Floating Like a Lilo ── Itadori Yuuji (✓)

22 TAINTED BY THE MUSING OF EVIL

A/N: I love how I can't write fight scenes but JJK is an action-orientated anime.

LONG AFLOAT ON SHIPLESS OCEANS
I DID ALL MY BEST TO SMILE

song to the siren,
rose betts

Nobara's arms are slung lazily around your shoulder as you rest with her in the shade under the beech trees. Her expression when asleep is so angelic that it surprises you. The fierce flames bottled up in her raging eyes fall away gently, replaced by a rather melancholic fluttering of her eyelashes. Even her lips, ones that often twist into a sharp, cutting and loose smile, have softened into something neutral. Her body is dotted with bruises and you feel foolish for leaving behind the first-aid kit at the main camp. The most you can do is keep her slumbering away in the shade but when you hear her groan, you realise even that isn't enough.

She'd been retired from the event alongside Mai, who was resting a couple feet away from the two of you. You brush some hairs out of Nobara's face, careful not to wake her up, and yet, she still does.

"I have a splitting headache," She scowls, her palm flying up to her forehead as she shakes her head, back against the rough bark of the large tree. "How long has it been?"

You pause to think, eventually shrugging, "Twenty minutes, I think? I didn't bring my phone with me but I was trying to keep track."

"This is the second time I've been knocked out!" The edges of Nobara's mouth curl with frustration. She pouts, exhaling as she sits up, "Am I retired?"

"Well, you certainly need Ieiri-san to check your injuries," You point to the bruises running along her arms. "It's okay! I'm sure Fushiguro and Itadori will avenge you."

Nobara turns, eyebrow quirking, "And not you? I don't need a man to avenge me, [L/n]. Come on! Avenge me!"

"How? I thought Maki already defeated Mai," You help Nobara to her feet, letting her continue to keep her arm around your shoulder for support.

Her leg bucks in a stumble but she continues, "Miwa Kasumi. She's still out there, right? This is your chance to prove yourself!" Nobara playfully elbows you, "You haven't done anything yet except act as my crutch."

Your lips purse, "I mean... you're not wrong."

The idea makes you a little nauseous. You know that you prepared for this, that you want this, but the unfamiliarity of everything is slowly getting to you. Just the thought of facing this Miwa Kasumi makes all the air in your chest be squeezed out as if you're in God's fist.

Nobara can see the flicker of panic dancing in your eyes, a spark that will never be unlit nor let go, just burning away until it kills all the oxygen in the room.

"Why do you think you're weak?" She says suddenly. It's the Nobara voice, that tone she has that reminds you of a strict teacher. The same tone from back in Harajuku when you first met her, when her syllables could cut you apart.

Her question disrupts the tornado of anxious thoughts in your head. You stop moving, finding your legs growing shaky.

"Sorry... what?" You want to melt into a puddle, just evaporate from this earth.

Nobara's eyes narrow, "Why do you think you're weak? Don't avoid it, [L/n]-san."

Why do you think you're weak?

That question corrodes your bones, burying itself deeper and deeper into your marrow, a twisted nestling of a parasite that thaws your shame and lets it glimmer in the spotlight. Being weak is something that weighs on you, like the chains that Marley carries for all of eternity, shackled to events of the past as you were. The past is everything, it's what became of you. It's where the old you died with your mother.