WHAT MAKES US HUMAN • yuuji itadori

01. bonding time

"we're just out for some daddy-daughter bonding time!"

the woman behind the food stall twirled her hair, a pink blush painting her cheeks. "oh, i'm sure you're a wonderful father!"

satsuki scowled as gojo draped his arm over her shoulder, smiling back at the woman. "see you around!"

satsuki snatched the bag of kikufuku from his hand and dug in, pulling out one of the light green mochi. she nearly dropped it as her phone buzzed in her pocket, sending an unpleasant tingle against her thigh - she kept forgetting to turn off vibrate.

she pulled out the phone from her skirt pocket, which she'd insisted on when sending off her uniform customisation request. her uniform was a normal japanese sailor uniform. the pleated skirt, shirt and too-big knitted jumper were all the usual jujutsu tech dark blue; the bow and trim of the white kansai collar in red.

flicking the phone open, she was immediately greeted by a location notification from megumi. she tilted the screen over to gojo. "this is the high school where that special grade cursed object was, right? he was sent on a mission there?"

"yup. higher-ups are mad at me because it's still missing. maybe we should check it out? more bonding time!"

satsuki rolled her eyes. "sure. whatever."

"great!" gojo clapped his hands together. he grabbed satsuki in a headlock, and in a flash of white, they were both now stood on the roof of an unfamiliar school building.

next to her, on the floor, was megumi.

"what's the situation?"

the streams of darkness circling him dropped and he whirled round. "satsuki? gojo sensei? what are you doing here?"

satsuki held out her phone and shook it in front of his face. "you dropped your location, dummy-"

"i meant gojo."

"i wasn't planning on showing up. but you got kinda roughed up, kid!" gojo said brightly, leaning down so he was also in megumi's face. "i'll show the second years. say cheese!"

he grabbed satsuki's phone and started incessantly snapping photos, megumi shielding his face from the flash. satsuki snatched the phone back, scolding him, "stop using up my storage, idiot!"

as gojo started whining about the higher-ups to megumi (still on the floor), satsuki's attention fell to the other boy on the roof. his pink hair was super cool, but he was also shirtless, so she was more weirded out that admiring. he stood there, blinking and confused.

"so, did ya find it yet?"

"uhhh..." the pink haired boy raised his hand like they were in class. "sorry, but - i ate that thing."

silence.

satsuki leaned forward slightly, tilting her head to the side. her choppy lavender fringe fell slightly over her eye as she peered at the boy. she blinked twice. "hmm?"

"for real?" asked gojo.

"yeah."

"he did."

gojo stepped forward, making various humming noises. now removed from the headlock, satsuki took the chance to sit down, crossing her legs, and dig back into the bag of kikufuku. she pulled one out and held it with both hands, pinkies up, and started eating, still watching the others.

gojo laughed. "damn, it really did combine with you! that's hilarious."

satsuki raised an eyebrow at megumi, who just sighed and shook is head at the ground.