Chapter Text
It was already dark by the time Yuuji left Junpei’s house. Cast Away had been one of the few movies that Gojo had thrown at him that he genuinely enjoyed, but watching it with Junpei had been a different experience. The other teen had been a bit quiet throughout the movie; the only indication that he hadn’t fallen asleep was the slight chuckle Yuuji would hear from him every now and then. Other than that, Junpei seemed to be the type to get extremely engrossed in his movies.
After waving goodbye one last time to his new friend, Yuuji slipped into the passenger seat of Ijichi’s car, leaning back against the leather.
“Thank goodness, you’re okay,” Ijichi sighed in relief, then started the engine up. It wasn’t until Yuuji lost sight of Junpei that he actually paid attention to him. “How did it go, Itadori-kun?”
“Huh? Oh, it was fun. Junpei’s mom makes the best katsu.” Yuuji then added, “I wish she didn’t put green onions in the curry, though. Potato would’ve been better.”
Ijichi didn’t take his eyes off the road, “What’s wrong with green onion?”
“See, the thing is, that was the only thing she put in the curry. No carrots, no potato, no—.”
Yuuji stopped.
Then he took a big whiff of the air in the car.
“Ijichi-san,” Yuuji frowned slightly, his nose still twitching vigorously. “Did the Flyhead bite you or something?”
“N-no?” The car came to a halt at a red light and Ijichi took this moment to stare at him. Yuuji, however, took this as a chance to inspect him closer. “Itadori-kun, please stop smelling me!”
With one last sniff, Yuuji sat back in his seat, deep in thought. “It’s not you... Why does your car smell like blood?”
The confused expression on Ijichi’s face slowly faded. “Oh, right. There must be some of Nanami-san’s blood still in here. I’m sorry; I thought I had managed to clean most of it.”
“Ijichi-san… Did you kill Nanamin?!”
“What the—? How did you come to that conclusion??”
Yuuji immediately went for his phone to call Nanami, and on the third ring, he heard a tired voice answer, “Itadori-kun.”
“Nanamin! Are you alive? Where are you?” Yuuji held out a threatening hand towards Ijichi, who looked close to tears.
There was a pause on the other end, but then Nanami answered, “Yes, Itadori-kun, I am alive. It would be rather impossible for me to be speaking to you if I were not.”
“That’s a relief,” Yuuji sat back in his seat, completely relaxed now. “I thought Ijichi-san killed you!”
“... Why would you think that?”
Ijichi rolled down the windows at that moment, allowing a steady stream of fresh air into the vehicle.
“He said that your blood was in the car, so I thought maybe he finally snapped and he was gonna kill a bunch of sorcerers, starting with y—.”
Ignoring the sputter of “I-Itadori-kun!” from Ijichi from beside him, he heard a quiet sigh from the other end of the line and a vaguely familiar female voice in the background.
“You’re supposed to be resting, Nanami.”
“This will just take a moment.”
At first, Yuuji’s mind went to the gutter. Nanamin was with a woman — and he had just called and probably ruined everything! He was about to apologize when he remembered that they had been on a mission. Supposedly, Nanami had been trying to figure out the location of the cursed spirit that reconstructed those people from the rooftop and the boys from the movie theater. He hadn’t known Nanami very long, but something told him that the ex-salaryman was not the type to mess around on the job. Which meant that Nanami had confronted whatever curse or sorcerer had been behind the human transfiguration.
Yuuji felt something in his chest ache slightly, but it went away quickly. “Nanamin, did you get hurt?”
“Yes,” Nanami answered plainly. “I can explain back at the college, but right now I’m receiving medical treatment from Ieiri-san.”
Yuuji gritted his teeth.
Again. Again. He had barely known Nanami for a few days and he was always treating him like a child. Had he not proven himself against the cursed spirits on the rooftop? His Divergent Fist jujutsu was effective enough, so why did Nanami insist on keeping him away from the fight when he was more than capable of helping?
“Why?” Yuuji asked quietly until his volume rose, causing Ijichi to jump slightly. “I know I’m not a full-fledged sorcerer like you, but I can help, even without Sukuna! Why did you go in alone? I’m your partner on this mission, aren’t I?”
There was barely a beat before Nanami said, “No. You’re a child, Itadori-kun – and I am an adult. Gojo-san asked me to watch over you while we take on some missions, but the fact of the matter is that I am expected to prioritize your safety. I had the choice to put you in danger or go in alone. I chose the latter.”
Yuuji shot back, “Just because you’re an adult, that means you have to go in by yourself and get hurt?”
“It means that I have less to lose than you do,” Nanami explained, his voice not wavering one bit. “I’m doing my job, Itadori-kun. There’s no reason to feel guilty about this.”
But that was it.
Yuuji had sat by the river and talked about movies with Junpei while Nanami was off looking for the cursed spirit. He had been laughing and eating dinner when Nanami had gotten hurt. Despite Nanami’s words, he couldn’t help but feel upset at the idea of the older sorcerer fighting for his life when Yuuji could have done something. He couldn’t stop thinking about how horrible he would have felt if he came back from a peaceful, fun day out only to discover that Nanami had died.
There was a heavy silence in the car and it wasn’t until Nanami spoke up again that Yuuji realized his nails had been digging into his free palm.
“If you’d like, we can discuss this more once you return. Have Ijichi-san stop somewhere on your way back so you can both get some food.”
“I already ate…” Yuuji said, shame bubbling in his gut.
“I see. Either way, there’s no need to rush back. I’ll be in the infirmary. Goodbye, Itadori-kun.”
Once the line disconnected, Yuuji huffed, his fingers gripping his phone tightly. “I don’t get him, Ijichi-san. Am I doing something wrong? I’m pretty strong – I might not have a fancy technique, but…”
Ijichi shook his head. “Nanami-san isn’t one to care about things like that. Even when we were younger, he never did like the tasks that the college would give to us.”
Yuuji looked over at Ijichi curiously. “Oh, right. You and Nanamin are around the same age, huh? Has he always been like this?”
“Ah…” He thought for a moment, making a slow turn onto the sidestreet that would get them back to campus. “He’s always been… blunt. He’s a good man, though, and a skilled sorcerer.”
“I know that. I just wish that he didn’t hold me back because I’m a kid. I’m pretty mature for my age, don’t you think?”
“Well…”
The conversation in the car fell under the quiet rumble of the engine. When looking outside the window, over the hill, Yuuji could see the tops of Jujutsu High’s buildings hiding behind lush greenery. There’s a certain level of calmness that washed over him at the sight. After Yuuji’s grandfather passed away, he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do with himself. Go to school, get a job… those were all options, but in a way, he was almost glad that he got involved in the sorcery world. During the fight with the special grade, he had regretted ever finding Sukuna’s finger, but he was stronger now – he wanted to be stronger now.
Yuuji didn’t want to live with any regrets, and perhaps the reason why he was so upset with Nanami was because he had almost given him one.
Surprisingly, it was Ijichi that broke the silence. “He takes responsibility for you very seriously. Nanami-san does.”
The car came to a stop in front of the school and Yuuji took a moment even after Ijichi had started to take off his seatbelt to blink. It was a bit strange to hear Ijichi of all people trying to defend Nanami, but it spoke to how much he seemed to respect the older sorcerer.
“So if you can… don’t be too upset with him, Itadori-kun,” he gave Yuuji a nervous smile.
Instead of replying, Yuuji looked back towards the college. A few moments went by and it wasn’t until Ijichi fidgeted in his seat that he made to leave the car.
“Let’s go, Ijichi-san! You're gonna have to lead the way, because I don’t remember where the infirmary is.”