【月が綺麗ですね】
tsuki ga kirei desu ne
"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" - a Japanese phrase used to mean I love you.
A boy with a curse meets a girl with the power to end or save the jujutsu world. Through bloodshed, trauma, and broken promises, w...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It was cold today. The type of cold that made you want to bury your feet under a heavy blanket to protect your freezing toes and made your fingers so numb that you could barely feel them at all.
Cold. That's how she felt buried under the chunks of rubble with white noise filling her ears and body aching so badly that even keeping her eyes open was a challenge. Soaked in her own blood, skin painted black and blue from her injuries, bare feet burning from stepping on the rough stone ground, she had been the walking embodiment of her Shinigami title.
She snuggled more into the soft blanket draped around her body and violet-blue eyes shifted to her friends who were all laid about watching the random movie they threw on about some rat that wanted to learn how to cook.
She had seen mangled-up bodies, severed limbs, and rotting corpses in her years working as a jujutsu sorcerer but none of it compared to seeing her friends, covered in their own blood, on the ground while the sounds of battle continued to wage on and the doors of death screamed at her to pass through. She'd remember that image of their unconscious bodies laying strewn on the ground like rag dolls for the rest of her life. The hysteria induced by a bombardment of positive energy from the excessive overuse of her reverse cursed technique had been the only thing keeping her going.
Maki rubbed at her leg sometimes, as if recalling how it had been bent and twisted so unnaturally during her attempt at fighting Geto Suguru, and made Hiyori train with her every morning at the crack of dawn.
Toge requested Hiyori to order books for him, all on remedies to soothe aching throats, and she watched him study them religiously. There was always a small bulge in his pocket from the small vial of throat medicine he carried with him where ever he went now.
Panda practiced his hand-to-hand combat until all the punching bags and thick, wooden martial arts practice dummies the school owned broke.
Yuta fought with newfound determination every training session and requested an extra hour after hour every time she did private training with him. His mastery over his cursed technique was growing exponentially to the point Tsuki coined him a prodigy. He may be a fourth-grade sorcerer now after his demotion but that wouldn't last long.
Hiyori practiced her swordsmanship until her hands ached and were covered in blisters that hurt when she soaked them in warm water. She had every damn page she could read in that book of hers memorized and practiced using reverse cursed technique with Shoko whenever the older woman wasn't busy.
Everyone was focused on getting stronger so nothing like that would ever happen again. So none of them would feel as powerless as they did that day with death looming over them. But that didn't mean they weren't trying their best to recover either.
In the mornings when Hiyori woke up first, Panda wandered into the kitchen under the guise of sneaking bites of whatever food she was cooking even though he had no need to eat. He'd sprawled out on a chair to soak in the glow of the morning sun which meant they truly had lived to see another day while listening to the sounds of her working in the kitchen.
In the late afternoon, Hiyori watered flowers with Toge who confided to her about his recurring nightmares of when he used the last of his cursed energy to shout at Yuta to run without having a clue that Geto Suguru had planned to spare them all, except Yuta and possibly Maki, simply because they were sorcerers.
Some nights, while Hiyori lay awake in her bed, Maki would wander into her room and lay down on the futon always set out on Hiyori's floor for her. She always searched for Hiyori's hand to hold in the dark in a bid to anchor in the fact that she was indeed still alive even after the brutal beating Suguru gave her.
Most nights, Hiyori wandered down the corridors until she reached Yuta's room. The two of them huddled under his blankets together to star gaze through his large dorm windows that gave a brilliant view of the night sky. They'd talk about everything and nothing depending on how they felt.
She taught him how to move on and continue living.
He taught her that sometimes a safe place didn't have to be an actual place.
They made new traditions they followed like routine nights where they hung out together to watch movies or something. Tonight was one of those nights. Their other new tradition was their shared dinners.
Not once did the first-years miss out on a dinner together even if they were all busy with their own missions and other tasks. Sitting around the table for dinner was the only constant they had in this world full of inconsistencies. Murmured chatter over hot plates of home-cooked food that soothed their souls and reminded them they were still together...still all alive.
"There's no way this isn't a safety hazard. Just cause the rat washed his hands doesn't mean it washed the disease in its body away" Maki mumbled, shoveling more caramel popcorn into her mouth.
"Panda cooks though" Yuta pointed out, earning a frown from Panda.
"Panda is clean! I'm not a disease-riddled rat! Pandas are clean and soft!" Panda guffawed, unable to believe what Yuta just said. Hiyori chuckled while patting Toge who curled up beside her to get some more warmth from the blanket she was using.
"Do you even take baths?" Maki asked, leaning back so the back of her head rested against Hiyori's legs. Toge took some popcorn from her bowl and shoved it in his mouth.
"Of course I take baths! I'm not an animal!" Panda shouted, drowning out the intense argument two of the movie characters were having. The others exchanged unbelieving looks that only made Panda more upset.
"I DO!"
"Mhmmmm" Maki said while Toge mumbled an "okaka" that told Panda he didn't believe the cursed puppet either. Yuta laughed and reached for his cup of soda on the coffee table while making sure not to accidentally tip over the bowl of popcorn on his lap. Hiyori took his cup and handed it to him. He shot her a grateful smile and she smiled in return before she leaned against him. Yuta stiffened and a faint blush dusted his cheeks while he watched Hiyori take a piece of buttery popcorn from his popcorn bowl and pop it into her mouth. He timidly leaned against her and basked in the comfort of her so close to him. Hiyori hummed and turned back to look at the movie playing on the television screen.
It would all get better with time. Maybe the trauma from that day would never truly fade away but that didn't mean they couldn't move on from it. It'd just take time.
