Chapter Text
It suits you better, you decide, staying in the office. You find plenty of work for yourself coordinating with the Windows, and collating reports on incidents, rather than assisting with any field assignments. Several weeks pass by, and you manage to avoid interacting too closely with anyone, but Ijichi’s resentful looks become more withering.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take the first years out this time?”
“I’m getting plenty done here, it would be a shame to stop now.” You duck your head, fixating on a report in front of you.
“Even your friends are starting to wonder when you last went outside.”
“I don’t have any friends, you’re just tired of going out with a certain sorcerer.” You raise your eyebrows at him.
It seems like you caught him out, as he sighs and shakes his head “Well, some people asked after you. I wouldn’t say no if you offered to take this one.”
You hold your hand out and he wastes no time in passing the folder to you. “What the- this is just chauffeuring him around! There’s no students assigned to this!”
The door slams, signalling Ijichi’s escape. You sigh, hastily packing up and leaving for your sudden assignment. You’re startled when you bump into Gojo the moment you step out.
“Wow, look who it is! I was starting to think you died.”
“Don’t sound too sad about the prospect, will you?” You mutter, shuffling along behind him.
“People always die, and I’m always sad. Road trip!” He drags you along, and you end up jogging to keep up with his long strides until you reach your car. He amuses himself by messing around with the radio while you drive to the first location, already tired.
You pull over first at the side of a rural road.
“Come on, let’s take a look around.”
“Where are we?”
“Just some road.” He shrugs. “We’re investigating!”
You look around “Investigating what?”
Gojo makes vague gestures “Residual cursed energy. Come on, come on.” He starts walking. “It’ll be fun. Like Holmes and Watson…”
“Batman and Robin.” You start to follow.
“Mulder and Scully.”
“Bonnie and Clyde”
“When did we become villains? Thelma and Louise.”
“When you decided to drag me along when you don’t need me and I could have just waited in the car. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.”
He laughs, throwing an arm around your shoulder and pulling you to catch up with him. “Not the Joker?”
“Too cliché. I’m not seeing anything.” You complain.
Gojo pulls his blindfold down, winking at you with a sparkling blue eye. “I bet you’re glad I threatened Ijichi until he swapped with you. Never mind looking for the residuals, leave it to me.”
“Then why am I even here?” You trudge along, giving him a petulant look.
“Because I owe someone… and I was really sick of Ijichi… hmm…” he stops to look around. “Yes, this is it.”
“What?”
“Where you parked. Let’s head to the next spot.”
You look around and spot your car on the other side of the hedgerow. “Oh.”
While he sings along to the radio, you drive to the next location, then repeat the seemingly aimless walk around. “I have better things to do than this. I know you didn’t need me here.”
“Sure I did.” He stops, standing with his hands on his hips as he looks around. “This kind of thing is boring without someone to impress with my classy jokes and super cool personality.”
At that moment, you wonder if it’s worth staying in the Jujutsu world at all. Really, any office job would work. You could leave right now. You hadn’t even managed to get an apartment off-campus organised yet, you could go anywhere.
“Oh, look. There we go.” He races forwards, snatching a reptilian looking creature from the crushed railings near the site of a traffic accident. “Stop questioning your life choices for a second. Get him for me.”
“You could do it in the blink of an eye.”
“Yeah, but that would be overkill.”
“Why are you even assigned to something like this?”
“It was on my way.”
With a heavy sigh, you step forward, drawing the blade from your jacket. With a swift motion, you decapitate it, then fold the knife away again.
“Job done!” He announces cheerfully, swinging it in circles by the tail.
In the car, you can’t help but pout as he directs you through the town.
“Don’t make that face, you get to spend time with me! Look happier.” He incessantly prods your cheek. “I did notice something important, actually.”
“What’s that?” You keep your focus on the road, rising above his antagonism.
“You didn’t listen to me at all.” He taps your forehead to punctuate each word. “If anything, you did the exact opposite.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I told you not to isolate yourself, and then you hid in that office for nearly two months.”
“I had work to do.” You shrug. “I got more done there than I have with you now.”
“What? You just exorcised a curse! Park here.” He points to a space outside a sushi restaurant.
It’s better, you decide, to not dignify him with an answer. You park as directed, and wait for him to get out, eyes following as he walks around the car to drag you out of your seat.
“Fortunately, your favourite colleague, Satoru, has come to the rescue. I’ve arranged a play date.”
“No.” You try to dig your heels in when you realise.
“I’ll look out for my students for the rest of their lives, even after they graduate. You feel like one of mine now, so we’re doing this for your own good.” He wraps his arm around your waist.
To an onlooker it would appear effortless, affectionate even, but you find yourself being propelled forwards with no chance of resistance. “We barely know each other, you don't have to care about me, let me go back.”
“Too late. We’re here!” He waves excitedly at a small group of people sitting in a booth. Still being forced forwards, the two of you approach. You find yourself being sandwiched between Gojo and Inumaki, Kugisaki sitting opposite with a dark haired man you recognise from the last dinner you had with them.
“Have you been introduced to Yuta yet?”
You greet him meekly, settling back into your seat.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you properly. Toge was telling me about you.” He smiles over at you, but you feel a little disconcerted, wondering just what was said about you. You look at Inumaki, surprised to see him watching you over the edge of his jacket with wide eyes.
“Wow, Toge, you’ve gone all red.” Gojo peers around your shoulder.
“Mentaiko.” He narrows his eyes, prompting Gojo to laugh.
You shrug Gojo from your shoulder, keeping your eyes down while you toy with the corner of a napkin, wondering just what was said about you. Deciding you were no longer going to be held hostage to the awkward exchange, you perk up and start talking about new shops open in the city that you thought you could go to with Kugisaki. You’re acutely aware of Gojo provoking people behind your back, but you persevere regardless.
As the evening goes by, you feel more at ease, chatting lightly and listening in on the stories from the others. It starts to dawn on you that despite eating until you were more than full enough, your plate still had food on it. You frown, glancing down just in time to see Inumaki placing another piece of your favourite sushi in front of you. Had he been doing this all night? You give him a questioning look, which he returns with a smile.
“Thank you.” You wonder if he feels guilty about being caught trash-talking you. Although how he would manage to criticise you with rice ball ingredients remains a mystery in your mind. You're pretty pathetic. What's a pathetic sushi ingredient? Maybe he calls you imitation crab meat.
You start to eat, watching as he leans across the table to slap Gojo’s hand out of the way and take the last piece.
Only when he places that on your plate too do you stop laughing at Gojo’s scandalised expression. “Oh, no, I’m full, you don’t have to do that…” your protests die out when he holds it up to your lips with his chopsticks, watching earnestly.
“If you’re full…” you hear a sly voice behind you, and immediately stop hesitating. Inumaki’s eyes crease as his smile grows at your defiant chewing. “Hmph. Maybe I should trip while fighting a grade three curse, then I’d get fed too…”
“Says the one who didn’t want to go for a pointless walk alone. Since I’m so useless , drive yourself to dinner next time.”
“ Okaka .” You feel Inumaki’s hand pulling at your cuff.
“See, he agrees with me.” You slide further along the bench to sit closer to Inumaki.
“That is not what he said.”
Despite the constant petty arguments, Gojo pays the bill, and you all pile into the car to head back.
At the end of the night, the group splinters off, heading in different directions to their rooms.
Okkotsu stops, smiling gently “Toge, you’re gonna walk her to her room? That’s nice. I’ll see you later.”
Inumaki stands dutifully beside you, waiting for you to start walking.
“Alright…” it’s silent for a while, aside from your footsteps in the grass. “Since you’re here, why don’t you tell me what you said about me before?”
There’s a pause, and he stops in his tracks briefly before catching up. “T-Tuna mayo?”
You suspect the people around him must be really dedicated to understanding him. It’s sweet, you suppose. Gazing up at the sky, you keep walking, mulling over your previous interactions. How someone that strong could stomach working with someone so weak was beyond you, but still, he was always gentle and patient towards you.
“I guess I could give you the benefit of the doubt?”
You look back at him, seeing his eyes soften. “Salmon.”
“That’s a yes.” The two of you stop by your door. “I don’t really know what you want, or what you’re saying, but I’ll try to listen anyway.”
He laughs quietly, looking at his feet.
“Good night.” You open your door.
“Kelp.” He disappears down the corridor.
You pose for a picture with Kugisaki in the mirror of the shop’s changing rooms, finally out on the trip you had discussed.
“That was a good one.” You enthuse, setting it as the contact photo for her in your phone as she looks at it over your shoulder.
“He got you too?” She points at the entry for “Satoru” surrounded by hearts and blue emojis.
“It was late, and I was too tired to bother fighting him over it.” You sigh.
“What am I saved as? Hmm.” She scrolls up and down the list. “Hey, Toge isn't here.”
You shake your head “Why would he be?”
“Well… I didn’t want to bring it up, because talking about those guys can be a bit boring, but do you not like him, or are you just oblivious? It’s getting a bit painful to watch.” When you give her a confused look, she elaborates “Everyone is starting to get embarrassed by the way he fawns over you. I can’t even imagine how hard it must be when you finally meet someone you like, and you can only say five words to them.”
You frown to yourself, questioning if any of that made sense. “I don’t know if that’s the case.”
She rolls her eyes, sorting through the clothes she had picked up. “First of all, stop waiting for him to explicitly say something, unless you give him your number. But who wants a confession by text? He’s probably terrified of accidentally forcing you by saying something out loud. And second…” she pauses to deliberate over a skirt. “He doesn’t really have to. He keeps trying to do stuff for you, keeps taking on all these assignments he doesn’t have time for just to come back disappointed when a different manager goes, asks me to invite you out…”
“You didn’t want to invite me?”
She stops to slap your shoulder.
You sigh, heading to the checkout. “How am I supposed to get to know someone like that?”
“You get used to it, when you spend enough time with him. If you’re not interested, that’s fair enough, but if you’re just not sure…I can’t say any of them are my type, but isn’t a guy that quiet better than one who won’t shut up?”
It’s a compelling point.
The two of you walk around, trying to decide which cafe to get lunch in. She tells you stories about a friend from her hometown, and a particular place she wanted to try.
“Did you ever find it?”
“No… Well, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll find it until I see her there.”
“You never found her?”
She’s quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure if I can anymore.” She grins at you, covering her scarred eye “You can imagine I look pretty different from when I was a kid, right?”
You link arms with her “I think you look cool. She’ll be happy with the woman you are, if you ever meet again.” You stop outside a cafe with window boxes overflowing with orange begonias. “Let’s sit here, it looks like it would suit you.”
You walk back towards the office with weary footsteps.
“Kelp!”
Inumaki is ahead of you in the corridor, walking the opposite way.
“Oh, hi. Were you looking for Ijichi? Everyone is out right now.” You stop a few steps away from him.
“Okaka.” He turns and starts walking back towards the office.
You will yourself to not get flustered. “Were you here to see me?”
“Salmon.” His eyes form crescents over the edge of his collar. He holds up a small bag.
“What’s that?” You open the office door, ushering him through.
“Tuna mayo.”
Pulling an extra chair over, you invite him to sit at your desk, and watch as he takes out two lunchboxes.
“You bought lunch?”
He shakes his head, pointing at himself.
“Ah, you made lunch?”
“Salmon.”
Your chest squeezes. “That’s sweet of you, Inumaki, thank you.” You sit opposite him, accepting a lunch box and opening it. You’re surprised when you take a bite out of one of the rice balls neatly lined up. “When you said tuna mayo, I thought that was just your cursed code thing, but you actually just gave a straight answer.”
He laughs quietly, pulling down the zip of his jacket to start eating. Furtively, you watch him through brief glances. It’s not often you get to see his full face, so you take the opportunity while he isn’t looking. Between those tattoo-like marks, he keeps a gentle smile on his lips, which makes him feel far more approachable than when he’s hiding them.
“Did you cook too much today?”
With his jacket open, he has no hope of hiding the rosiness that spreads across his cheeks and up his neck.
“Okaka.”
“I’m glad, anyway. I was getting hungry, but there’s no way I would have had a nice lunch break if you hadn’t come by.”
Even the tips of his ears are flushed now, and his thick eyelashes almost brush the tops of his cheeks from the way he keeps his eyes firmly down.
Once you’re both finished, you tidy up your desk and pack the lunchboxes back into their bag. Inumaki makes no move to leave, looking around the office.
“Have you got a busy afternoon?”
“Okaka.” He shakes his head.
“Stay as long as you want, it’s not like you can cause me any trouble.” You smirk at him, and he grins back. “I won’t be much fun, so it’s fine if you head out.”
He springs up, moving his chair to your side of the desk, then sitting back down with a pleased smile. You expected him to play around with his phone, or find something to entertain himself, however you find yourself trying not to be self conscious as he appeared perfectly content with watching your face while you worked.
After a while, you had grown too embarrassed to tolerate it further, so you turn to him. The moment you look at him, his eyes glitter mischievously.
“What-“
“Sleep.” His voice is low, and comes to your ears softer than a sigh. You sway in your seat before slumping against him, completely unconscious.
“Wake up.” You feel your shoulder being squeezed gently, your name being called gently nearby. Your eyes flutter open. Inumaki stands on the other side of your desk, watching you with a worried frown. It’s still light outside, and you’re dazed.
“Did you…?”
“Takana?” His eyes scan your face, as if there was something wrong.
You couldn’t quite remember what happened. “Didn’t you just-“
“Takana?” He points through the window in the direction of your room.
“No, I’m not tired, I’ve still got things to do.” You run your hands through your hair, sighing.
He doesn’t seem satisfied, but straightens up, looking towards the door. “Kelp.”
“You’re gonna head out?”
He nods, and you feel like you’re getting pretty good at picking up context.
“Alright, nice seeing you, Inumaki.”
You turn back to your computer with a sigh. “What…” Your tired eyes can’t quite comprehend what you’re looking at. It takes a second for you to realise the display is upside down. “Hey!”
Inumaki laughs, stopping just short of slipping out the door. He looks over his shoulder at you, eyes wide and innocent “Salmon?”
“Did you knock me out just to screw with my computer?” You stand up, ready to chase him out of the office.
The corner of his lips twitch. “Okaka.”
“Don’t lie, it’s because I said you couldn’t cause trouble.” You shoot him an accusatory glare. He walks over to you, standing toe to toe and grinning down at you. Although it’s faint, you can catch the scent of lemon and honey on him, and you remember that his technique tends to have repercussions on his throat. “I hope that hurts.”
He leans a little closer, cupping your face in his hand. His thumb grazes over the corner of your mouth, brushing your bottom lip. “Worth it.”
You’d be flustered if he didn’t immediately pinch your cheek and laugh.
You step back, grabbing the front of his jacket and zipping it back up over his face. “Last time I underestimate you.”
He continues giggling as you usher him out of the room and shut the door behind him.
Although you admit you’re in a good mood after his visit, you doubted you were outwardly different, despite this, you still found yourself on the receiving end of a few strange looks and ominous smirks. By the end of the day, you were completely disgruntled, shuffling back to your room in a sulk.
You pull your work clothes off to change into something more casual and comfortable, stopping when something catches your eye. In a small, neat line of black ink, a phone number is written on the inside of your wrist, just under where your sleeve had covered. With a frown, you type it into your phone and send a message.
<Who is this?
xx-xxxxxxx
>Figure it out ^^
You hesitate briefly before responding.
<Inumaki?
xx-xxxxxxx
>Wow, how formal and impersonal. Guess I’m just a colleague to you.
>What if I pretended to be someone else? Would you start trash talking me if I said I was Yuta?
>Why did you ask who it was? Who else came to give you their number today? So popular… I’m a bit jealous~
<Would you shut up?
Toge 😶
>Shutting up is my default
>Did it take you this long to find this number?
<Yeah, I just finished work and saw it
You watch the screen for a moment, waiting for an answer. Instead, your phone buzzes with an incoming video call.
“Toge?”
He bites his lip, trying to hold in a smile.
“Kelp.”
It takes a moment for you to notice something off, tapping on your face in the corner. You shout out, startled by your own appearance, normal aside from the marks at the corners of your mouth, identical to his. “What did you do? Is this why people have been giving me strange looks all afternoon?” You bring him back into the screen, watching as he falls back in his chair laughing. “Did you do anything else that I haven’t noticed?”
“Okaka.”
“Next time you think about coming to see me, don’t.” You pout “This will come off, right? People must think I’m delusional…” you rub at the markings.
“Salmon.”
“Congratulations, you got me good. I’m going to wash up now.” You roll your eyes at his smug expression. “Have a good night, Toge.”
“Kelp.” He beams back at you.
Once the initial surprise and embarrassment wears off, you can see the funny side, smiling to yourself. You take extra care to make sure all traces of the marker pen are removed from your cheeks before continuing with the rest of your evening.