Floating Like a Lilo ── Itadori Yuuji (✓)

17 LOST IN HELL

A FACE COLLAPSED THROUGH ENTROPY
I CAN HARDLY SPEAK

i always wanna die (sometimes)
the 1975

The sky is eerily similar to the weather on the day of Mother's death. It was peaceful but it doesn't evoke that sense of serenity most know. You know, the kind of peace one receives in weary eyes as they gaze out at the prairie on the porch of their home. It was the kind of peace that slowly and silently destroys you. The brief tranquility that your body absorbs when you feel yourself sinking into the earth, a natural grave being dug out by God's hands.

Junpei's eyes have a slight warmth to them as they reflect the glint of the afternoon sun. You're sitting on the steps down to the river bank with him and Itadori, laughing about movies. He reminds you of yourself, but more or less the old you, the girl that was far too naive and knee-deep in a world she will never understand, stuck in a society that won't care for her. You think you can call Junpei a new-found friend, especially since he also agrees that Human Bloodworm 2 was far better than Human Bloodworm 3 (you had been trying to explain this to Gojo-sensei for weeks but he thought you were out of your mind.)

"Here's our contact info," Itadori smiles, handing his phone over and pointing to his and your number. Your smile is a little fragile, maybe you're just somewhat tense, but you watch Junpei's eyes rove and pass over your uniform again. He knows something, you think, but what it is, I can't determine. The swirled buttons? The emblem on your uniform that you don't even recognise yourself?

Junpei looks at the phone, something secretive lurking beneath his mildly surprised expression. He knows something! You purse your lips. Maybe... even someone. You haven't known him for long, not even for an entire day, but you can read him like a book and you know every thought in his head is being backed up by the voice of another, like across the last three days he's been under guise of a shadow.

Then suddenly, a voice breaks whatever still ice had formed between the three teenagers. "Oh, Junpei?" Everyone turns and a woman stands at the top of the stairs, looking back at you.

Junpei's lips twitch into a warm smile, "Mum."

Your eyes linger on this woman and you feel irresistibly jealous. Jealous because your own mother was six feet under. She seems friendly and laid-back, the softness tucked in her eyes tells you she cares deeply for her son.

"It's unusual to see you out here," She notes and then her pink lips stretch into a lovely smile, "Are these your friends?"

"We just met, actually," Junpei admits, standing up to look back at his mother.

Itadori grins, "We may have just met, but I think the three of us can be friends!"

Junpei's mother lifts her hand, "Really? I hope you get along well, then."

A cigarette rested in between thin fingers, her eyes cast into a pool of deep thought. Junpei's mother watched the end of the cancer stick fizzle from the lowly burning fire of sorts, her attention turned briefly to the thin smoke that was webbed into the air around her, slowly lost. In doing so, she seemed so carefree. You like that feeling, that feeling of being free. She instantly strikes you as an amazing mother.

But then, her son's expression changes entirely, hardening as if frustration outlined his features, "Mum! I asked you..." He looks down, his hands balling into fists by his sides. "...to quit smoking."

"Oh, right, gomen!" She pockets the cancer stick in a purple purse, "I did promise not to smoke in front of you anymore." She walks down the steps towards you guys, a graciously sweet smile pressed on her lips, "What are your friends' names?"