Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto XI - Bittersweet Memory

Gabriele lived most of his life in Rome, the eternal city but seldomly he ever felt as small and constricted as he was right now here in Tokyo. He found himself more often than not staring at the skyscrapers as he and Nobara were approaching the site of the mall after Ijichi dropped them and Yuji off in town. Although she had lost the bet back at the baseball match, the exorcist must have felt extremely generous when he granted her the victory since she would have won in normal circumstances. He was happy about it too, the past five days were very tiresome as he went forward with the investigations regarding the mole. So far, the only piece of evidence they gathered was a statement the special-grade cursed spirit Mahito had given him:

"Send my regards to our mutual friend, Exorcist. Sure you two met to an extent, even though he hardly leaves his room."

He might have probably referred to Sukuna, being secluded in the "room" that is his vessel, Itadori Yuuji, but this connection made him turn up his nose, it simply made no sense. Gabriele voiced his concern with Gojou, they were back to the starting point at least here in Tokyo, nowhere near to even taking the first step towards the solution, and most important of all, he was in dire need of some time off. Luckily for him, the first-years had concluded their mission at the Yasohachi bridge, plus another top-secret one, and they too were looking forward to a break.

Nobara slurped down on her boba tea, thus interrupting the young man's train of thought. "Could you be any louder?" He complained, she kept on for a few seconds before letting out a satisfied sigh.

"It just tastes that much better when somebody else pays for it." Gabriele rolled his eyes and looked at his surroundings mesmerized, with its billions of lights and billboards of any kind, bet the view on top of that gigantic Ferris wheel in Odaiba he read about in his pamphlet must be truly eye-opening, something to lose yourself in. Speaking of losing yourself, the foreigner snapped his head left and right and left again, no dumbass with pink hair in sight.

"Where did Itadori go?"

"I don't know, he said he wanted to watch a movie together. Knowing Itadori, he went to buy some snacks to smuggle into the theater."

The exorcist nodded, that sounds like him alright. The two finally entered the mall, needless to say, this place was huge, bigger than any shopping center he had been to in his life. Nobara mentioned something about trying a new product from Givenchy first, a question grew spontaneously in his mind. "Why did you want me, of all people, to accompany you here?" He asked her. The girl looked at him as if he was crazy as they got up to the escalators.

"I don't need help with the Givenchy product, if that's what you're asking," Nobara responded, "but I also wanted to check some stores and perhaps get a couple of clothes, so I need a judge with a keen eye."

"You want me as a judge?"

"Maki's busy, and you're by far the boy with the best taste in clothing, I mean..." She gestured at him, specifically at what he was wearing. The exorcist sported a black and gray flannel jacket on top of an off-white turtleneck sweater, of which he was particularly fond since it concealed the bandages and thus turned all the stares he would otherwise get away. Khaki pants and some high-top shoes completed his look, nothing exceptional in terms of looks but compared to her cute yet plain school uniform she felt underdressed. Once they got off the escalator, they paced toward the map of the mall's second floor, a glance at it revealed the location of the store was just two corners away from where they were standing, not even two minutes and they were right in front of it.

"It won't take too long, just stay here." Nobara said before going inside the store, giving Gabriele the half-empty cup and leaving him to his own devices. The teenager begrudgingly leaned against the wall thinking of how to entertain himself in the meantime. Many people passed by him, he received some sympathetic looks from the older men, some middle schoolers giggled behind their hands, and a dog came to his leg demanding to be petted before the owner yanked him back to her side.