okay, an awkward reunion aside, we still have to get back to our camp. C'mon, let's get going, because you need to take a very specific and quite a confusing path to get there and it would be difficult to navigate it in the dark."

Yuuta looks back at Toge for one last time before escorting him back to the camp.
The journey back to the camp wasn't too adventurous, plus, on the way back, Yuuta also found some medicine to bring.

Back in the camp, Toge had his bag checked for any contraband, while Yuuta gave them the medicine that they asked for.

The process took quite some time, so by the time they were done, it was already late enough for dinner around the campfire.

---

'Goodnight Yuuta'

Toge wrote down in his notebook.

"Goodnight Toge. Since I will be patroling tonight, I won't be going to sleep quite yet."

Yuuta smiles at Toge.

He knew that was a lie. He never slept really good but, now? He very much needed some time to think about Inumaki and how much he missed him.

And damn did he miss him a lot.

They promised eachother that they would meet as soon as Yuuta's mission in Africa was done, but the war extended their separation time. Instead of a few weeks, a year had to pass before they could meet up. Yuuta wished they could've had a better meeting, maybe in a cozy coffee shop or a shopping mall, maybe an art museum or something like that, all while enjoying some coffee or ice cream depending on the temperature outside. But oh well, fate had chosen otherwise.

---

"RUN! WERE UNDER ATTACK!!"

Yuuta hears someone yelling somewhere. He immediately starts running towards the tents to evacuate people, while also looking out for curses. The residents were running around some terrified, some still half-asleep. The crowd was big and stumbling and falling down would be fatal. Toge was also there, getting tossed around by the crowd, panickedly running around, before seeing Yuuta.

Yuuta runs over to make sure that the boy is okay. But through the whole chaos he could barely tell who was who.
After a few minutes of such chaos, suddently everyone stopped in their tracks.

"Wha-"

Yuuta gasps and before he could process what was happening hundreds of head suddently blasted open. The blood was everywhere, covering Yuuta in still warm, sticky, red liquid, and even a few bits of what he assumed to be brains here and there.

Hei slowly raises up his hand, blood still dripping from his fingers.

Blood. Blood. The gorey scene infront of him was no less than disturbing. Just what cursed spirit could have such powers? His instincts tell him that needs to run. Immediately.

And Inumaki, where did he go? Yuuta sure does hope that he didn't blow up in the process.

Well, he didn't have time to search for him, since more and more curses started flowing out from seemingly nowhere.

"Rika! Please take care of those curses for me!"

He yells, summoning Rika. She starts ripping and shredding them, giving time for Yuuta to run and search for Inumaki.

If he was alive, that is.

As he was frantically searching for him throught the whole camp, he finally notices Toge, who was trying to sneak away from the whole chaos.

"Toge- Toge!"

Yuuta yells trying to get Inumaki to notice him.

"Yuuta!"

Inumaki looks at him, him finally feeling relieved that he isn't alome in this one. 'It's been a long time since he talked to me...' Yuuta thinks to himself. Inumaki gestures for him to come closer and points at something.

He was pointing at the three sorcerers fighting off spirits. It was Maki, Nobara and Panda.

"Thank god they're alive, but since when are they in the same camp as us?"

Yuuta asks Inumaki, before realising that he was the one who was supposed to know more. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Inumaki shushes him, shaking his head as in 'don't worry, it's fine'

They watched as the three of them defended against the spirits, but they more they'd kill, the more would come and soon, there where overwhelming amouts of them, even for someone as strong as Yuuta.

"Maki! Panda! Nobara! Come here!"

Yuuta yells. The three immediatly start running towards them, shaking off the curses that would be in their way. Yuuta summons Rika, ordering her to keep the curses away from them while they would make their escape, then he and Toge led them out of the camp, and as soon as the last of them were out of the caml, they quickly closed the gate.

"We might be safe for now, but we should move out as quickly as we can. I know another camp nearby, I think we should check it out."

Yuuta suggests and nobody objects.

The walk to the camp felt longer than Yuuta expected. Maybe it was because they were all still tense from the attack in the camp, still expecting a curse to attack at every corner, maybe it was because it was a long time since they all had gathered up like this, apart from the fact that the circumstances now were very diffrent. But even so, Yuuta could feel that all of them were at least a little relieved to finally be together. He remembered times when he sparred with Maki, the time when Inumaki's prank on Maki failed completely, leaving him with water drilling all over his hair and clothes, having them stick to his body, framing his beautiful silhouette, which Yuuta found pretty hot, not in a gay way, at least that's what he tells himself, the time when Maki and Nobara went on their very first date, bringing all of them to third wheel, because Maki was just too embarassed to be alone with Nobara, since it was their first date, something that none of them expected, especially from Maki, someone who isn't afraid of any cursed spirits and diving right into a fight.

Oh how the times have changed.

As they reached the entrance to the camp, Maki warns that the door is slightly ajared and that they should be careful.

"Yuuta, you can go in there, we'll wait here."

"Can I at least have someone with me?"

Yuuta asks, looking at everyone expectantly.

Inumaki raises his hand. Yuuta nods, and both of the without saying another word, enter the camp.

The first thing they notice is that this camp also suffered from the attack, with visibly still rotting corpses of adults, kids, babies, teenagers, lying around like unwated trash everwhere you look. The smell and the state of the bodies suggested that the attack happened way earlier than theirs did.

A fly buzzes by Yuuta's ear, leaving annoying ringing, vibrating throught his whole body, while the fly joined his friends in slowly gnawing away the remains of another rotting corpse, which was hanging suspended in the air by a rope wrapping around it's waist , it's head gone, probably also blowed up. It's flesh slowly tearing until the other half of this body's skin fell to the ground, leaving some muscles and bones, still hanging in the air.

"Disguting..."

Yuuta mumbles to himself.

He knew his life was never too pretty, being filled with curses and dead bodies everywhere, but like this? That smell of a rotting body was something new, something he hadn't seen yet. Sure he'd seen countless people die, bet torn apart by Rika, but this? Will his life really turn into this mess of blood and fear? Or was it already like that a long time ago? Was he only really noticing it now?

Inumaki also didn't look to happy, but the jacket did probably help him block out some of the stench.

"We should... tell the others."

Yuuta suggests, wishing to get out of there as soon as he can, feeling like another minute here will have him vomiting on the ground. Toge nods and they both leave to tell the others.

---

"They were also attacked? Why?"

Nobara asks them.

"Cursed spirits, curses however you'd call them, they're still just mindless beings, with killing humans as their only goal. Anways, let's see what's inside, now that we know there's no actual danger."

Maki suggests in an almost insitent tone and so with no one disagreeing, they all entered the camp.

Some of the group wasn't as ready for the stench, nor the sight, so emptying their stomaches, was the only thing they could do for a bit. Maki and Inumaki went out to search for supplies if they weren't rotten yet. At this point, no one knew how much would they need to survive for whatever tume they had to.

Another fly buzzes by. Another minute passes by. With every moment passing, Yuuta sank deeper and deeper into thought, until he was barely aware of his surroundings.

"I think we should start setting up a camp, because the sun is starting to set."

Panda's voice wakes Yuuta out of his thoughts. Already? But it felt like just moments ago their camp was attacked, just moments ago they escaped from it.

"Yeah, I agree with Panda we should. Although I think that we should build our own, because no way in hell am I sleeping here."

Nobara nods.

After about an hour, Inumaki and Maki got back from searching for supplies, having found quite some supplies, considering they were carrying five bags. Five bags full of food, medicine and a few bags with tents.

"We're back!"

Maki yells as she throws down the bags. Inumaki follows after her, except he put them down with a little bit more care.

"Maki!!"

Nobara yells as she runs in for a hug. Maki softly laughs as she grabs Nobara in for a hug, spinning her around for a bit, then finish it off with a little kiss. Nobara chuckles, slightly blushing from the action.

"We were discussing about setting up a camp somewhere for the night"

Panda interrupts their happy moment.

Maki nods and lets go of Nobara.

"Me and Toge actually found that if you go in a little deeper, there's a nice hidden opening with no bodies and no stench in it. We thought about suggesting to stay there for the night."

Maki says, while Toge agrees with a muffled 'mhm'.

"Sounds good."

Yuuta nods.

"Does everobody else agree with Maki's proposal?"

Everyone else also nods. Maki then gestures for them to follow her as she and Inumaki lead the way.

The spot was perfect for hiding. Thick bushes were placed in an almost completely round circle, while trees were growing around the circle,nicely covering the area from outside. The path to it was also neatly hidden, with tall grass covering it. The spot itself was big enough to fit a whole campsite and a half and it seemed like someone was talking care of it, considering that the grass there was cut pretty neatly and barely reached ankle height. Sunlight also wasn't a problem, as there were no tall trees growing in the open field. Next to a tree there was a lawnmover and a few buckets full of grass. It seemed like the person who took care of it, really only cared about the inner side of it, as the outer side was a complete mess, with rotten beyond recognition fruit, and piles of the cut grass laying there.

"Damn, you really did find a golden spot"

Panda remarks.

Inumaki looks at Panda with such proudness in his face that even without seeing the lower half of his face you could still see it, while Maki just nods and mutters something in agreement.

They start setting up the tents and lighting a campfire to make the campsite a tad bit cozy. When they finish setting up all of it, the sky's almost dark, with the moon slowly rising and the sun being almost low enough, to the point where you'd need a magnifying glass to notice it.

After such a long day, everyone finally sits around the campfire to rest, share memories and have fun, just like a normal friendgroup, like nothing ever happened. Except it did happen. Yuuta was happy that everyone wasn't too shaken up about the whole attack and the bloody scenes they saw.

---

"Goodnight, everyone, see ya tommorow!"

Nobara gave in to her tiredness first. Not too long after one by one, everyone else left to sleep wishing everyone else sweet dreams until it was only Toge and Yuuta left.

"Soo... you're not going to sleep yet?"

Inumaki shakes his head. The two boys sit in silence. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, no, it was a comfortable, soothing silence. No words would be needed to understand what they wanted to express for so long.

"I missed you Toge... I really hoped that our meeting could've been better..."

Yuuta sighs. Inumaki looks at him with a comforting look in his eyes. He quickly grabs his notebook, scribbles down 'it's fine' and smiles to him behind his mask.

"It's just... I'm not sure how to express it. Words can't really explain it, nor can actions... I guess that "I miss you" will have to do for now..."

Yuuta continues on rambling about missing him, about how the war happend at such an unfourtunate time, how he's so sorry for not being there for Inumaki, while Inumaki listens and sometimes scribbles something down, sometimes to comfort Yuuta, sometimes to make him laugh, sometimes in agreement, sometimes in disagreement. Both of the boys we're just happy to finally have eachothers company all to themselves.

"Thank you Toge, for being here for me. Sorry for all of the rambling... oh shoot, sun's almost rising, I think you should go sleep now."

Inumaki scribbles down 'didn't realise we were talking for so long. It was really fun Yuuta.' Yuuta reads it and smiles. 'You should also go to sleep' Inumaki adds.

"Right, right... I'll go to sleep. Soon."

Yuuta promises. Inumaki nods and leaves. Not long after Yuuta also enters his tent. The sleeping bag immediately reminds him of countless nights of no sleep, of tossing and turning, of Rika looming right there in the corner, even thought she wasn't always there fully. And even if he could sleep, Yuuta would have nightmares, usually of Rika killing his close, beloved ones. It was safe to say that he did not enjoy the night.

And yet, this night he could fall asleep into a dreamless dreamscape. Well, before he fell alseep, he could feel someone right next to him, whispering 'Sleep' into his ear and a sudden urge to fall asleep. But he didn't really resist the urge to fall alseep. After all, a good night's rest is all he needs right now.

---

The morning was quite peaceful. Yuuta was the first to wake up, cooking himself some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Even if he only slept for two more hours, he knew that he hasn't had such a deep sleep in a looong time.

Not long after, the others started to rise. First was Maki, then Nobara, after her Inumaki and lastly - Panda.
Each one of them wished everyone a good morning and sat down to eat Yuuta's scrambled eggs.

"Breakfast's over, where to next?"

Maki's voice echoed through the field.

Everone shrugs, still half-asleep, not wanting to think this far into the future.

"Maybe we could go look around for other camps? Or just wander around. Staying on the move would be good, because curses might follow us here if we stay here too long."

Yuuta suggests. Nobody seems to object and so, everybody stands up, to get ready to move out.

---

Panda's and Nobara's voices echoing as they laugh from Inumaki's silent jokes, Maki scolding them for being too loud, the sun shining, with rays of sunlight staring right into their eyes, causing them to squint, the familiar tales, told by the rustling trees, and grass, softly crunching under the weight of their bodies. Weak splashes of water, suggesting that there's a river nearby, birds chirping and cicadas signing.

Those moments of peace and friendliness would never so much as breathe that a war is happening. And so Yuuta decideds to treasure each one of them. Even if they are just boring trips to abandoned camps, that do nothing but exhaust them and their supplies.

---

"...and this one's empty too. Geez, when will we find some human life in one of those?"

Maki complains.

"Maki? That's you?"

An familiar yet unknown voice could be heard.

"Who's there?!"

Maki asks, quickly pulling out her katana.

"Maki? Don't worry. It us - Yuuji and Megumi."

"Show yourself."

Out of the bushes, two familiar faces show up, one walked out nonchalantly, with an almsot visible grace - Megumi. The other stumbled out, almost clumsily tripping- Yuuji.

"Watch where you're going Yuuji."

Megumi says, watching him almost have a taste of the ground dirt.

If you've ever seen the two classmates, you'd never think that they'd turn out to be a couple, and yet if you'd hear it, you wouldn't be surprised.

"Megumi and Itadori huh... welcome to the team!"

Panda happily exclaims. "New people are always welcome to join!... although you're not that new here. But whatever! It only matters that you're on the team now."

"So what were you guys doong?

Megumi asks, his eyes scanning their group, searching for an answer.

"We're trying to find a safe camp as for now. We've checked a lot but we haven't found any that haven't been taken over curses yet, or weren't just blatantly abandoned for unknown reasons."

Maki reports. Yuji and Megumi both glance at each other, then Megumi says:

"We've seen a hospital not too far away, but we decided to search for more people before exploring it. Might be worth a try if we're thinking about staying somewhere for a longer period of time."

The suggestion doesn't hang in the air for too long before everyone agrees. And so, they move out for the hospital.

---

"Considering it's getting late, why don't we set up a a camp nearby and call it a day?"

Yuuji offers.

"Sounds good."

Yuuta agrees.

To almost nobody's surprise, Yuuji and Megumi knew a good place to stay (or more likely - they used to stay there, considering there was a burnt out campfire there). Setting up the tents this time took less time, but the groul ran into a diffrent issue - there wasn't enough tents for them.

"Me and Maki will share a tent."

Nobara immediately announces, without even asking about Maki's opinion, but to everyone's surprise Maki doesn't object.
'Guess she has a soft spot for Nobara. Weird how I didn't notice that sooner. Although they're together... I seriously don't understand them. One minute Maki is pushing her away, the next they're cuddling on the couch, taking up all of the space.' Yuuta thinks to himself. One tent free, one more to go.

"I'm not sharing, thank you very much."

Panda immediately retors when she see's everyone's eyes go to him.

"Me and Megumi can share, right?"

Yuuji asks, more himself, than the Megumi. Fushiguro just looks at him unbothered and nods.

For some reason Yuuta felt a little sad the he and Inumaki didn't get to share one. 'Wait. I'm not in love, aren't I? Maybe I'm not actually straight?' Yuuta thinks to himself. After all, whatever he's feeling towards Inumaki definetely isn't straight, now that he thinks about it. Well, forget that, he has bigger fishes to fry right now. Literally.

For dinner, Panda had caught some fish from the river nearby, so they were cooking them in their newly lit up campfire.

After the dinner, everyone once again one by one leaves for their tents for they beauty sleep, until it's only Yuuta left, sitting idly by the campfire.

---

"Mmmph..."

Inumaki groans before slowly turning around. 'One more minute won't hurt right?...'

He feels something warm and soft, like an arm, wrapped around him.

...

Wait. An arm? From who? Inumaki's eyes immediately shoot open. Next to him, he sees Yuuta, peacefully asleep, unaware of a very surprised Inumaki trying to understand why he's here and not in his own tent. 'Maybe he mixed up the tents? Or maybe someone already occupied his?' Inumaki thinks for a moment. His best option right now was try to wake up Yuuta and ask him what the heck is happening.

But he's so peaceful...

He gently shakes Yuuta. Inumaki notices Yuuta's eyes finally slowly opening and looking around, before darting right into Inumaki's. He shoots up, his face turning a soft red.

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

Inumaki shakes his head, before reaching into his bag and pulling out his notebook.

'Why are you here?'

The text was probably already prepared, considering Inumaki didn't take half as much time writting it down as usually.

"I-I... Nobara... uhm...."

Nobara? Inumaki raises an eyebrow.

Yuuta heavily sighs. "Let me tell you what happened yestarday. Maybe you won't believe, maybe you'll hate me, but at least you'll know the truth." Yuuta says with his hands up in defeat and begins telling Inumaki the events of last night.

---

'Another sleepless night huh? How many were there in the past and how many will be in the future?'

Yuuta sighs. Just how long has it been since he'd slept enough, not even mentioning normal, eight hours of sleep, just a few, where he would wake up fully rested and energetic, without anybody's help.

"Not having a good time sleeping huh?"

Yuuta hears a voice behind him.

"Nobara?"

"Mhm. Just came here to check up on you. Ha, Maki would've come, but there's no way she's gonna go talk with you and tell how worried she is, so I had to come instead."

Nobara dramatically sighs.

"Sooo Yuuta, a little birdie has told me that you want to sleep better?"

"Well yes, but why are you even up this late? Why concern yourself with even coming here? Just go to sleep, jeez"

Yuuta asks.

"Well, friends look out for each other, no? Anyways, I'm no doctor so don't expect some professional advise. Plus if you'd really want some, why don't you go ask Shoko? When we're out of this bullshit of course."

Yuuta shakes his head. He has been a few times. But nothing ever works, not sleeping pills, not visits to a psychiatrist, not putting salad leafs on his eyes, not whatever other crazy ideas he or Shoko find. Nothing ever does.

"I've already asked her about it, countless times. So, what's your advice?"

Nobara sheepishly smiles.

"Well you know... I noticed that you and Inumaki are really close and all... So I thought of the best advice ever!"

"Jeez Nobara, we're just friends. Just... just get on with it."

"So what you're gonna have to do is sleep next to Inumaki."

"WHAT?!"

Yuuta jumps up, his eyes wide, full of so many emotions running through them. He then realizes he probably woke everyone up with his shouting and quickly sat down embarassed, signaling for Nobara to continue.

"Nobara, no! Plus Inumaki definetely wouldn't agree to this!"

"But it works. Both for me and Yuuji at least. C'mon, give it a try! And if it doesn't work, at least we'll know you tried. And if Inumaki really doesn't agree with it, just blame me."

Nobara winks.

"... Fine."

Yuuta sighs.

"But if it doesn't work I will kill you. ... well, not really, but... you know what I mean."

---

'So that's how it went?'

Inumaki scribbles down when Yuuta finishes speaking.

"Yeah... I'm sorry okay? It'll never happen again."

Yuuta apologizes once again.

'Why apologize? You were sleeping quite well in my opinion.'

Inumaki writes down. He really didn't mind Yuuta, he was simply surprised.

"Well, you know...- wait, what? You're not angry?"

Inumaki shakes his head. 'Nope.' Yuuta sighs again, this time out of relief.

"So uhm... breakfast time, I guess?"

---

Finally, finally, after about half-a-day of walking, the group finally reached the hospital.

"Ha... I could almost say I'm back home."

Yuuta mumbles to himself as a joke, remembering the time spent in the hospital, where he met Rika.

"Man, the hospital is huge! How are we gonna search all of it?"

Yuuji gasps. You could see Maki counting something, before she answers:

"There's exactly eight floors there, so if we split into two, and have one person be alone, and each pair covers two floors, I think we'll be able to scout out all of it before it gets dark."

Everyone immediately start forming pairs, Nobara obiviously going for Maki, Megumi for Yuuji. Panda wanted to go with Inumaki, but he shaked his head before walking up to Yuuta, like it was already decided. Panda sighs, before annoucing that he'll be the one who'll be alone.

"I can summon my demon dogs to accompany you if you want."

Megumi offers.

"Nah, I'll survive. But thanks for caring."

Panda shakes his head.

Now with the pairs (and Panda) done, the group decided on which floors who would cover. Since nobody knew what floors offered what, they drew lots. Yuuta and Inumaki got the seventh and eight floors. Yuuji and Megumi got the first and second ones, Nobara and Maki got the sixth and fifth floors, while Panda got the fourth and third floors.

"Oh, and just a heads up, me and Megumi will also check out the basement, because I'm pretty sure that there's the power switch back there. So don't get too surprised if the lights start flickering on or suddently go out."

The pairs (and Panda) nod and everyone makes their way to their floors.

"Jeez, this place is scarier that I thought."

Yuuta says. "I have a flashlight with me if we'll need it, so don't worry about the dark."

Inumaki nods and immediately runs off somewhere, before pointing at a map he found on the wall. Yuuta carefully rips it off the wall. That should help with remembering down the places they checked and hadn't checked.

The first one (and the closest) was the Audiologists room. While Yuuta doesn't find anything ground-breaking, mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, heart-breaking things there, Inumaki finds a book that teaches sign langugage.

"Well, I guess we're all gonna have to do some studying, now?"

Yuuta jokes, when he sees Inumaki approach him with the book in his hands, holding it like a kid with it's prized possesion.

Damn is he jealous of that book.

Yuuta shakes his head. What's wrong with him? Can't he even be friends with Inumaki peacefully? Or maybe he really should try to deepen his bond with him... No. Not yet. Yet? No why would he want that. But maybe? No, no ,no he's here to search the hospital, not to think about his bond with Inumaki.

The next room had a radiation warning sign on the door, so Yuuta only opened it slightly and poked his head to look around. Seeing nothing useful they left for another room.

The whole seventh floor was pretty empty, except some blood samples and a bit of ibuprofen.

The eight floor, consisted of a lot of personel stuff and hospital wards.

"So uhm...Inumaki? I know it a weird question and all, but how would you react if I were to confess to you?"

Yuuta's thoughts slip. Shit. Even though it was pretty dark, he could see Inumaki shrug it off like it was an everyday thing.

"I-I'm sorry if the question made you uncomfortable...-"

Why is he making the situation worse? Inumaki didn't care and...

He could see Inumaki approach him, with the intent clear as day.

Eh, fuck it.

Yuuta grabs Inumaki by his face and quietly whispers "can I?" before, Inumaki whispers a yes and Yuuta pulls him into a gentle kiss. His first kiss. Yuuta's first kiss. Their lips crashed locking in the kiss, sloppy and awkward, but nonethenless one to remember.

It was sweet like honey, soft like silk, even though it was a little akward and sloppy. Yuuta could feel Inumaki's hands slowly wrapping around his neck, him wanting to pull him deeper and deeper into the kiss. The feeling of Inumaki's lips against his, their bodies being so close, felt like an eternity, even though the kiss really only lasted a few seconds before the kiss was broken off, by Yuuta getting startled by the lights finally flickering on.

Yuuta pulled away, looking at Inumaki, before his hands slowly drifted from Toge's face, to his waist, pulling him closer into a hug, resting his chin on top of the boys head, feeling the little strands of silver white hair moving under him.

The two boys stood there hugging each other for a bit, in a comfortable silnce, before Yuuta broke it off.

"The kiss... it wasn't too bad, was it?"

Inumaki softly laughs and shakes his head. Yuuta rufles the boys hair, relieved with the answer. He pulls the boy closer, resting his chin on Inumaki's head again.

"Well, we should get going, or the others might start to get worried about us."

---

When they go back, it really only them and Yuuji with Megumi, since the other pairs. aren't back yet. Yuuta watches as Inumaki makes sure to show of his finding (the book) to Yuuji and Megumi, his eyes sparkling. Not too long after, the others started gathering, Inumaki still showing off the book like it was his most prized possesion (which ii might've been).

After all of the group is back, they discuss their findings and decide that it would be wise to settle in the hospital for a bit, since everyone was getting tired of moving out every day.

"But we can't just clean out the whole hospital, with how much people we have, the war will end faster than this hospital getting cleaned by just us!"

Panda almost shouts out.

"How about we take one, or two floors instead? That would be both faster and better, because there's both less ground to cover and if we boarded up the entrances-"

"Okay Yuuta, we get it, we'll do as you say, just please, stop yapping."

Nobara rolls her eyes. "And maybe the whole boarding up lart isn't necessary? I think we'll be able to handle ourselves. Plus, how are we gonna leave of every entrance is boarded up?"

"Well uh... Alright fine."

Yuuta raises his hands in defeat. "Soo... which floors are we taking?"

"The highest ones maybe? There, we'll know in advance when curses are coming and since we won't be leaving our...base often, we won't need to use the stairs as often. Also..."

Maki suggests, listing all of the positives (and negatives) until the whole group agreed to take those two floors.

"Oh, me and Inumaki also snatched the maps of the seventh and eight floors, so we can already plan ahead."

Yuuta quickly pulls out the maps, before waving them in the air for a second.

---

Settling in wasn't as hard, surlrprisingly, it took more time to choose what rooms were gonna be used for what, rather than actually settling in.

Once again, with the shortage of the patient wards, only Panda got the luxury of having a whole room to himself. The others had to settle in, in pairs. Just like last time, Nobara stayed with Maki, Yuuji with Megumi, this time with the addition of Yuuta staying with Inumaki.

Dinner this time was some canned goods and this time, everyone went to sleep a little earlier, probably because they were really exhausted from carrying all of their stuff up to the last floor, because the elevators weren't working yet.

After dinner, Yuuta and Inumaki now got a better look of the room they're gonna stay in for the next couple of days? Weeks? Months? Heck, maybe even years? No, hopefully just a few weeks.

It was a pretty big room with four beds, some equipment, which was moved to a corner, to not creep them out when trying to sleep. The room was a bit dusty, but after a good clean, it would look like it was never abandoned and would be pretty comfy to sleep in.

Yuuta and Inumaki changed in turns, one going behind the curtain and changing, before the other would.

After that, they both sat down on a rug that they found in the closet, then lay the book Inumaki found on a small, glass table that they found in a psychiatrists office and started learning the alphabet of the sign language.

Half-an-hour later, they were both laying in their beds, Inumaki still repeating the signs he learned, while Yuuta silently watched him, gathering up the courage to ask him something.

"Hey... Inumaki? Are you asleep yet?"

Yuuta whispers. "I just wanted to ask if you would mind... sharing your bed with me?"

Inumaki slowly turns towards Yuuta in his bed. After a minute of quietly observing Yuuta, he raised his blanket and patted down for Yuuta to come.

"...Are you sure?"

Yuuta asks before slowly walking up to Inumaki's bed and laying down next to him, before Inumaki carefully, but tightly wrapped his blanket around Yuuta.

"Thank you Toge..."

Yuuta whispers. Now, being so up-close again, Yuuta could see all of the little details on Inumaki's face, from the little, barely noticeable scars, to the way his long eyelashes curled, to his silver white hair, messily falling on his face, to the little mole hidden under the bangs, to the way the skin crinkled around his eyes whne he smiled, to even the way the seals traced his skin.

Yuuta reaches out his hand, slowly caressing Inumaki's cheek. He didn't really expect Inumaki to lean into it, but wasn't too surprised either.

"Yuuta..."

Inumaki quietly whispers. 'Is there something wrong?' Yuuta thinks to himself. Maybe the seal are sensitive to touch? Maybe he's too close? Maybe Inumaki is just playing a prank on his with this whole thing? Maybe he should stop? Maybe he's advancing their relationship faster than needed? Or maybe Inumaki just wants to tell him something? Maybe he is actually advacing too slow? Which one is it?!

Inumaki probably saw Yuta's worried face, since he placed his own hand on Yuta's cheek, and planted a little kiss on his lips to, hopefully, calm him down.

Yuta's eyes widen, when he was pulled out of his thoughts. Maybe that's what he needed to do? Maybe, maybe, maybe... too much maybe's, he needs to actually do something now in return. And so he pulled Inumaki back in, once again kissing him, his lips soft just like he remembers them, his face, getting prettier with every second that he stared at him. Both of them closed their eyes, trying to feel the sensation better, remembering every moment of it, engraving it in their own brains, continuing on, until they could forget all of the pains that they did and didn't share.

This kiss wasn't as sweet as their first one. It was more passionate, getting more and more lustful by the second. 'More, more...' Yuuta was thinking. Not just Yuuta. Inumaki also wanted it, his whole body almost trembling from impatience. Yuuta felt Inumaki carefully placing himself in his lap, having both of them to sit up, for their own comfort. And then it was time to step out of their own comfort zone.

The first to make the move was Yuuta, carefully trailing his tongue on Toge's lips, as if asking if he could deepen the kiss. He felt his friends mouth open up a bit, letting him travel in, their tongues meeting as Yuuta slowly explores Toge's mouth, making sure to savor in every little curve and corner there, to look and feel so much that he could draw a map of it from this moment alone. His hands, slowly traveling down to Toge's waist, holding him gently in place.

A little push deeper into Toge's mouth, earned Yuuta a soft moan, that escaped Toge's lips.

"Yuuta..."

It was simple, and yet it made Yuuta feel a thousand diffrent ways, each one feeling better and better. 'Do that again' Yuuta wanted to say, to hear it, to carefully absorb it, make it his and only his. He wanted to push futher, see how Inumaki would react, but instead, he felt Inumaki place his hand on his mouth, stopping him from going any further. Yuuta pulled away, both of them turning away trying not to look at each other.

Both of them sat silent, trying to catch their breath.

"Did I... push too much?"

Yuuta breaks the silence. He looks over to Inumaki, his almost eyes pleading for forgiveness. Inumaki shakes his head and carefully tries to sign two letters:

'N-o'

Yuuta sighs in relief.

"I thought after all of this you would have already forgotten about this."

He laughs. He might had forgoten about it. But it's not his fault that Toge is just so beautiful and espacially with those two little purple charms of his and those pretty and soft lips.

Toge also laughs from his little joke, a slight blush visible on his face. Yuuta hugs him and whispers 'goodnight'.

They cuddled for a bit, before both fell asleep, still holding on to each other like their life depended on it.

---

Rays of sunshine playing in his eyes and a tingling feeling bellow his nose woke Yuuta up. He lazily blinks a few times, before looking down, to see Toge still holding on to him, the same way he did when they fell asleep. Yuuta gently strokes Toge's messy hair, sofly brushing some strands of stray hair away from his face, admiring how peaceful he looks while asleep. He kisses his forehead, before slowly getting up to change. It was still early morning, the clock showing 7:38 am. It was an antique one they found in the office of a therapist, surprisingly still working. The clock hands were decorated with tiny wings and a small halo, that you would miss, unless you stared at it really hard. The numbers were all written in roman numerals so it took a bit for Yuuta's sleepy mind to make out the time.

As Yuuta slowly sat up, Inumaki quietly groaned in protest. Yuuta smiles. Toge is just so adorable, like a little kitty.

How did he not notice that sooner? Yuuta thinks as he's changing out of his sleeping uniform. He changes into his school uniform, because despite all, it still was one of his most comfortable outfits.

When exiting their room, he looks over to Inumaki once again, taking in all of his features for the last time, before going out to find something for breakfast.

The kitchen area wasn't anything too special, it was just a big conference room, with a fridge, sink and a stove that they brought from the real kitchen they found downstairs. Nothing was working yet, so the frigde only served as another place to store food, the sink was still under repair and the stove was still not even in it's place that they decided on. The walls of the kitchen were a little moldy, but most of it was wiped when moving in. The table also wasn't anything too special, except for being really long with a lot of chairs, so fitting in there wasn't a problem.

When Yuuta came in, Yuuji and Megumi were already there, trying to fix up the stove.

"Morning Okkotsu!"

Yuuji happily almost yells out. Megumi sighs and also greets him, with half as much energy as Yuuji.

"Good morning, how's the job going on?"

Yuuta greets them, like nothing ever happened last night. Because nothing did, right? Because it was all a dream right? It was too good to be true anyways.

"Ehh, we're trying, I can say that."

Yuuji shrugs. Megumi nods in agreement.

"Did you have breakfast yet?"

Yuuta asks, trying to hold a small converstaion, while searching the fridge for food. Nothing, nothing, nothing... that's ready to eat, or doesn't require any cooking, boiling or anything like that.

"Not really, but we're not too hungry either. At least I'm not."

Megumi, surprisingly, answers. 'Well' Yuuta thinks to himself, 'I guess today breakfast will be skipped.'

Not too long after, the others started to wake, untik the whole kitchen was full, everyone working on fixing diffrent things, or just trying to make the place more cozy.

---

After much trial and error and about a day's worth of work, the fridge and the stove we're finally working well. The sink was decided to only be used as a place to store dishes and trash bins, while they used the sinks in the bathrooms instead. Finally, everyone could sit down and enjoy some scrambled eggs for dinner. It was decided to celebrate their settling in the next day, so after dinner, instead of going to sleep sooner, everyone went around gathering paper, scissors, tape and glue, making themselves some paper garlands, a "happy housewarming" sign and even some balloons, found deep inside the basement storage room, surprisingly untouched, just with some dust around.

And so, after all of the preparations were done, everyone went to sleep, excited for tommorow.

"Are you excited for tommorow too, Toge?"

Yuuta asks, after their little sign language study session.

"Salmon!"

Toge nods. And then, he signs out a 'yes', this time, his movements more precise and confident.

"Good to hear!"

Yuuta chuckles as he hugs the boy. He was waiting for tommorow's party too, especially since both of them were planning to come out on that day. Once again, they both laid down on Toge's bed and cuddled for a bit, before they both fell asleep. Tommorow's gonna be a big day.

...

And not a good one too.

---

Yuuta woke up a little earlier than usual, the sun still slowly making it's way up in the sky. The room somehow felt colder than usual, less welcoming. It felt like something was missing. Maybe he was too stressed for the party? But why would he be? Then it hit. Inumaki wasn't laying there, next to him. That's the warmth he was missing.
It was unusual for Toge to wake up this early, but it was probably due to him just being so happy about the party. It shouldn't feel this wrong and yet it somehow did.

Quicker than usual, Yuuta dresses up and makes his way to the kitchen, connected to the dining room, that the group decided to call dining kitchen "Get it? It's kitchen and dining room smashed together" Nobara said when she suggested. The name wasn't too amazing, but it somehow clicked and so with nothing else feeling the same the way that felt, all of them went with that.

In there, he only saw Megumi, without Itadori this time, drinking his morning black coffee.

"Hey, have you seen Toge anywhere? He wasn't there when I woke up."

"No I haven't. Maybe he's in the bathroom? Although, I didn't see him there when I went... well, you can check there. I can help search for him if you don't find him there either."

Yuuta nods and walks out. The bathroom was empty. Maybe he just wandered to another floor? And yet, somehow it didn't feel right. He checked the room once again and finally understood what was wrong. He sensed cursed energy. It wasn't too strong, the cursed spirit was good at masking it, but it was there.

Oh God. Oh no.

"Well? Did you-"

"Inumaki was kidnapped."

Yuuta says as he slams the kitchen doors open, intertupting Megumi's question. He notices that now everyone was awake there, some making coffee, some making breakfast.

"What do you mean? Did you find a note of what?"

Maki asks, with actual, pure concern in her voice.

"I went back to check up on our room, when I sensed some cursed energy. It wasn't strong, definetly not strong enough to sense immediately. It seems that the curse is pretty good at masking their cursed energy."

Yuuta quickly spills.

"Are you sure you're not just overreacting? Maybe he's in the bathroom stuck with number two or something."

Maki looks at him skeptically.

"I already checked there."

Yuuta shakes his head.

"Well, another rescue mission is on board."

Nobara yawns.

Yuuta sighs frustrated. A fried of theirs has veen kidnapped and *this* is how they're reacting? Not even worried? Are they out of their minds?

"Why so frustrated, man? Inumaki's strong, I'm sure he can wait a bit."

Panda shrugs.

"... you too, Panda?"

Yuuta looks at him in disbelief. No. Something is wrong. They're not supposed to be like this. Or maybe he's just overreacting? Maybe Inumaki was never with them to begin with? 'No! Snap out of it, goddamn it Yuuta!'

Wait. It makes perfect sense if you think about it.

None of them would react like that, if all of this was real. Maybe he's just dreaming? Yuuta pinches his cheek. It hurts. If not a dream, then what is it? 'Think Yuuta think!'

'A domain? Nah. But... it would explain all of the reactions...'

Yuuta thinks to himself. A domain would perfectly fit, but then, who would've cast it?
Logically thinking, if a cursed spirit was manifested due to people fearing nightmares and this is a hospital, a common place for negative memories amd emotions... Everything simply adds up. Question is, when did it actually cast the domain and if it's complete. Yuuta hopes that he can find a loophole in it and escape.

"Hey Nobara."

"What?"

"Do you remember when you and Maki went to the mountains with us and almost fell of the ledge?"

"Yeah, why?"

This answer alone confirmed all that Yuuta needed. He pulled out his katana out of it sheats.

"You're not the real Nobara, are you? The mountain incident never happened."

"Hehe..."

Nobara? laughs.

"You, caught me."

And so, right before Yuuta's eyes, his friends slowly streched out unnatural lenghts, their skin slowly melting away, their bodies twisting in every possible way, before merging into one massive cursed spirit. The hospital kitchen also faded away, revealing that he has been in the hospital's basement this whole time.

"I don't know how I've got here, or rather - what tricks you used to get me here..." he grips his katana tighter, getting into a fighting stance, "But I sure know damn well you ain't getting out of here alive."

A cursed spirit thay can talk? Yuuta can only guess, but he decided that's it should at least be a grade one, if not higher. Maybe even a special grade?

But the spirit doesn't even give him a chance to think, as it immediately lunges forward. It's attack was fast, but Yuuta was faster so he dodged the attack easily and even managed to land a hit on the curses back, before almost getting tossed away.
The cursed spirit kept attacking, tirelessly, while Yuuta kept dodging, sometimes managing to hit the curses blind spots. After a while, Yuuta noticed that it's attacks had a patrern to them: lunge forward, attack the side he dodged to, then try to do an attack that covers a lot of space, not letting him run or dodge.

Using what he just learned, Yuuta planned his moves accordingly, to make sure he had plently of time to hit and finally figure out the curses weak spot. That also didn't take too long as he found that the... part where the knees we're supposed to be, was the weak spot, stunning the curse and making it's attacks slower. And so, one last time Yuuta raised the sword above his head, before striking the curse. It didn't kill it, but that's exacly what Yuuta wanted.

"Now then. Where is Inumaki?"

"Ha... like I'd... tell you."

Yuuta striked the curse again, strong enough to make it feel even more pain, but not strong enough to kill it.

"Hey, hey! Fine! I'll tell you! He... -"

Yuuta strikes again.

"He- agh!- he's being held in the camp nearby, to the west..."

"You're not lying to me are you?"

Yuuta grabs the curse by it's head, holding it up, forcing it to look at him, his eyes growing colder with anger by the second. Just what were they thinking?.

"N-no I'd... Aghck!- I would never!"

"Good."

Yuuta mumbles, as he raises the sword and strikes again, killing the curse. It's screams for the last time and it slowly melts away.

"Yo man are you- WHOA!"

Yuuji barges in.

"We were worried, since you didn't show up and-"

"It's fine Yuuji. All I need now is to find Toge."

Yuuta gently smiles, although the smile felt forced and directed more to himself as a calming down method, rather than to Itadori

'Jeez man, he and Toge really do have something deeper going on. Well, I sure hope he finds Inumaki alive and well, because personally, I don't want to know what would happen if he didn't.' Yuuji thinks to himself.

"Now then to the west I go!"

Yuuta laughs before walking away, marching like a soldier. Whatever it was that was making him act that way, had to end quickly. Just how more crazy could Yuuta get?

---

The camp to the west was full of curses, but to Yuuta they were almost like random trash laying down on the street, just waiting to be tossed away. His sword, cutting through with every swing, every attack. He didn't even need Rika, yet she was still next to him, attacking, all to make the curses cower in fear. The camp was big enough, that of Yuuta wanted to searched all of it thoroughly it woild roughly take about a day and a half, but with Rika's help, he found Inumaki, much faster than expected.

"Inumakii? Where are you?"

He yelled, walking around the underground bunker that he founs underneath the camp. Well, Rika found it, but that's besides the point.

"Yuuta... The boy is the warehouse. If you walk down to the end of this hallway and turn tk the left, the third door to your right, will be the one."

Rika announces after coming back from searching the place.

"Thank you, Rika."

Yuuta smiles, before cautiously walking down the corridor to the warehouse. The door was easy to notice, as it was much bigger than the other ones. The door was made of thick, sturdy wood and was hard to push open. After opening just a crack big enough for him to go, Yuuta slid into the warehouse. The warehouse was big and seemed like it was rarely ever taken care of. But since the curses didn't expect anyone as strong as Yuuta to come searching for him, they had Inumaki tied down right in the middle.of the warehouse, easy to spot in as soon as you come in, guarded by some curses, or more like, what was left of the curses after Inumaki had taken care of them. Inumaki at first glance wasn't in too bad of a condition, even somehow finding a scarf somewhere to cover his mouth. But, he was still tied to a chair, unable to move.

"Inumaki!"

Yuuta yelled as he ran up to him, quickly undoing the rope, before looking at Inumaki to see if there were any injuries. Thankfully, there were none.

The surprise on Inumaki's face said it all. But it didn't last long as it quickly changed into a more relaxed one, before he tightly hugged Yuuta. It didn't take long for him to return the hug.

The two boys stood there in silence, finding eachother presence soothing and settling in it, making sure to completely calm down before doing anything else.

"So.. We're you scared? Missed me?"

Yuuta asks Inumaki, half joking, the other half concerned. To both Inumaki answers with a simple nod.

"Well, now you needn't be scared." Yuuta ruffles the other boy's hair "simply, because I am here. And I can and will protect you. And I'll make sure that never happens again."

Inumaki smiles at him, before pulling down his scarf to kiss Yuuta.

He knew both of them needed this. They wanted it. They both wanted to finally get comfortable enough, to the point where goodmorning and goodbye kisses were something of second nature to them, completely natural, something that was still pretty far away from their reach. But still every single one of them counted, bringing them closer and closer to their silently agreed on goal.

Inumaki felt Yuuta's hands traveling up from his waist, to his hair, pulling him closer than he already was. Their kiss, sweet and a little wet, still a little sloppy. Yuuta slowly pulled away, admiring the sign of Inumaki's eyes, still a little half-closed, pleading for another kiss. And so he pulls him close again.

"Hey Fushiguro, I-"

Suddently Yuuji walks in, alongside Megumi.

"Woah, uh, sorry for interrupting..."

Yuuji raises his hands. "Anyways, congrats for being the last ones to realise that!" He laughs, before throwing on that friendly relaxed expression on his face.

Yuuta pulled away from Inumaki, still processing the situation, before both of them pulled away, their faces redder than ever, Inumaki hiding behind his scarf.

"I- We-... Well-"

Yuuta tried mumbling something, but nothing came out.

"Hey, don't worry, we've all been in the stage before, right Megumi?"

He says before throwing one of his arms around Fushiguro's neck, pulling him down next to him.

"Right, right..."

Megumi nods. "So? Do we tell them? Or do you want to keep it a secret? It'll still hafta come out though." He shrugs.

"We... kinda planned to tell you all at the party..."

Yuuta mutters, still avoiding their eyes, his face changing from a deep red into a softer pink.

"We can help with that!"

Yuuji happily exclaims. "Right?" He says, looking up to Megumi.

"Right..."

---

Going back to the hospital, Inumaki and Yuuta still didn't talk or look at anything other than the ground, the awkward silence finally breaking after they entered the hospital. Only to be disturbed by a much, much louder yelling.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU, WALKING AROUND UNSUPERVISED, LEAVING A 'RANDOM' CURSED SPIRIT IN THE BASEMENT AND WORRYING US TO THE POINT THAT EVEN I MIGHT'VE STARTED GROWING GREYING HAIR!!!"

Maki yells at them, grabbing Yuuta's collar and pushing him aside. "I FUCKING WOKE UP TO SOMEONE YELLING DOWNSTAIRS AND THE FIRST THING, THE VERY FIRST THING I SAW AFTER WAKING UP WAS A VERY BLOODY YUUJI AT. MY. FUCKING. DOOR TELLING ME SOMETHING ABOUT TOGE BEING GONE AND YOU GOING FUCKING CRAZY! CAN'T WE HAVE ONE, **ONE** SINGLE DAY WHERE YOU BOTH DON'T DO ANYTHING-"

"Maki!"

Nobara yells. "Maki, stop it. Inumaki's just back from getting kidnapped to god knows where and Yuuta just saved him! Can't you at least be a little more thankful?"

Maki sighs.

"Fine. Thank you for saving Inumaki"

she says looking at Yuuta.

"...and thank you for... not dying I guess."

She says to Inumaki.

"Now go fix yourselves up you look like you just came from the mines."

Another deep sigh from Maki and about an hour later, everyone was setting up the final pieces of the party. Yuuta was helping Panda fix up the sign when Yuuji pulled him aside.

"Hey so, we're still going with the plan?"

"What plan- ohhh, right. I mean, it's stupid, but I guess we can try."

Yuuta groans. Yuuji simply held up a thumbs up, before going away to help Inumaki carry the other supplies.

---

"Y'all won't believe it, but it managed to find some ingredients and bake a cake!"

Nobara happily bursts into the room, with a pretty good-looking cake in her hands. "Shall we eat it now, or later?"

"Now sounds good."

Panda says, his mouth drooling, just waiting to have a taste of the cake. The little drools looked just like in cutesy cartoons and while in real life it would be considered disgusting, maybe all the group really needed was just to relax a bit and forget about all of the things that war had brought upon. Maybe feeling anxiety everywhere you go now was something that was considered something normal, the whole body tensing up just from hearing a leaf crunch under your feet, always carrying a weapon with you, even when doing simple things like going to the bathroom. You never knew what was coming, no matter how safe the place was. The attack on the camp was enough proof for Yuuta.

Suddently, Yuuji stands up, clearing his throat to have everyone's attention and started his speech.

"So everyone. Yuuta and Toge have a very special thing to tell you all. But instead of saying outright, we prepared a very special way of doing so."

Yuuta looks around, hoping that nobody will mind what's about to happen. "Now then, if I could ask for everyone to close their eyes and only open them whenever I say so!"

"Right, but what is gonna ha-"

"Shush Maki, just close your eyes, you'll see."

Yuuji says, holding his index finger infront of his lips, signaling to quiet down for now.

And so, as soon as the last pair of eyes closed Yuuta and Inumaki slowly made their way towards their doom that they both reluctantly agreed to do, but only because it seemed a little funny. Trying not to trip, Yuuta grabs Inumaki's arm and gently squeezes it, before letting it go again.

Why oh why oh why oh why?

He holds a thumbs up to Yuuji before going into.. 'hiding'.

"Open your eyes everyone! Now please, if you would look at this closet right here."

Yuuji points at the closet before sitting down at the table.

'Oh we're so dead..'

Yuuta and Inumaki push the closet door open and both walk out from it.

"We..are.. coming out of the closet... as.. a gay.. couple..."

Yuuta mumbles something while Inumaki holds out a sign that in very colourful and bright letters spells "We have come out of the closet" with rainbows drawn all around it.

To say that Yuuta's face was red was a real understatement. Yet somehow Inumaki's face was barely red at all with only a little bit of a blush on it.

The silence that followed was the most uncomfortable, loud and embarassing, having Yuuta hoping that the ground will open up and bury him right there, right now. But that didn't happen at all.

"That... is... nice. But the closet was glass a long time ago."

Nobara was the first to break the silence, still trying to hold back a laugh, but failing miserably.

"Ha, I think a glass closet was an understatement, the closet wasn't ever there to begin with."

Maki agrees also trying to hold back a laugh. One by one, everyone's laughs filled up the room. The laughs weren't mocking them, they were genuine, heartfelt laughter from the a bit over-the-top and dramatic coming out, but nevertheless, everyone were happy for both of them.

Finally, even Yuuta joined in, sucking up the embarassment he just felt a few minutes ago.

It was a memory to treasure, a memory to fight for. A memory so precious that losing it would feel like losing a part of yourself.

---

'Yuuta, we did it!''

Inumaki happily signs. 'Finally, the last few months paid off' Yuuta nods. After a lot of studying sessions with Inumaki, both of them finally learned sign language to a point that they could pretty much talk about anything and everything. Inumaki hugs Yuuta, before planting a kiss on his cheek. Yuuta laughs and nuzzles on Inumaki's neck, gently kissing it. The two of them sit there together, enjoying each others presence in a comforting silence.

After about an hour, Yuuta could hear Inumaki softly snoring in his sleep, deciding that it's best to let him. He carefully carries him over to his bed, laying him down, before also getting comfortable next to him.

"Goodnight Inumaki."

He whispers, placing one last kiss on his cheek, slowly falling asleep.

---

"So you came here to escort us?"

Maki asks, looking at the group of people in front of them.

"Yes, we are here to scout the area for any survivors amd must bring them back to the camp."

The groups leader nods, getting a little impatient. The rescue team had come for them about half an hour ago, taking Maki and Yuuta by surprise as they both were going to the bathrooms, to filling up the kettle, for some tea and coffee that both of them were craving for. Now their whole group was already woken up, listening on what they were talking.

"Jeez, we are sorcerers, we can survive on our own, goddamn it."

Maki scoffs.

"Sorcerers? Even better."

The man laughs. "Honestly, our camp was searching for some, you see, the front lines are kind of lacking in sorcerers and often most of them get too overwhelmed. No worries though, we have training and-"

"Okay, we get it. We'll go with you, but if at any point any of us get hurt or anything like that, we will make sure to wipe out your camp from existance."

Yuuta offers. The leader nods and tells them that they have till the evening before everyone has to be ready, since they still have some other places to check out.

---

'Is everything gonna be okay?'

Inumaki signs, packing his things.

"I hope so..."

Yuuta sighs, debating weather to take along his favorite mug or leave it.

Suddently, Inumaki hugs his from the back.

"Huh? What is it?"

Yuuta fliches, getting pulled out of his thoughts. "Is everything-" he pauses. Is his mind playing tricks on him, or is Inumaki actually crying? Whatever it was, Yuuta pulls Inumaki closer, resting his chin on top of his head, gently stroking his hair.

After Inumaki calmed down a bit, he started signing, his hands a little shaky.

'I'm sorry. I just got so used to this place, I...'

"No need for apologies Toge."

Yuuta says, grabbing both of Inumaki's hands, to stop him. "I'll miss this place too, it was fun being here. Hanging out with our group, gathering materials, heck, even defending from curses. But the best memory of this hospital? It's you Toge. Every single moment with you. Every single little thing that you did. I'll miss this place. But with you? I can go to the ends of earth, to the deepest of waters, to the deadliest of wars."

Yuuta pulls away, smiling towards Inumaki, wiping off his tears.

'Thank you Yuuta.'

Inumaki signs. He starts, then stops, thinking for a bit, they finishes. 'I... really needed to hear this.'

"Happy I could help!"

Yuuta smiles at him again. He then leans in to kiss Inumaki. Yuuta feels Inumaki's arms wrap around his neck pulling closer, an action that was repeated so much in those few months and yet it was still as good as the first time, if not better each time they did it. He felt Toge's mouth slowly open up, letting him explore inside. Again, it was repeated countless times, and yet somehow every single time Yuuta entered, it was like it changed, the feeling the inside, it all had to be explored, it all had to be felt. This time though, Yuuta didn't linger there too long. He slowly traced down to Toge's neck, somewhere, where he was yet to be, trailing kisses and sometimes leaving there a little mark, searching for places that were more sesitive, lingering on them for a little longer, before hearing Toge's soft moan, having it as a signal for him to move on, to search for another place. Yuuta felt Toge lean back a little, for better access.

Inumaki felt as Yuuta's tongue slowly trailed across his neck, tickling a bit, he felt the way his teeth, sunk into his skin, painful and yet still so gentle, his lips, softly kissing him, the way he it was all so nice, Toge wished it could all go on forever and ever. He felt Yuuta's tongue go down to his collarbone, once again, sinking in his teeth, savoring the taste, before kissing the mark and moving up again, until he was back where they started, kissing him lips again, before pulling away, to decide whether he likes or doesn't like what he just done.

Yuuta raised his finger and trails around the marks he left, before putting the jacket on Inumaki and zipping it up.

"Nobody has to know what we were up to you know?"

Yuuta winks. Inumaki can felt his face redden up a little, looking down, but all it took was one good look up and he could see that Yuuta had the same soft red shade across his cheeks.

'Let's finish packing up, okay? '

Inumaki signs.

---

"Is everyone here?"

The rescue team leader asks the group again.

"Yes."

All of them nod. The rescue team leader then starts leading them to what was later labeled my Yuuta as "an enormous camp, full of advanced high-tech technology, suited for every single type of combat". It felt like entering a diffrent world, which was advanced much further than they remembered, and yet it was still somehow cozy and welcoming. The tents were huge, but also, since they were sorcerers, or as the team called them, "highly regarded soldiers", all of them got nice and big rooms, which they only had to share with one person, instead of five. Each room had separate beds, and a nightstand next to each, which were full of diffrent toiletries and also...

"Condo- Why- Uh- Actually forget that I never saw anything."

Yuuta mutters, putting back the pack that he saw, a bright blush spreading across his face.

'You never know, we might need that.'

Inumaki signs, with a clearly serious face. Even after a minute of silence that Yuuta used to search Inumaki's face for a drop of anything that wasn't screaming 'I'm serious' until he finally gave up.

"Need that for what?"

Yuuta asks, continuing on, hoping that Inumaki wasn't actually serious about it.

'Well people usually use that for sex, no?'

Yuuta blinks for a second. Inumaki finally laughs before continuing.

'What, you thought I was actually serious?'

"I wish."

Yuuta blurted out without thinking. Shit. What is he doing?!

Inumaki thinks for a moment before signing

'Let's talk about this when the war is over. That would be one heck of a celebration.'

"Yeah... wait what."

Yuuta looks over at Inumaki, his face still in a deep blush. And somehow it got even deeper. Maybe because Yuuta had a very explicit imagination. Or maybe because mentally, he still wasn't ready for this topic.

'Back to the topic though, I think it's about time we head for dinner.'

Inumaki signs, finally changing the topic.

"Right..."

Yuuta nods.

And so, their first day of being in the camp ended, leading into a tommorow full of rest, before they recieved their schedules and started an intesive training program, in order to get in shape and participate in the war.

In the camp, they also met students from (Tokyo?) school, with whom they shared the training grounds. Two months of intensive training was enough to get everyone back in shape. Two months after which all of them were sent to the frontlines to fight and tend the wounded, to weaken and crush to cursed spirts, to either win or die.

And so, four grueling years later...

In the end.

In the end...

---

"I still can't believe we did it!"

Yuuta said to Inumaki one unforgettable evening. Their both were sitting on a clif, wuth dirty, and in some places - torn, clothes, scratches and injuries ,in some places, on their skin and yet they still had smiles that were shining brighter than the sun, prettier than the moon.

"We won... we won. Won, won won."

Yuuta breathlessly repeated it until it sounded wrong.

'So?'

Inumaki signs.

"So what?"

Yuuta looks at him, confusion painted all over his face.

'So when's the celebration? You know, the one we talked about on the day we first entered the camp.'

Inumaki signs, his finger movements finally becoming the graceful and fluent words they both once only wished to learn.

"Ah..."

Yuuta slightly blushes, remembering it.

"Well I've been thinking... and I'm down!"

Both of the boys laugh before standing up.

"Inumaki?"

He turns his head to face Yuuta, their lips only inches apart.

"I love you."

He whispers, before pulling Inumaki into a kiss. Yuuta's lips were warm and soft, his one hand gently slipping into Inumaki's hair, while the other one wrapped around his waist, pulling their bodies even closer. The kiss however was cut short, by Yuuta, who stood back.

'What's wrong?'

Inumaki signs, worried. Then, Yuuta kneels down on one knee and pulls out a pretty small, but expensive looking box.

"Inumaki..."

He opens the box, revealing a beautiful silver ring, with a little diamond on top of it, perfectly forming the ring. It was small and minimalistic, just how Toge liked it. He already knew what was gonna happen and yet he stood there like an idiot, still trying to process if it wasn't actually a dream.

"Will you marry me?"

Yuuta finally asks that question, in a much loider voice, probably from all of the relief coming off of his shoulders.

"I- I- uhmm..."

Inumaki squeezes out, before remembering that he didn't learn sign language for nothing.

'Yes!'

He signs quickly after regaining comporture. He smiles seeing Yuuta getting surprised and asking him "Are you sure?" As if he hadn't heard the answer the first time. And both times Inumaki said yes.

After finally getting over his happiness, Yuuta finally took the ring out and carefully slid it on to Inumaki's finger, before gently kissing it, admiring how pretty it looks on Inumaki's finger.

"Yuuta..."

Inumaki says looking at him, with those pretty purple eyes that once made Yuuta slip and fall for him.

'I love you too.'