Flights of Fancy [JJK Reader Insert]

Chapter 8: Somewhere to Grow

"Are you watching, Rika...?!"

"Yes!"

Your grin strained, trying to keep up with the ball you kicked in the air.

"You also...better be watching, Yuta!" You shouted, seeing him standing next to Rika out of the corner of your eye. "... I'm...only showing you once...!"

"I'm watching!" He shouted back.

The ball was kicked back up, sometimes a little higher than usual, so you could reset yourself when your energy waned. When you were tired enough, you let the ball sit on your shoe and roll off onto the grass.

"Like that," you heaved slightly, trying to adjust your breath back to normal. You could see Rika's impressed smile, and you had to force yourself not to look away. It wasn't fair that she looked so cute like that.

You rolled the ball close to Yuta, "Now you try."

The boy blanched a little but got closer to the ball to have the side of his shoe nudge it. "You just need to be calm and think fast," you told him, watching as he rolled the black and white ball under his shoe now, "Don't freak out when you mess up. Just keep the ball close to where your feet are."

"I'm not going to be good at this," he mumbled dejectedly.

You sighed.

"Maybe not as good as I am right now," his frown deepened, "but you can get better if you practice. That's why you need to try now, so you can learn faster and get better soon. Now remember, feet like this..."

As you manually shifted Yuta's legs into place, you could feel his stare on the side of your face prompting you to look up and huff out. "What?"

He smiled at you, not in that sheepish, wary way he normally would, but more softly and thankfully.

"Thanks again for teaching me, [Name]."

It had you hesitating until you grunted it off and stood back up from your crouch. "Well...yeah...we're family, so I'm supposed to share stuff like this with you... This isn't anything special..."

"Then I'm glad you're part of my family," he said, and you scowled at him, a little embarrassed by how forthcoming he suddenly became.

"Yeah...! Whatever...just...kick the dumb ball up already!"

===×

You slept an extra twenty minutes before getting out of bed. Gojo had texted everyone in the group chat, Fushiguro and yourself, and the new addition of Yuji, that your group would depart at around ten o'clock. That left you to take it pretty slow for an hour before you needed to get ready.

But first thing first--you needed to leave Ellena's letter in the mailbox.

So, you took the letter and shuffled out of the room, finding a slight surprise at the door that opened at the end of the hall.

"Mornin', [Name]," Yuji greeted upon noticing you.

He looked to be more invigorated this morning than you were.

"Mornin'," you mumbled back, fighting off a yawn.

Fushiguro wouldn't be out of his room until another hour, so you shouldn't expect to bump into him until then.

You rubbed one of your waking eyes and began to head down toward the open hall.

A door closed as quietly and quickly as you could tell before footsteps drew near until Yuji's bright hair and face came into view again.