The Strongest | ɢᴏᴊᴏ ꜱᴀᴛᴏʀᴜ

Chapter 16

When the waiter comes with our drinks and the usual bottle of wine, he isn't interrupting silence this time. Instead, he shows up just as Gojo has his head tilted back in a laugh. I told him about Nanami's look every time he gave me the notes Gojo left for him in my name. The look was a priceless mixture of annoyance and pity because Nanami knows full well that I have to put up with Gojo's stupidity as much as he does.

I only grin at my colleague when he laughs and then collects himself to thank the waiter, who is eyeing both of us with an amused smile. He leaves the bottle at our table, so I already know this is going to be another long dinner, even though I promised myself I won't drink so much today. Gojo and I clink our glasses together in a toast, then drink.

"How much do you think we spent on wine alone?" I ask him after my first sip and lick my lips to clean them off the red liquid.

"Don't you mean how much Yaga spent?"

I laugh, nodding. "Touché."

Gojo shrugs. "Probably less than you spent on books today," he says, making fun of me.

"What?" I ask, slightly offended but also playing it off as a joke. "May I remind you of how much that shirt cost that you're wearing?"

"May I remind you of the shoes you're wearing?" The man throws back at me, clearly mocking my tone.

I narrow my eyes at him. And so it starts. Another argument. Once again, I don't know why exactly we're bickering about this. He says I spent too much money on things I don't need, I ask him how he would know what I need and how come ten shirts in the same color is a necessity? He says I'm obsessed with the shirts. I say I am not.

He laughs and says, "You've been nagging me about that ever since we entered the store. What about the shirts to you hate so much? Does it bother you that they're all the same color?"

"Yes," I reply, angry for no real reason. "They're the same color, and they look exactly the same, no matter what you say about stitching or buttons or whatever."

"Then what about your shoes, hm? I could swear you have the exact same pair that you bought today at home."

I fold my arms in front of my chest. "I do not," I hiss at him, trying so hard to keep my voice down, but weirdly enough, I immediately know which shoes he's talking about.

"Oh really?" Gojo asks, provoking me in the way only he can. "I'm pretty sure you have red leather sandals at home. You know which ones I'm talking about. The ones with the straps and the tiny heel?"

"Why do you know what shoes I have at home?"

He tilts his head down so he can look into my eyes again and raises his eyebrows. "I know everything you have in your room, remember? And you know everything I have in mine."

Of course I remember. I had to carry all of his stuff out of my room into the hallway, my stuff out of his room back into mine, and left his things outside his door for him to take care of it himself. Sometimes, I wonder how bored he must have been to even come up with the idea to do this. Did anyone help him, or did he spend hours doing this by himself? I doubt anyone would want to get involved in this.

"That's not the point," I snap back because I'm actually out of things to say.

A smirk is forming on Gojo's lips. He knows that he won. Self-satisfied, he raises his glass of wine and drinks without taking his eyes off of me. I roll my eyes but shift in my seat, a little uncomfortable under his gaze.

"Fine, okay," I give in just to make him stop looking at me like that. "I spend too much money on things I don't need. Got it. But if you know everything I have in my room then you should know that I read a lot and that I use the books I buy."

He nods once and pushes his sunglasses back up his nose. "I do. You have way more books than me."

"I know," is my reply because, of course, I know everything that's in his room.

Gojo smiles. "Right," he only says and nods once more.

Silence falls, and for once, I don't know why. Having dinner with him isn't as uncomfortable today as it was yesterday, so I should have no issue talking to him. But... a lot happened between the two dinners. A lot. I think I'm going to need another night to wrap my head around it, and suddenly, it hits me that I won't get another day here. We're going home tomorrow. This is the last dinner I can have with him alone, not in the cafeteria with the other sorcerers around. And suddenly, I think I'll miss it. I also think I'm losing my mind.

I should be glad to get back. I can see Nanami and Shoko again, and I love talking to Mei Mei whenever she comes around and isn't half-flirting with Gojo. Shoko will probably ask me all about the weekend, about the cursed spirits and my new scar. She'll want to know everything. Nanami will probably give me a single pat on the back and tell me he's glad I'm back and to see that we haven't killed each other. Yaga will say that, too. He'll say he's proud of us, and he'll relish in self-confidence that this mission actually worked out. That thought makes me scrunch my nose.

"I'm almost mad at Yaga for proving me wrong," I say out loud.

Gojo gives me that signature grin of his that makes me roll my eyes. "Why? Because we're getting along now?"

I raise a threatening finger at him, but I have to admit, it takes me a lot of strength to keep my face serious and not smile. "Not if you keep this up."

His laugh is loud, and when I look around to see if anyone is bothered, I realize that we're not bothering anyone by fighting. This is so weird. So, so weird. I'm starting to feel really creeped out and uncomfortable until I turn my head back to look at the man across from me and find him smiling. Blending out everything that happened in the previous weeks and only seeing him like that, it dawns on me that I like him. Like I really like him. What is wrong with me?

"Stop looking at me like that," I snap, my tone contradicting my thoughts. "You look stupid."

"Well, I'm still nothing close to you, though," Gojo retorts and grumpily picks up his glass of wine.