Comfortable Silence | T. INUMAKI

;bonito flakes

BONITO FLAKES (Okaka)
simply means "Disagree, Deny, No".

- ★ -

a few weeks later.

TOGE WAS sitting comfortably on the sidelines while he watches through the training field as Maki training Itadori has almost come to an end.

A few more minutes passed, Yuji was released from agony, he said, and went towards Toge and Nobara.

"Maki-senpai's been too harsh on me lately!" He announced while massaging his nape.

Nobara looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "And I thought she was going easy on me." She chuckled a little then gave him a devilish smirk.

Yuji groaned as he took his water bottle from Nobara and then quickly sat down, clearly tired, as he chugged a lot of water.

Everyone turned their heads when Panda called,
"Toge, Nobara! You know what time it is." He searched for Nobara's stare and unexpectedly winked. You never saw a panda wink.

Nobara groaned, mimicking Yuji's actions after suffering from Maki's training. Left with no choice sadly, she stomped with a sour face on the grass, approaching Panda as Toge followed.

"Do remember Kugisaki, that this is for your training!" Panda reminded her, as she whispered 'ugh!' where Toge can only hear.

"Panda's right, you know..." Shira Mikumo chimed in, with a lovely smile on her face. She ruffled her skirt that has some dirt before she looks back up.

She was so close to Toge. She was right beside him. Toge ignored when he felt that heartbeat going faster.

"Ugh, alright alright." Nobara gave in defeat and walked towards Panda. Toge and Shira backed up and she was on the sidelines, Toge readying his stance to catch the short orange-haired girl.

A few rounds after throwing and catching, Nobara retreated as she claimed she was about to throw up.

More training was recommended by the higher-ups as the Sister-School Goodwill Event of Kyoto and Tokyo Schools are coming soon. Next up was Shira's training on Megumi Fushiguro.

This time, it was about the mastery of cursed tools. Shira has used cursed tools for training and fighting spirits here and there, but there were two of her favorites.

One was full of a cursed-energy-surged tool called brass knuckles. They were indeed small, but with a punch of strong cursed energy use like Shira's, you'd instantly get knocked back down as it would trick you from getting Black Flash.

Shira's second favorite weapon was two small daggers. Similar to brass knuckles, the daggers were small, but strong enough for the one who wields them to instantly knock down an opponent.

Megumi gulped down his nervousness as he knew a Semi 1st-Grade Sorcerer was standing in front of him, choosing from a full box of weapons Panda brought them.

He was nervous because he never fought Shira before. Nor saw how she fights.

"I notice you are always using your Shikigami, Fushiguro." Megumi didn't notice Shira was standing beside him, almost curious about what weapon he would choose. "Using a weapon would be helpful too, yes?" She looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Megumi's eyes were focused on the box of weapons. His hand scanned through them, as he let out a subtle 'Mhm-hm.'

"A katana would be a good choice." Shira took out a katana from the box full of weapons. "It may match with your Shikigami, but of course, we're training without using it today." She handed him the katana.

Megumi after accepting the katana she gave him, started inspecting it, unraveling the sheath that covers the extraordinary blade. As he looked into it further, he noticed that there was a small wolf-shaped shadow on the sheath.

"Tell me if you're ready." Shira took out a pair of daggers and started swinging them from her fingertips. Megumi nodded and readied his stance, expecting something from his senior upperclassman.

Megumi started to attack, while Shira was in her defense mode. He started to get uncomfortable while handling a katana since it was its first time in a while. He felt like Shira was going too easy on him, and he was too ashamed about it.

"Fushiguro, give it all you got!" Six words from her were all he needed when he suddenly sensed a surging cursed energy he thought, but it was motivation.

He never knew his senior upperclassman can motivate him like this.

A few moments later, they fought so fast that their other comrades watching from the sidelines couldn't distinguish what was happening right now. Shira and Megumi fought like they were dancing, not even daring to inflict any wounds on each other. When Shira attacks, Megumi defends. When Megumi attacks, Shira defends.

Maki was visibly impressed. No one ever caught up to Shira before. One of her best characteristics in fighting was her impeccable speed, Fushiguro was almost catching up to her.

Before she would inflict a wound on Megumi, he knocked her down with the handle of his katana. It was all of a sudden, Shira didn't even predict it. It was too late when she realized that she was down on the grass stomach faced down as she felt Megumi's knee on her back. Shira tried to break free, she used her daggers to distract him.

She got back up and saw Megumi getting himself prepared for what was about to come. Before he would do anything else, he saw Shira bowing. He followed after she did, and bowed as well. A little confused, but he got the spirit.

Shira started clapping her hands cheerfully. "Great job, Fushiguro! You've improved." With those words, Megumi sets down his katana as his shoulders fully relax.

"Good reflexes as well," Maki commented.

After a full day of training, everyone went back to the Jujutsu High building to the living room they hang out in to relax.

On the couch, Nobara was on her phone, sharing something with Maki, as she chuckled here and there. Yuji was there as well, secretly peeking behind the couch, looking at both Maki and Nobara's phones. Soon enough, he earned a smack from both of them. Maki's smack hurts a little more than Nobara's.

Toge looked around the room, seeing the group as he was feeding his tuna mayo onigiri to Panda. His eyes narrowed when he saw Megumi and Shira, talking a lot more than usual.

Shira was laughing, how could she possibly sit there laughing so beautifully?

Panda noticed this gesture of his, as he stopped chewing. He sat up but his figure was covering up Toge's view. He didn't notice that his body moved for himself, his head tilted to the side where he can see more of Shira talking to Megumi.

Panda was just sitting there, a little perplexed with what he was witnessing right now. He looked back and saw exactly what he expected to see. Panda smiled a little bit then looked back at Toge, who was still looking.

"What's that, Toge? Are you jealous?" Panda teased him with a big smile on his face.

"Okaka!"