THE WHITE DRAGON┊ jujutsu kaisen

Chapter 6: A Meaningful Conversation

         The garden was a space Inumaki liked to escape to quietly. Rarely did anyone else come here and if they had, there were plenty of spaces to still feel rather alone in. His favorite place, the koi pond surrounded by stones of all shapes and sizes. There he could sit peacefully and watch the fish swim their same circles day in and day out.

        He sat along the edge, on a stone large enough to support his weight. The afternoon sun would soon set and the heat from the pouring rays of light would lessen considerably. At his fingertips, he leaned slightly to pick up a small pebble as he flicked it across the pond's surface, lightly it skipped until finally sinking below.

       In solitude, he was contempt to stay this way for a bit longer— that is until the rest of his classmates settled down. He leaned back, resting the weight of his body into the palms of his hands as he closed his eyes. With his head held up, he let the sun pour over him quietly.

       That is until he faintly heard the snap of a twig. It was almost inaudible, but was there. He kept his eyes shut but keened his senses for any other signs. Nothing else came, no other noises or rustling of animals that could be scampering in any which direction. All he felt was the tranquil serenity of the garden, a silken and buttery sensation that wrapped around his entire soul.

       Unable to sense any reason to be threatened, he opened his eyes and looked around— almost jumping in place. To his right, on the grass, there was indeed a visitor who had joined. It was someone in high demand recently. Inumaki almost couldn't believe the sight before him as he blinked twice. However, the sight remained unchanged.

      Haku sat in the grass, coat forgone in exchange for sturdy wrapping that went around the entirety of the torso. A thick bandaging job usually reserved for severely sustained injuries. As if Haku could feel Inumaki's gaze, a head turn seemed to be the only offered greeting. The two locked eyes but no other exchange.

       Inumaki took another look at the heavy bandaging, "Takana?" he mumbled hesitantly, unsure if he should engage in conversation.

        Haku continued to stare at the boy, eyes glassine and with a gaze that seemed to be elsewhere but that moment. It was already a large stretch for Inumaki, so he remained silent as well. He returned to focusing his attention on the pond ahead. If the company was like this, he didn't mind sharing a portion of space for the time being. It was rare for him to stumble upon someone who spoke even less than he did.

         He picked up more stones to skip as he recalled the earlier conversation with the rest of the classmates against his will since the subject sat not too far away from him. Even he couldn't help but laugh quietly since it seemed he knew an answer no one else had, despite him not even trying to go out of his way to attain it— flatter than a board.

         "The walking hazard wasn't lying. You really only say onigiri ingredients."

          Inumaki was just about to flick another stone when his hand stopped suddenly as he whipped his head sideways to find Haku looking out across the pond. His eyes widened in shock, believing he may be the first to have heard Haku speak. Yet, no one stiller than a statue, much less after speaking.

         "Sujiko?"

         "Maybe talking to you is worth something after all?" Haku quietly whispered, feeling the blades of grass as they tickled the fingertips.

          "Tuna Mayo."

           Haku shrugged, leaning back to lay all the way down, staring up at the sky, "I didn't want to live."

           As puzzled as he was, Inumaki couldn't believe he was sitting here listening to someone who had previously not said anything, much less moved, without provocation. Now, it felt normal to sit beside one another and listen to anything Haku had to say. It felt like a once in a lifetime chance.

         "Coming to a place like this, I've never wanted something to end so badly before. I want to go home, see my family. Go to school where I'd trip down the stairs, forget my homework, run face first into a pole, get a paper cut on my notebook," Haku's quiet whisper picked up in volume, though there were small quavers in tone every now and then.

         Inumaki listened, every word, every breath, every slight shake in intonation. He heard it all, and he knew that this would become something deeply troubling. Perhaps it's slipping out absentmindedly since it seemed Haku hadn't spoke to anyone for quite some time. It could be the floodgates finally opening after denying the raging river of emotions for an uncertain amount of time.

         "Those are the struggles I want, the unfortunate situations I would rather be in," a tear rolled down slowly as Haku's mouth turned up slightly in what resembled closest to a smile.

          But if it was a smile it was anything beside happiness.

         "I don't want to live if it means that this will become my present and my future. If it means I don't have a family that remembers me anymore. Where I'm forced to relive the situations I have night terrors about every time I try to rest, or even if I'm just standing peacefully. My mind won't let me forget so easily the vivid feeling of my skin scrapping against the ground as it pulled with little resistance. Today I was forced to see them again...with Okkotsu. There were so many of them..."

         "Sleep."

         Haku had been babbling without a care to even take notice of the surroundings anymore. Not even to register Inumaki had gotten up to walk over and crouch beside as he pulled down his collar to utter the soft command.

        Just as peaceful as Haku had been before, against the grass and low afternoon sun with closed eyes, Haku had entered into a forced deep sleep. It wasn't that Inumaki was tired of listening, he did it because he could see that shaky words had turned into fidgeting fingers and beads of sweat forming against the forehead of Haku. Even the words being spoken were increasing in pace, if Inumaki hadn't done something, it was highly likely for things to go south.

       His first conversation with the new student and it ended with him being completely wrong from earlier.