HEART THIEF || JUJUTSU KAISEN

between friends.

"I'm sorry. I went too far, I know. I just— we've always hated people like him, and I wanted to see how far I could push him, just to see whether he could handle himself as well as people say. I thought you'd take my side."

"That was still a shitty move, even for you."

"You can believe that if you want, but you can't deny that you once thought the same."

After everyone reconvened at school, injuries were treated and warm mugs of tea were handed out, the teachers tallied the scores and as Naoko suspected, it was Kyoto's win. The fault was his alone, he didn't manage to hunt down the grade-one curse before Kaede.

"We were playing in terrible conditions anyways." Nanami reasoned, which was ironic because of all of them, he was most unbothered by the loss.

Shoko nodded. She'd played her part well, helping to recover both Zenin brothers and Hiroki. She was exceptional in her own talents, he realized, as all he did was release her behind Kamo and watch as she brought the heel of her foot down on the boy's head.

Shoko may not specifically train to be a fighter, but man , the way Kamo folded like a sheet of paper. Naoko never wanted to get on her bad side.

"Kaede." Akira's voice drew Naoko out of his thoughts as he offered his classmate a spot at their table. Smiling gratefully, she nodded and slipped into the spot next to Naoko and Hanako.

"I'm so sorry about earlier sweetling." Kaede cooed and poked Hanako's cheek. "I promise you were never in any actual danger, will you forgive me?"

Hanako regarded her with wide eyes, thoroughly resembling a nervous kit, but after a reassuring nod from the people around her, she gave a small nod. "Okay."

While everyone took a pretty rough beating, the mood after the first day of their tournament hadn't dimmed. If anything, the flames only burned brighter. It was a game with practically no rules, things were bound to happen, and really that was what made it fun. Even Naoko felt at ease as students from both schools sat together and chatted like they were old friends.

The only absentees he noticed were Gojo and Naoya.

"Do you really care about what he feels? He'll probably brush it off and be fine later." Kaede took a small sip of her soup and eyed Naoko over the rim of her bowl.

Naoko absentmindedly dipped a spoonful of rice into his bowl and brought it to his lips, the salty savoury taste of beef stew tasted a lot better than he felt at the moment.

"Hello? You alive in there?" Kaede waved her hand in his face, but received no response.

"Stick a ball of wasabi in his bowl before he notices." Akira suggested, smiling when Hanako giggled into her hands and Shoko readied her chopsticks.

"I'll shove it up your nose before you can try." Naoko immediately glared, which earned him a ripple of chuckles and an indignant protest from Hanako.

"You can't shove wasabi up somebody's nose!" She scolded him, sounding very much like her aunt. "That would probably make your nose bleed!"

"That's the point." Kaede broke into a hearty laugh when Hanako's eyes widened further. She didn't know whether she admired the older girl or was terrified of her.

Shoko blew some steam from her cup of coffee and smiled across the table. "Hana, when you're older, do you want to come to Tokyo or Kyoto High?"

"If you come to Kyoto, we'll help you kick Tokyo's butt every year." Kaede spoke up.

"Tokyo is where the cool kids are." Shoko countered with a wink. Nanami rolled his eyes.

"You'd have more chances for big missions." Ijichi piped up. "Since you're in the capital and all."