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Chapter Text

“Oh and Nanamin?” Gojo stopped and turned to face him, “Try and be a little nicer with him, alright? He’s had a rough past month and well- he’s just a kid” he then proceeded to smile softly, no trace of teasing or prank plotting, just a genuine smile.  

He remembers vividly the words Gojo had told him before taking Itadori on a mission for the very first time, and those words always made their way back into his mind when he was impressed by the kid in any way.

“Itadori-Kun” the golden boy looked at him, “I can sense more than one shadow in the hallway, so please walk in front of me, I’ll keep an eye out behind us while you make the way” he nodded and followed Nanami’s orders. He was obedient… sometimes, but since they had that heart-to-heart in the mortuary, he started to listen more, he was becoming less reckless, a little more observing of his surroundings, still restless to fight, but… He was improving, growing.

And it would have been a lie if Nanami said he wasn’t proud of him.

“There’s a curse waiting at that intersection” he didn’t point, but Nanami understood, “And one behind me to the right, don’t turn to look” the boy with the pink hair kept walking forward, “They must have planned an ambush, It’s likely that there are more we can’t see for now. Let’s try and avoid getting separated, fighting back to back will minimize the area we will have to look out for” he nodded again, and as soon as they reached the intersection, Yuuji sprang on the curse before it could do the opposite, Nanami turned and awaited the one following them to jump him too. 

“I still need to teach to the other two first years, and Ijichi is quite the busy bee, soo…” he rolled his head to face Nanami, who, feeling what was coming, instantly shut him off: “No I will not look after him” but no conversation was this easy with Gojo, “Then what about te- “ 

“If I had wanted to be a teacher I would have asked to, but I didn’t because I don’t want to teach” the strong sorcerer sat up from his sprawled position and sighed, “Can you at least bring him on missions with you? He’s not going to be an obstacle, and you can get him to do most of the work!” Nanami glanced at the other man, “Why are you so desperate to dump him on other people? Frankly, It’s disrespectful” Gojo made a questioning noise as Nanami pushed his glasses up, “I’m not trying to get rid of him - unlike the higher-ups - I want him to get stronger, but I have to teach and go on missions to avoid suspicions. If he would train at least half of the time I wasn't with him it would speed up the process. Not that we have a lot of time in the first place” he huffed out, falling back against the couch, pouting. 

“I’m not asking you to bring him with you on every mission - even if it would be amazing - just every other, I’m not asking you to babysit him. If he gets hurt just drop him off at Ieiri… Please, Nanamin?” The sound of the beg made him look at the blindfolded man, even with the fabric and glasses in the way, the stare was intense, and something inside Kento - surely it wasn't his rational brain - told him to accept. 

And he did.

He sighed, “You owe me for this”, the other sorcerer smiled, “Sure, but I know you secretly enjoy mentoring him”

The curse finally lunged forward and basically threw itself on his blade, he just needed to move it slightly to hit the spot. Behind him something collided with the wall, the inhuman sound it made reassured him that it wasn't Yuuji. 

“Nanami-San! Above us!” he looked up to see a big mouth descending, and as he was about to move to fight it, another curse popped up behind the boy, “It’s yours” he gripped the handle and walked past Itadori, who was already looking for a way to damage the threat hanging from the ceiling. 

He’d never admit it out loud, surely not in front of that dumbass, but yes, he was right: Nanami felt somewhat… Satisfied, from coaching Itadori.

He was a pretty blank canvas, willing to soak up any information tip or trick, and Nanami - after the initial annoyance of having to explain - felt satisfaction in seeing him apply those lessons. 

After easily slicing the curse, he turned to see a big revolting tongue trying to sweep into his mouth the pink-haired boy, he checked to see that the coast was cleared and cut off the muscle, making the curse scream in pain and anger since all of a sudden, arms (definitely more than two) and legs grew from the walls. “Wait- didn't Ijichi say there was a rumour saying someone got walled alive in here?” the boy slowly walked back, “I thought it was a baseless rumour but…” Nanami doing the same, “It must have been born from the terror and anger of the victim: this is the unidentified grade one we’re after” he heard Yuuji gulp down air as the hands started searching for them, “To exorcise it we need the main body, chipping down his limbs should force him to come out. Don't waste too much energy on them” the boy made a noise of agreement and started punching the arms, Nanami wasted no time, doing the same.

“Hey, Nanami-San, Gojo sensei isn't… Forcing you to take me with you, isn't he?” He had asked on the car ride to a past mission’s cursed place, a curtain wasn't needed that day, so Ijichi didn't accompany them, he was driving this time.“I appreciate the concern Itadori-Kun, but no matter how stronger than me Gojo is, he cannot force me to do anything” having the boy in the passenger seat constantly either moving or fidgeting was making him irritated, but he kept starting forward, “I can assure you that It was my choice to bring you on missions with me”.

From the corner of his eyes, he could notice Itadori perking up at his words, “Really? Wait– does that mean you like my company?” 

I do, and we make quite the team on the field, don't we?

“Don't get ahead of yourself, I get assigned to missions that you should be able to handle. And if things get out of hand it is certified that I can finish off the curse and get you out of trouble, it was simply the most convenient and safe way to train you” the smile instantly faded away, and now Nanami felt bad. 

He adjusted his glasses, “... Although, monitoring your strength and ability increase has been… Rewarding” and the first year beamed at what was the maximum compliment he could ever get from Nanami…

For now, at least.

The limbs vanished as they chopped them off, but the curse wasn't budging, “Nanami-San! This isn't working!” Itadori had stopped attacking, he had noticed as well, “He must be hiding his weak point” with a firm flick of the wrist, he cleaned his weapon of all the blood, making it drip on the ground

As much as he hated it, the best idea was to split up and look for it, maybe, taking one of them at a time would make the curse cockier, and reveal his weak spot.

“Let’s split, if you find any clue or need help don’t hesitate to shout” Nanami instantly turned and started walking away, dodging some of the limbs that attempted to hurt him.

They were sitting face to face in two separate hospital recliners, Itadori was patting with a cotton ball full of oxygenated water a deep cut on his forehead meanwhile Nanami placed aside the towel he was keeping his own injury covered with, Ieiri-San already treating it. There had been a heavy silence since they entered the room, Nanami asking that Itadori would be treated first even if he was obviously the one in more pain. 

“I should have been more careful… I’m sorry” he looked up at the boy with the eyes of a beaten puppy, Nanami had to restrain himself from dropping his serious façade, but he needed to be firm.

“Thinking about what you could or couldn’t have done, won’t get you anywhere, Itadori-Kun” He removed his glasses as Ieiri shifted next to him, looking straight at the boy, “What you can do is realize your mistake, and avoid repeating it in the future”. 

He thought he had gotten his point across, but Yuuji was still staring at Nanami’s wound, “But you got hurt… because of me… badly” 

it took him a lot of willpower not to sigh and snap at him, so he swallowed the urge, “As you are aware, my job is to also make sure you don’t get hurt, so these… occasions, are to be expected from time to time” 

You saved my life, and you won’t even allow me to take a light hit for you without blaming yourself?

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Ieiri-San intervened. “You’re good to go Itadori and someone is waiting outside, please tell them to come and exit from the backdoor, I’m almost finished with Nanami” He looked up at the man with those puppy eyes and cute sad pout and hopped off the bed, making space for another injured sorcerer.

It had taken Ieiri more than she thought to finish off Nanami due to the poisonous after-effect of the hits the curse left behind: they had come in late, but now it was dark outside. 

He walked out of the clinic to find the pink-haired boy sitting in one of the waiting room’s chairs, hoodie covering his face and head tilted to the side. sleeping: the exhaustion must have gotten to him. Sukuna’s mouth was open and babbling on the cheek he wasn’t covering with his hand. 

“Oh hey 7:3 man, you missed the brat wallowing in sadness and crying like a high school girl, it was pretty entertaining” Hearing the king of curses talking down on the boy never failed to make his blood boil, Itadori had cried because Nanami had got injured, and it wasn’t anything life-threatening!

“Go away” he softly spoke as he approached the sleeping figure and, with what strength he had recovered, picked up the boy. “Wowowo! What are you doing blondie? Put us down!” he immediately shouted, Nanami was surprised Itadori didn’t budge, but then again, he must have been pretty tired, “Us? This is about Itadori, not you, now go away” Sukuna must have recognized the path back to Itadori’s temporary dorms, and picked up the hint of anger in Nanami’s voice, “Oh? So you do care for the brat! Man, and I thought you just pretended to like him… fools, both of you” and the horrid mouth vanished, leaving him in silence as the soft breathing of the sleeping boy and his footsteps became the loudest sounds. As he arrived in Itadori’s temporary room, he took off his shoes and placed him on the bed, covering him with a blanket. 

He quietly closed the door and was internally debating if leaving him a message would be a good idea when Gojo turned the corner, instantly noticing Nanami.

He braced himself for whatever teasing he was in for, but the teacher simply walked past him, with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. It made him self-conscious, and therefore his face reddened.

He had been walking for a few minutes when two hands appeared in front and behind him, trapping him in, especially when a mouth appeared above him. 

He sliced the one behind him and started retreating, when at one point one eye appeared next to the mouth on the ceiling, and he instantly knew that was the weak spot.

Two more hands joined the three and they were all working on mobilizing him, he quickly evaded to the side and sliced another, pointlessly, since another spawned in its place.

The ceiling was too high for him to reach, and throwing his blade at it was recklessly stupid, so as he kept dodging, not bothering to fight back, he planned a solution. 

The curse probably wanted to consume him, so he would use its hands to bring him up to the mouth… so the only way to go up was…

He dodged closer and closer to the mouth until a hand curled up in a fist, and before it could hit him, he sliced away the finger, forcing the palm open, and before the curse realized his plan, he jumped on said hand and finally hit its eye.

At first, nothing happened, the hands kept attacking him and he could even feel more cursed energy flowing through them, but out of nowhere, a blood-freezing scream interrupted the relative silence wrapping around the abandoned building. In an instant, all cursed energy vanished. 

He hypothesized that, just like he thought, the curse had revealed his weak point by splitting up, and that Itadori must have exorcised it. On this train of thoughts, he started walking back, occasionally half-shouting an “Itadori-Kun?” without getting a reply. 

It was a few minutes later that his phone started vibrating in his pocket: It was Ijichi.

“Itadori-Kun has exorcised the target, he’s currently here at the entrance of the curtain with me, but…” He unconsciously started walking faster, “Is he hurt?”, a shaky breath came from the other side, “No, he was stressing me to call you because he couldn’t find you, but I assume that you are alright?” He hummed, “I have been called from the school that I’m needed on the other side of town soon, is it ok if I leave you two here and come pick you up later?” 

So right after a mission, they had to wander around town? Perfect…

“The sooner you go, the quicker you are to come back..?” Ijichi’s answer was positive, “Then go, I’ll be there soon” he faintly heard the boy’s voice in the background, the manager sighed, “All right, I apologize for the inconvenience” and hung up. Nanami had finally found the stairs to reach the bottom floor as he felt the curtain above him disappear.

Itadori was waiting for him at the entrance of the construction site, leaning on the door. “Ijichi-San was called to assist Megumi and Nobara on a mission” he looked at the ground, “I hope they don’t get hurt…” He missed them, it was obvious, and whenever anyone would mention them, his mood would drop underneath the floor. 

“I’m sure they will be fine. Did you exorcise the curse?” Nanami passed him and the boy pushed away from the support to follow him, “Yeah, you were right, as soon as we split up it revealed its eye, I punched it, and after five minutes or so, the main body just dropped out of the ceiling” So the two eyes were the weak points, and as soon as Nanami hit the second, the curse was done for. “Good job, especially for coming out of it with nothing but a few bruises” he looked at the spots of his uniform that were whitened by the dust littering the place, “He grabbed me once, but I managed to break free” he ruffled his hair, shoving the other hand in his pocket.

As soon as Nanami hid inside his jacket his trusty weapon, a rumble came from Itadori’s stomach. The boy instantly blushed, “S-sorry… I'm kinda hungry” and smiled.

This was constant with Sukuna’s vessel: he would always be hungry after a mission. Most of the time, they would simply split up: Ichiji driving him back to his apartment and then head off to the school grounds, Gojo had apparently supplied him with a small stash of snacks and instant noodles for these occasions.

But this time, they had time, he had nowhere to go and neither did Itadori, and the boy had carried the mission on his shoulder like a champ, so…

“I know a good noodle place not too far away, let’s go” and he started off in that direction, stopping shortly after as he noticed Itadori wasn't following, staring wide-eyed. “I'm quite hungry myself, so if you would hurry…” and as if the boy simply needed confirmation that he really heard Nanami offer him lunch, he beamed and caught up immediately, “Thank you, Nanami-San!” the smile brighter than a thousand suns blessed the sorcerer's eyes, and he allowed a small kind smile of his own to slip through the facade, “You’ve earned it”.

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They walked for probably fifteen minutes in complete silence, the boy walking with his hands in his pocket silently following Nanami. Once they sat down, he sighed, “My stomach is demanding food… ” and they ordered. Nanami was already working on the report of the missions while Yuuji sat in silence. The food arrived and they didn’t speak either, when the boy ordered his second bowl, it was then that the silence was broken. 

“Do you think that when we tell them I didn’t die, they’ll hate me?” the question was quite out of nowhere, so Nanami took moment to elaborate it, “It could take them a while to readjust to having you around. But why would they hate you?” the boy used his fist to support his head, “I did lie to them… and I made them suffer because of my supposed death. They would have every right to hate me” he pouted. This boy was too emotional sometimes: “Itadori-Kun, we can’t predict how they’ll react, but if they cared about you, they’ll be happy about you being alive independently from the lie” his food arrived and he dug in, “Plus, once you explain that it was the only way to avoid the higher-ups…” he cringed when Gojo had told him that they had sent three first years against a special grade curse endangering all of them to purposely kill one. “They will understand”.

Those words seemed to pacify Itadori a little, silence fell again as one ate and the other looked around.

It was noble to see the boy worrying about people that were ignorant of his life at the moment, working hard to impress them once he would back a comeback. Because yes, whenever he did something ‘Cool’ or ‘Impressive’, he would always comment something like: “Yo! Megumi would be impressed by that!” or, “Man, Nobara’s technique would have been a great follow up! Can’t wait to tell her about this combo!”, and on and on and on. Itadori’s thoughts were always on them: he was getting stronger for them . 

And this was so cute. 

Naive, but very cute.

Cute, but it hid his true feelings.

Itadori missed them, he missed interacting with his peers, and this was taking a toll on his mental health: he wasn’t straight out depressed, but he laughed less, his smiles were more fake than real and his off-times between training and missions reminded him of this loneliness. Of course, Gojo kept him company when he could, but the man already had a busy schedule before, and now it was even messier. 

“What’ya thinking Na-Na-Min~?” he tilted his head and giggled, the blonde sighed. Although, Gojo was a bad influence on him. “I already told you to not call me that”

He needed another adult to look up to, more mature, more responsible, one that could show him that pranks and jokes weren’t everything in the world.  

“Sorry! Won’t do it again” he shook his hands, “But seriously, you look lost in thoughts, what’s up?” he brought a chopstick-full of noodles to his mouth. Nanami weighted whether share his thought, and finally spoke, “Have you ever gone to a museum?” Itadori stopped the slurping, “Once with the school” speaking with his mouth full, Kento didn’t comment on that, “Would you like to go see one with me?”.

Spending time with co-workers in his free time was something he avoided, just like he avoided working overtime. But spending some casual time with Itadori outside of the school was not only a way to lift the boy’s spirit, but a way to show him that… Nanami cared, more than he let on. 

The question had left Yuuji speechless– or well, mouth wide open full of ramen, staring baffled at the adult. “Please close your mouth, Itadori-Kun” and then he remembered to chew and swallow. “Wouldn’t it be a problem? I’m supposed to be dead!” Nanami shook his head, “I assure you it would not cause any trouble, Sourcerers have little free time, and they definitely don’t spend it in museums”, Yuuji was still speechless, “But.. I don’t–” The man pushed up his glasses, crossing his legs, “If you don’t want to, there is no shame in declining, Itadori-Kun” The pink-haired boy leaned a bit forward, “NO No no! Absolutely, I’d be honoured! I’m just…” he rubbed the back of his head, then smiled up at him, “Surprised that you’d be willing to spend your free time with me”. Nanami was glad his glasses covered most of his baffled expression, did this boy really think he hated him?

“I just think you need a proper adult in your life since Gojo-San is more similar to a child” It was his nature to respond coldly and logically, but this time Itadori saw the warmth beneath the iceberg, and smiled, “Sure! Although you need to pick a place since I don’t know any museum apart from the Studio Ghibli one” he shyly smiled, making Nanami scoff, “I was going to pick anyway” and his phone rang. 

It was Ijichi.

“Gojo-San has… imposed more than asked, that you and Itadori-Kun go check out an abandoned park on —--------- Street. A grade one plus a grade two fled there recently. I’m on my way to pick you up, can you send me your location?”  

Damn you, Gojo, he sighed. “Yes, I will” Itadori wiped his mouth, as he hung up, “We’ve been assigned with another mission, get up, Ijichi-San is coming to get us” and as he got up, the boy followed suit.

Good thing they had both recovered some of their strength, and that the previous mission hadn’t drained them.

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But this one had.

Both curses were pissed , mad pisse d, and their attacks were erratic, full of rage and random, giving Nanami a little bit of problem: Itadori did most of the work. 

But not like that time where they fought patchwork face where Nanami mobilized and Itadori hit– Nanami was genuinely useless against these curses: it would have taken him hours to go up against them alone.

His technique was a bad match-up, and their random attack pattern made it difficult for his rational mind to predict them, he got hit once on the arm (the one he wields his weapon with) and Itadori took over, punching his way through. 

And that’s how they ended up here: Ijichi driving, Nanami in the passenger seat and Itadori sleeping in the backseat. A tiny bit of drool decorated his chin.

“I have a feeling he did it on purpose” the assistant manager was also tired– but then again when wasn’t he. “It’s likely, and while he did get Itadori-Kun to do most of the work, it drained him. He still doesn’t have perfect control over his cursed energy” It irritated him that Gojo made him feel useless on purpose to make Yuuji grow. He was gonna have to scold the dumbass once he saw him.

They arrived in front of the boy’s temporary dorm, but he was still asleep. “Should I wake him up?” both of the men looked in the back, whispering to each other, “No, he needs the rest”. Nanami got out and walked around the car, opening the door and unbuckling Itadori, “A-are you sure..?” it was a rhetoric question because, with a little effort, Nanami picked him up and walked into the building, Ijichi got out as well to close the door and walk ahead to open the one for Nanami. But he waited outside.

Kento arrived in the makeshift room Itadori slept in and gently placed him on the futon, the boy instantly shifting and moaning at the lack of warmth. 

It was then, when the thought to get a wet cloth and wipe the dust away from Itadori’s face crossed his mind, that Nanami realized how attached to him he had gotten. He had wanted to freeze and just let that sink in, try to reason with himself and stop this feeling of need to protect, but instead, he walked to the bathroom, grabbed a cloth, dampened it, and brought it back, instantly kneeling to gently wipe at his face. 

“Ya’ really getting used to tucking the brat into bed, huh?” a mouth and an eye appeared on the cheek he had yet to wipe, at first, in fear of waking him up, he ignored him. “Oi, ya dare ig–” and he passed onto the other cheek, making the curse complain as he pretty much wiped his face. 

“Go away” he whispered and went back to the bathroom. He heard Sukuna complain in the distance, but he stopped short after.

He re-entered the room and took Itadori’s shoes off, leaving them next to the bed and placing a fluffy blanket on the boy, and once he snuggled into it, Nanami couldn’t help but smile. 

It was right then and there that he decided he would take care of Itadori as best as he could. This boy went through a rollercoaster all while having a curse in his head. He deserved to be… appreciated? Treated right.

Nanami left the building and climbed back into the car without pronouncing a word. If Ijichi noticed the slight red on his cheek and the little smile on his face, he didn’t mention it. 

Chapter Text

Report ––– 2018

In east Tokyo city, in —–– Mall a supposed grade one was witnessed by a window, since it was deemed an emergency, three sorcerers and an assistant manager were sent to the scene. 

The supposed grade one resulted as a special grade.

All of the sorcerers were minorly hurt, the assistant manager was hurt majorly, not at risk of death.

He froze as Nitta-San gave him the news, stopping in the middle of his apartment, “Ieri-San deemed him not in danger but… he was hit quite hard. It’s a miracle nothing broke” , he stared at the space in front of him, slowly clenching his fist. “Although, there is the risk of some memory loss and bad headaches. And thank god it’s only that” .

He made his way to the couch and sat down, placing his elbows on his knees, pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed, “Is he stable?” a hum came in reply, “He’s sleeping right now, Ieri-San prioritized him over the others” she also sighed, “I’d like to stay with him, but now we’re down an assistant manager, and a great one at that. It’s gonna take a while to split his duties between us. He had so many responsibilities…” they stood at the phone in silence for a little and he could hear cars in the background: she was probably driving. “I’ll go visit him tomorrow” she hummed again, “Hopefully he’ll be awake by then” and they hung up. 

He placed the phone down and sank into the sofa, sighing. 

Ijichi was one of the best assistant managers the school had, having trained as a Jujutsu sorcerer when he was younger - one year beneath Nanami at that - and in general being very skilled: he had done this job for his entire life, of course he was great at it. He had loads of knowledge in the world of Jujutsu… hopefully, eventual memory loss wasn’t going to cause him too much damage.

––––

“He’s not awake yet” Ieri looked just as sleep-deprived as always, that’s why he had brought her coffee. “For your hard work” he placed it on her desk and her eyes sparkled, “Aww, thanks Nanami-Kun, you’ve always been too nice to me” she grabbed it and slowly sipped, sighing right after, “Bitter as my soul, just what I needed” she commented, the man moving to sit on the couch on the other side of her small office. 

“Don’t let the worry eat you alive, Nanamin” he looked up at her who wasn’t even turned, “I’m not even going to ask how you know I’m worried” she huffed, amused, “He’s both our hokai, I’m worried as well” after scribbling something loudly, she turned the chair around, holding the coffee cup. “How many times have you thought about Yu in this past two days?”

Kento tensed and the room fell silent, Ieiri sipped again, “He’s not going to die, not yet at least. So cheer up, I’m not letting Ijichi see a moping face as soon as he wakes up” he sighed and she turned back around, worrying with the stack of paper on her desk. Nanami allowed his head to drop back and stare at the ceiling, comfortable in the silence.

At one point, the door of the office opened and the unmistakable curse energy of Gojo Saturo swept into the room. Nanami was resting with his eyes closed and Ieri was bent over her work. 

Just like it opened, the door closed, silently this time.   

Since he came in almost an hour and a half passed, Nanami was leaving– but the sound of a bell stopped him.

Ieri got up and the man followed her into a few rooms away, where once she opened the door, they found a confused Kiyotaka, a bandage decorating his head and one his shoulder. “Good morning– or well, evening, Ijichi-Kun” the doctor walked to the side of the bed and grabbed some papers, “My head hurts…” he gently touched the bandage, Ieri scoffed, “Oh it’s normal, it will happen often from now on. I’ll give you a painkiller later”.

Nanami silently closed the door and waited, Ijichi didn’t seem to have noticed him. “Are the others ok?” the doctor hummed, “Yup, the worst they’ll have to endure is a week off-training. You on the other side…” she grabbed a chair and looked at him, “I’m gonna have to ask you a few questions… first of all: What’s your name, age, day of birth and… what’s my name”, he replied with no problem, “Good, where are you right now?” he looked around, “In the infirmary on Jujutsu’s grounds I presume…” and his eyes landed of the blonde man, “Nanami Senpai!”. 

Kiyotaka hadn’t called Kento ‘Senpai’ in years, and that surprised him, Ieiri seemed pleased as well, “That was going to be my next question, but good that you remember him” she ticked off something from her papers, “What’s the current year?” he looked back at her, “2018, ––, although I’m not sure of the date” she nodded, “That’s fine, the meds can cause a little confusion” she ticked off something again, “Umm… you have any other questions I could ask?” they both looked at Kento.

“Uh… if I say dumbass, who do you think about?” the man looked confused, but as soon as the gears clicked, he had to suppress a laugh, “Gojo-San”.

Ieri full-on laughed, “All right! He’s fine” Nanami smiled, “It would have been a real worry if you didn’t get that” and finally, Ijichi giggled.

It filled Nanami with so much tranquillity to see the man already able to laugh and smile, most of the worries melting away. 

“Okay, I need to run some tests on him, Nanamin, you can stay if you want, but–” he shook his head, “No, don’t worry, I have a few things to do, I’ll come by later” the doctor nodded, “Alright then”, Ijichi looked back at him, “Bye Nanami-San”, the man replied with a smile, a wave and left the room.

He hadn’t smiled so much in ages.

He started walking down the corridor: must have been Itadori’s influence.

–––– 

Knocking softly on the door, he awaited a reply, casually passing a hand through his blonde locks, “Come in!” . He opened the door to see pretty much the same view as this morning: Ijichi was without glasses, sitting upright in bed. The only thing that changed was the few vases of different flowers adorning the tables near him. “You don’t mind if I had mine to those..?” he pointed at the plants and held up a small bouquet of White Hyacinth and Goldenrods, leaving the bedridden man surprised, “Oh, thank you! I’d do it myself but…” he smiled, Kento moved to add the flowers to an existing vase, “No need to”.

After that, he pulled the chair closer and sat down, “Still suffering from headaches?” he crossed his legs and removed his glasses, “They’ve gotten better, but yes” Ijichi sighed, “Nitta-San came by and forced me to sleep… Although I do feel better” Nanami hummed, “Hopefully those eyebags will lighten”. 

Even if it was difficult to imagine Ijichi without them – since they were already present in his Jujutsu High days – he definitely deserved less stress.

“You know, it’s only been one day without you on duty, and so many issues came up” Nanami looked at him, “You really do a lot for the school” Ijichi bowed lightly, “I try my best, I hope I can get back to work soon” the blonde shook his head, “On the contrary, I think this is a great opportunity for the auxiliary managers to lessen your workload”. 

Even if this was true, the man seemed worried, “I don’t know about that. Nitta-San told me things are quite hectic between them” he sighed, Nanami reassured him, “They’ll figure it out, they have to”. 

Ieri-San walked in and looked at both, then, at the amount of flowers, scratching the back of her head. “Jeez, how many people have come by in one day?” and moved to grab a few medicines, followed by a glass of water. She extended both to her patient, “You need to rest, Kiyotaka-Kun, Nanamin here will be your last visit today” as soon as he grabbed them, she turned around, snatching a document holder and scribbling down something, “But I’ve just woke up…” Ieri tsked, “Doesn’t matter, you need more rest.” she moved to the door, “Nanamin” she pointed at said man, “Don’t keep him up for too long” he nodded, and she left, yawning on the way out. 

Ijichi sighed, “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ieri Senpai so much in one day” he placed down the empty glass. 

“Would you like me to help the auxiliary managers?” The man looked a bit restless knowing the rest of his coworkers were having trouble, and Nanami was quite free in this period due to the upcoming Goodwill event, on the contrary, Ijichi had been running back and forward quite a lot these past few days. 

The bedridden man was left speechless. “S-Senpai…” Kento nodded, “If it eases your mind a little, I’m willing to help” he got up. “That would be amazing, yes… Although, are you sure..?” Nanami opened the door, “Yes. You already do so much for all of us, let us repay you, Kiyotaka-Kun” and he left the room. Leaving the assistant manager to get some well-deserved rest.

Chapter Text

Nanami had heard from both Gojo and Itadori that the other two first-years hadn’t taken the ‘Oh look your classmate isn’t dead! Surprise!!!’ reveal as well as they thought. Understandably, mourning over someone and accepting their departure wasn’t easy, and playing with those fragile emotional states was something only an asshole would do: sadly — in Itadori’s case — it was the only option.

So, when Nanami walked down one of the many open halls of the school’s grounds, he stumbled upon Fushiguro-Kun sitting with his arms crossed on his bent legs, staring off into the distance. 

He approached him and the boy didn’t seem to notice, “Shouldn’t you be in class, Fushuguro-Kun?”, he got a hum in reply. “Gojo-San cancelled it mid-lesson because of an urgent meeting”. It wasn’t rare for that to happen, especially with the amount of stuff happening recently, but it was pretty apparent that Fushiguro was bothered by something: Yes, it was normal for his face to be stoic, almost angry. But his lips had a curve to it that screamed sadness. 

Nanami weighed his options, looking at his wristwatch: it was five fifty-two pm. He had an intense day and it was almost time to clock out, craving sleep and a good meal. 

He sighed and – inwardly apologizing – left the boy to his problems, walking away. 

That was the first encounter of the three.

Two days later, he found him getting some coffee at the coffee machine. Yes, he was young, but the life of a sorcerer was rough and the adults – who most of them relied on caffeine to live – couldn’t blame the youngers for hopping on the coffee addiction soon in their, quote on quote, ‘career’.

“Good morning, Nanami-San” he tipped his head, Nanami approached him, “Good morning to you too, Fushiguro-Kun'' and sat down on one of the break room’s couches, opening the morning newspaper he had bought on his way to the school grounds. “Uh… how do you like your coffee?” he pointed at the machine, Nanami didn’t look up, “You don’t need to prepare one for me, but I prefer it black” and Megumi nodded, grabbing his coffee and inputting the command for Nanami’s.

They stood there – Kento reading and Megumi sipping his coffee – while they waited, and once it was done, Fushiguro moved it to the small table next to Kento and left, without waiting for a thanks.

Something must be wrong for him to act this way, Nanami had seen him quite often due to Gojo pushing him to hang around Jujutsu tech even before starting Jujutsu High, and he was always grumpy, but polite. In the back of his head, the possibility that Itadori’s fake resurrection must have something to do with this foul mood of his.

That was their second encounter.

––––

“Thank you Nanami-San!” The sunshine boy smiled, “Thanks, I needed the sugar after this” Nobara immediately opened the box and her eyes shined at the sight of the bakery goods. The first and second years had finished a training session, and Nanami felt generous that day, so he brought them sweets, mostly because he knew Gojo wasn’t around and the kids could make him jealous, he got some of his favourites specifically for that reason. The rest of the kids gathered around the gift, “Oi, Megumi-Kun, you’re not coming to get anything?” the Zen’in girl turned to look at the boy drying his sweat off with a towel, “Nah, I’m not hungry”, Nanami looked at the raven-haired boy, “Everything alright, Fushiguro-Kun?” he looked away, “Yes, just out of breath”, the question must have grabbed the attention of his peers, since both Yuuji and Nobara looked at him, “Oh he’s just grumpy as usual, don’t worry about it, Nanami-San” Kugusaki scoffed it off, “Uhh Nobara, you have some powdered sugar on your cheek” the pink-haired boy pointed it out to her. “Huh?! And you didn’t tell me sooner?!” she got angry and wiped her face aggressively. In the mids of the chaos, Megumi slipped away, no one apart from Nanami noticing.

He was getting quite worried about the boy now, hell, he even thought of asking Gojo about it, but the price of that information would come for a lot of teasing, about how he “Really did care about the kids” and how “He should totally sign up to be a teacher”. At this point, it was mentally and physically easier to go ask the teen himself.

The opportunity of this came the same day, a few hours later.

He had brought Itadori a pair of clean sheets for his new – and permanent – room, although he wasn’t there so Nanami left them on the bed. He was walking away when a quiet muffled sniffle caught his ears. As soon as he heard it, he stopped and realized he was standing in front of the shikigami user’s door. 

Due to his footsteps ceasing abruptly, the boy’s attention must have been caught too: because no more sob arose. 

“Fushiguro-Kun? Is that you?” Of course barging into the room wasn’t an option, and getting his consent to go in wasn’t going to be an easy task either, so he thought of a kind way to get to the clearly-in-need-to- talk-to-someone shaman. 

When the boy didn’t reply, Nanami turned to face the door, “I know you’re in there, Fushiguro-Kun. Is everything alright?” 

A muffled “Go away” was the reply, Kento sighed.

“I understand that you wish to be alone, but you can’t face everything alone. You shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help” he adjusted his glasses, awkwardly waiting in silence, as an answer never came.

I tried to be nice…

“This is about Itadori’s death, isn’t it?” it was pretty silent in the dormitory at that moment, so silent that Nanami was able to hear the shifting of fabric behind the door.

“Please, may I come in? You don’t need to talk about it if you wish not to, but as an adult, I need to make sure you’re alright” 

It was a cold reason, sure. But Nanami barely knew how to handle crying teenagers: he was trying his best.

After a few minutes of almost staring a hole into the door, a quiet “Come in” broke the silence.

Gently, Nanami opened the door and peeked inside: The shikigami user was wearing a graphic tee, sitting up in his bed with the sheets covering the low half of his body, his hair was messier than usual and eyes puffy from crying. Not to mention, he was holding a pillow. 

The man closed the door behind him, standing awkwardly and subtly looking around behind his glasses. “I’m sorry It’s a bit messy in here…” The boy apologized, looking to the side: the room was clean and almost nothing was out of place. He went to grab the chair next to the desk, but Fushiguro stopped him, “You can… sit on the bed”, he scratched the back of his head, Nanami looked at him, then the bed, and then he sat down, stiff as a log.

Look- he was really trying, it was way easier being confident when the door was in the way. But he was determined, at the cost of looking extremely out of place.

“Would you be willing to talk about what’s bothering you?” the boy looked up and met his stare, then averted his eyes, “I’m… “ he didn't look comfortable, and Nanami was self-aware that the reason oh this, was him: he needed to look more approachable… Which was easier said than done. But he tried, removing his glasses and shifting so he was looking straight at Megumi, softening how he could his expression. “I have to admit, I’m not great at comforting people, if there is anything I can do to help you feel better, please let me know” the boy stared amazed and confused at the complete three-sixty his mannerisms did.

Fushiguro sighed, “Whenever something is bothering me or making me sad, I tend to pretend it doesn't exist and wait for it to go away… Not the healthiest way of dealing with problems, I know, but…” it's the only way I know how . He didn't say it, but those unsaid words were clear in Nanami’s mind.

“When Itadori died - or well, momentarily died - I… Blamed myself for it: I was the one who left Itadori with a special grade curse, I was the one who went along with his… Stupid heroic plan of his…” his face was a mixture of anger and guilt, both his fists clenching tighter, “Hell, I was the one who involved Itadori in this mess from the beginning” his mouth shaped itself as a line, then he shook his head. “And I was trying very hard not to think about it, ignoring the vivid nightmares I had about him, dying right in front of me while Sukuna laughed” He shut his eyes, hugging the pillow closer to his chest, “I tried focusing on the Goodwill event training, but then he came back, I felt like a fool for believing he was dead, angry at Gojo Senpai for not telling me about it, a-and of course glad that Itadori was still alive…” his mouth moved to say something, but he never spoke, Nanami was surprised at how easily Megumi was speaking his brain out. Used to see him as reserved and quiet

When the burden becomes too much to handle on your own, you‘re almost happy to finally talk about it, I guess.

Kento gave a small smile and a nod, reassuring the boy that he was still listening, and encouraging him to speak all of it out. It seemed to work, since Megumi looked at him, then back in front of him before resuming, “Since he came back… The nightmare changed, it isn’t just him falling dead in front of me…” he took a shaky breath, “It is me, attempting to save him… and I…” he squeezed the pillow again, words dying in his throat, “ Can’t save him… I never save him…” he buried his head in the pillow as his shoulders started to shake, “I’m never strong enough to save him” . 

That last phrase definitely hit home for Nanami too, meanwhile Fushiguro only felt the death of a friend he could have saved in a nightmare, feeling it on your skin and seeing it with your own eyes was a hundred times worse. But this wasn’t about him.

The boy closed himself around the pillow, even bringing his legs to it, and while Nanami was slightly panicking about what to do, Megumi started softly sobbing. 

So Kento shifted closer to him and embraced him.

It was awkward, not a natural position, but that could be ignored for now. “It’s difficult to accept, but as a sorcerer, it’s more common to die in battle at an early age than dying by old age. It’s important to get used to this unjust inevitable faith” and while Nanami wanted to ground Fushiguro, he couldn’t help but urge him on, “But if you get stronger, you have more possibilities to save people” he sighed, “Itadori Yuuji is alive now , cherish this until it’s gone, or you’re gone” the boy’s sobs started calming down, “But make this weakness your strength, Fushiguro-Kun: Give it your all to protect who you can, and if you can’t, train even harder” Megumi looked up at him, tears all over his face and shiny eyes with water and hope, “Live and appreciate every moment of your life like it could be the last, and train to make it last as long as possible” he again gave a little smile, and finally, the boy smiled too, hugging Nanami back, “Thank you… Nanami-San”  

They stayed like that for less than two minutes, but that seemed to be enough for Megumi since he wiped away his tears and thanked Nanami again.

The next time Kento met the shikigami user, he was being tickled to death by his classmate, laughing and kicking as Itadori and Kugusaki spared him no mercy.

Chapter Text

“You’re aware overdoing yourself won’t make you any stronger, Kugisaki-Chan?” the girl halted by placing one hand on the ground, knees bent with her eyes looking up at Nanami. She was breathing heavily, an annoyed look on her face, “I’m not overdoing anything”, she looked back in front of her, Yuuta holding a wooden pole pointing straight at her, “We can take a break if you’d like” he seemed calm, but upon further observing him, Nanami could tell he was uncomfortable, “ No , I don’t need a break” she sprinted towards her sparring partner, aiming her rubber hammer at his legs, Yuuta parried it easily and swung his weapon, although failing to hit her back. She moved to the side and also swung for the back, the boy quickly turned around and parried that too, but this time, the other side of the pole hit Nobara’s stomach, making her stagger back.

“You’re too focused on hitting, you need to think how you’ll defend yourself before attacking” her chest kept going up and down rapidly, “We’ve been practising for a while now, Kugisaki-Chan, we really should-” he let his guard down and the girl immediately took advantage of it, springing forward and hooking the wooden pole with her hammer, flinging it backwards, “How many times am I going to repeat myself–” she then went for his left shoulder, which he parried, “I don’t, need, a break”, she kicked his right side. That connected with Yuuta and the boy used her awkward position to walk past her and–

“Stop it, both of you” the firm voice of the Zen’in second year froze the sparring duo, Nanami looked at Maki standing at the entrance of the courtyard, arms crossed and eyes piercing: intimidating, to say the least. 

“I know you’re in a bad mood Nobara, but that doesn’t give you the right to overdo it” she scoffed, “All that’s going to get you is a sore body, you won’t move for at least two days. I’ve been there and trust me, it’s not pleasant” she walked towards them, who had gotten out of their training stances, now standing one next to the other: one looking relieved, the other one annoyed. 

“Yuuta, the paintbrush want us in the meeting room, come with” and the boy simply sighed, “That was fun Kugisaki, I’m happy to train whenever” and he followed his classmate after a wave and a smile, Nobara hummed, and when they were out of sight, she sighed.

Apparently, everyone forgot Nanami was standing there.  

He looked at the dyed ginger-head stomp off, but before she could completely leave his sight, she tensed up and slightly curved on herself, she was turned so Nanami couldn’t see her face, but she did look in pain.

It was quite out of nowhere, she was fighting just fine a minute ago, so why was she hurting now?

—

“I wouldn’t say she’s… ‘hurt’...” Her two classmates were chilling in the lounge area, one with a book in his lap while the other was sitting by his side, legs stretched on the couch while using the other’s side as support, “Then why did she seem in pain?”, Yuuji cringed, “Er, well…” he avoided Nanami’s eyes, rubbing the back of his head. “She… is, um” he leaned forward, putting a hand to his mouth and whispering, “In that time of the month”, his friend behind him nodded.

So she had menstruations.

“Why did you say it like that?” he deadpanned, Itadori jumped a little, “Talking about women’s menstruation isn’t something you need to whisper about. You should be old enough to know about it” but as he crossed his arms, he realized both of the boys were slightly blushing, “Yes! Well…” Nanami sighed, “Let me guess, you leave her alone because you’re scared to make her angry”. The raven-haired boy pointed at his friend, “That’s what he does” Itadori jumped, “Don’t sell me out man!” Megumi scoffed, “I ask if there’s anything I can do for her, but she usually ask me to either bring her some chocolate or leave her alone”. Right, Fushiguro had a sister, he must have helped her plenty before. 

“So she specifically asked you to leave her alone?” they both looked at each other, Yuuji shrugged, “Not really, she just prefers to be alone” Megumi picked up his book, “More like she doesn’t want to be bothered by you and Gojo-Sensei” the pink-haired boy complained immediately.

__

A day passed and Nanami completely forgot about it, it was when he was searching for Ijichi that he stumbled upon Kugisaki.

“What do you mean I can’t go?!” her loud voice made the assistant manager flinch, “Kugisaki-Chan, the mission is quite an easy one, three people would be too-” she stomped on the ground, “I could have gone instead of Panda Senpai!” 

He tried to reason with her, but he wasn’t getting through to her head, so Nanami had pity on the man and rescued him. “What seems to be the problem?” Ijichi’s eyes sparkled as Kento approached, “They sent Megumi and Panda on a mission, and I don’t understand why they didn’t send me! I’m her classmate too!” the blonde man hummed, “I presume they wanted to mix the classes. Didn’t you share a mission with Inumaki-kun not too long ago?” the assistant manager waved at the sorcerer and quietly scurried off, probably busy and glad to be out of that situation, “ Yeah, but…” she looked around, then groaned, “Fine, whatever, it doesn’t bother me that–” but before she could finish the sentence, her body curved on itself and her arms wrapped around her stomach, Nanami reached for her in case she fell, “Everything alright?”  she was cringing, “Just a cramp… it will pass…” exhaling deeply, she tried to stand straight again, but without success, “Ow…” her whine made Nanami grab her sides and escort her to a nearby bench. 

Instead of sitting, she lied down. “Can I get you anything?” she sighed, “Water… “ he nodded, “Would you like a painkiller too?” she shook her head, holding her stomach tighter, “I have it… on me”.

With that, Nanami took off and came back with a water bottle, he opened it for the girl and helped her sit up. She swallowed said pill and brought her legs to her chest. Now that there was room on the bench,  he sat down too.

“Do you get cramps often?” she lightly shook her head, “It varies… usually it’s manageable…” she started breathing in and out slowly. Not knowing what to do, Kento sat in silence.

There was someone – he didn’t remember who – that sustained women could handle physical injuries in battle better than men could, something along the lines of, ‘They can fight and be more agile even under pain’. He never had the opportunity to see it for himself, but it had to be true to some degree since period cramps were something a big percentage of women had to affront.

With this said, why did Nobara want to go on a mission, aware that she could get strong cramps like these?

So he asked her.

“Why did you want to go on a mission while there is a chance you could get menstruation cramps and possibly get hurt?” the girl seemed to be relaxing a little, it was too soon to be the painkiller, so it must have been the cramps getting lighter.

“Because the other option is lying in bed thinking about how I could get a cramp at any moment” she kept her eyes closed, “At least if I’m fighting I’m worried about something else”  That explained why she was training so hard yesterday, still...

“There are easier and safer ways to distract your mind from that” 

Understandably, Nobara was getting annoyed at Nanami for bothering her so much, the constant pain in her low abdomen wasn't helping either.

“And what would that be, Mr I-know-all? Mindlessly binging series as I get more and more depressed?!” she snapped, cringing a little when she moved too much, “I’m tired of doing nothing useful while on my period, Maki doesn't even look like she has menstruations! And I'm sitting here with frequent cramps-”

“Make origami”

She snapped her head towards him.

“. ..E-excuse me?”

He pushed his glasses up.

“Making origami requires you to be precise movements to fold the paper correctly meanwhile figuring out what the tutorial is asking you to do, which both require a great amount of focus. On top of distracting your mind, you’re utilizing a moment of pain to create something beautiful to cheer up your spirit and to decorate your room” He side-glanced her, “They’re also potential gifts” 

She was stunned, to say the least. Exorcising curses was a hundred times more distracting… and risky… but folding origami? Really?! What was she, a child?!” 

“Poetic, but stupid…” she looked away, nervously chewing her lip. Although…

“I’ll try it only if you buy me the paper” she admitted defeat, a smile almost slipped out of the 7:3 sorcerer. “Deal. Get your bag, you’re coming with me” he stood up, “Wait– why do I have to come too?” she sprung up without any signs of pain. 

“We’ll pass by the grocery store so you can buy something to snack on, you said yourself you needed a distraction, I’m offering you one” she opened her mouth to complain, but she didn’t, instead, she sighed, “Thanks Nanami… I appreciate it” and smiled before turning around to walk to her room. “I’m glad Gojo-Senpai isn’t the only adult around!” she giggled, and this time, he smiled as well. 

––––––

“Ahh! So many pretty pens!” the stationery shop was small but packed with wonders: from an abundance of pens, crayons, pencils and watercolours, to coloured chalks and every form and variety of notebooks. The walls were scaffolded from floor to ceiling, holding papers, and I mean all types and colours of paper, backpacks, brushes and glitters, common stationery and materials for arts and craft.

“Welcome! How may I help you?” a young man called from behind the counter, Nanami stepped forward, “Would you be able to point us to a proper paper for folding origami?” the man seemed shocked at the question, probably because he was expecting Nanami – dressed in a suit – to ask him for office materials like paper for the copy machine or a stapler, “Yes… we have pre-made bundles,” he walked past him and to a shelf, Nobara appearing from behind one of the tall exposition stands, “I recommend them printed on one side-” he pointed at a few packed stacks of paper, “-On the back there’s written the fantasy of the prints, these should do fine for a beginner” the man looked at Nanami and Nanami looked at Nobara, who took two out and compared them, she hummed for a few seconds, then put one back, “I like this one, it’s more floral” the clerk took the one she had choosen and Nanami followed after him to pay. Once they exited he sighed, “I’m happy he didn’t ask if we were related” she nodded, “Woulda been awkward, although” she pointed out, “You could have just said I was your student” he glanced at her as they walked towards the grocery shop, “You’re not wearing your uniform, and I’m not really your teacher” he glanced at his phone and saw one message from Gojo: he could ignore. 

Kugisaki rolled her eyes, “Could’ ave said I was homeschooled”.

They entered the store and Nobara was surprisingly quick at grabbing everything she needed, Nanami almost lost her twice despite the small size of the store. While heading for the cashier, they walked in front of the bakery section and a whiff of cooked goods stopped both of them, they turned to see fresh out of the oven croissants, still lightly steaming and mouthwatering. 

“Hey Nanami-San–” she turned her head but he was already grabbing a paper bag, “What flavour do you want?” she almost laughed at the out of impulse borderline action executed with a straight face, “Is that even a question? Nutella, duh” she smiled. He grabbed two of the same flavour.

Once outside, they found an open bench and started eating the goods: still warm, the chocolate, fortunately, was not as hot as molten lava. Understandably, upon taking the first bite, Nobara moaned and Kento simply closed his eyes, “This is sooooo good!” she had sparkles in her eyes, talking with her mouth half full, although the shaman couldn’t blame her: they were really good. 

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to eat nutella” she crossed her legs, “I prefer pastry cream or chantilly, but chocolate is always good too” he took another bite, she giggled, “Didn’t think you had a sweet tooth either” at that he subtly smiled too, “I keep it under control, unlike other people” and they both giggled, obviously referring to Gojo.

Bonus:

Nanami had driven Nobara back to the school grounds after they finished their snack, and a few hours later, he was back home. 

While he took the receipts out of his coat’s pockets, he noticed a few coins that he was sure he hadn’t put there, since the coins went into the wallet, not the pocket. He counted the money and placed them where they were supposed to be.

After adding to his expense’s notebook what they had bought, it occurred to him that the coins were the exact amount of two pastry goods.

After sitting stunned for a moment, he sighed, smiling. He guessed Nobara wanted to pay him back. 

…

Not that there was already a paper crane sitting on top of his desk. 

Chapter Text

He bowed one more time before closing the door.

Finally.

As he walked down the hallway, all he could think about was how many things he could do now: get started on those books he rented and not give them back without having even touched them, he could watch that interesting series he had noticed a while back, he finally had the time to prepare an elaborate healthy meal for himself.

He could sleep. Without setting an alarm clock. 

That sole thought made his walk a little merrier. 

Finally , he had a week off duty. 

He couldn’t wait to go back to his apartment and do something that wasn’t working his ass off. 

“Ah, Nanami-San” his head snapped to the source of the voice to confirm it wasn’t Gojo, because if it was, he was prepared to run in the opposite direction–

It was Ieri-san, looking as sleep-deprived as always. 

“Are you free at the moment?” It took his whole willpower to say “No” and leave, but this was Ieri, he was at least willing to listen.

“Yes, as I - of a minute ago - am officially off-duty for this week” the woman smiled, “You deserve it, although I admit I’m jealous” it was kinda hard to hear her when she had multiple blankets, and what looked like clean folded uniforms in her arms.

“Why are you…” he pointed at said items, “Right… Since you are now free and will have a lot of time to stay away from this place, mind helping me carry them to the dormitories? It won’t take long I promise. I’ll explain while we go” 

Another big fight went on within him: he just wanted to get out of here already… 

… but this was Ieri-San, one of the only people he respected in here. 

Plus, she said it wasn’t going to take long… and she’s a woman of her words.

He sighed, “Fine” she immediately dumped everything she was holding on him, more bulky than heavy, “Thanks, here, follow me” she walked forward and he obeyed. 

“The second years were sent on a mission outside of the main continent, to a small island. A few curses to exorcise, nothing much” she started as she lit up a cigarette, “But they all came back with a terrible flu. Turns out – this is particular of that cluster of islands they went to – there’s a heavy flu that is known to have never killed someone, but is terribly annoying to deal with: it keeps a constant high temperature and lasts for a long while”  as she talked, he noticed three plastic bags hanging from her arm.

“And I presume Panda is fine?” she snorted, “I find this really funny: Panda was the reason they all got it: It’s known to be very little contagious, but it thrives on animals. And since they all shared a room… “ she cringed.

Oh.

“Panda is currently in isolation, will be for a little more even after the decontaminating shower– just to make sure. The others are currently stuck in bed” That explained the uniforms smelling of detergent and the blankets. “I’m monitoring their temperature and other possible symptoms, but there has been nothing of notice so far” she took another drag and smiled, “Don’t worry, you won’t get sick” he sighed, “I sincerely hope you didn’t jinx it” and she huffed out a laugh, put out the cigarette and stopped in front of the student’s rooms, “Could you please divide the blankets and uniforms while I get started with Inumaki-kun?” he nodded, thankfully, the second year’s uniforms were quite diverse: one had a high collar with a zipper, the other was white, and the last had a skirt. 

Once he finished making three piles, he entered Inumaki’s room, where the white-haired boy was just a set of eyes peeking behind sheets pulled over his nose and a damp cloth on his forehead. “The temperature is the same as yesterday’s…” she scribbled something on a paper and got up from beside his bed, “You want an extra blanket?” He shyly nodded, Nanami – after placing the clean uniform on the desk – proceeded to spread the blanket on the bed, tucking it so it wouldn’t move, a weak “...tuna mayo” came from the boy, Nanami took it as a thanks. 

Ieri came back from the hallway with one of the plastic bags. 

“Here’s is your lunch if you get hungry, just plug the container into a socket and heat it up” he nodded again, after a few more questions, they left the room and did the same for the other two. Maki was a bit more talkative and had a slight stomach ache, probably because she had skipped breakfast. They had to wake up Yuuta because he was still asleep. All of them looked exhausted.

They closed the door and both sighed, “This sucks…” Ieri stretched, she seemed especially weighed down by this, much to Nanami’s confusion. “It doesn’t look like they need much attention” he tried to cheer her up, “At least that…” it didn’t work, and he was even more confused. She looked up at him and explained: “Since most people are leaving for vacation, they let off the cafeteria cooks too. So now I have to make sure someone is cooking for them. Witch ends up on either mine, Ijichi’s or Nitta’s shoulders” 

Right, he had forgotten a cafeteria existed. He never went there. 

The doctor stared at the shaman, “Weren’t you super happy to leave just a minute ago? You’re free now, go. Enjoy it” she waved him off and walked away, a little bit of jealousy in her tone. Nanami hesitated to go for the parking lot, but remembering that glass of wine he promised himself, he turned on his heels quite quickly.

Although, the thought that made him hesitate then, stuck with him on the journey to his apartment.

Sat on the back of his head while reading.

Got almost forgot while making dinner.

Submerged while taking a bath.

Drifted him off to sleep

And bothered him for the next two days. 

He woke up on the third day sick and tired of it. I mean, he wanted to cook for himself either way, yeah? What was cooking for a few more people?

After eating breakfast, he went down to the supermarket and thought about what to cook, because he had no idea. Since it was for so many people, he was better off cooking something simple, and since they were sick, something easily digestible and nutritious. 

Letting himself be inspired by all of the fresh vegetables, he opted to cook rice and veggies. Simple, but tasty.

_____

“N-Nanami-San? What are you doing here?” Ijichi caught him in the parking lot, “I thought you were off duty…” the man was staring at him like he saw a ghost, “And I am, I simply decided to cook lunch for everyone instead of just for myself” he locked the car and started off to the building, After Ijichi got out of his stunned silence, he yelled after him, “P-please cook for me and Nitta-San as well!” he scoffed and mumbled under his breath, “Like I wasn’t going to…”

He reached the kitchen and got the groceries out of the bag, but the mountain of dishes in the sink didn’t allow him to get to the tap, so he washed those, humming along to a tune he had heard on the radio on his way to the school grounds. Thinking he was now ready, he grabbed the rice cooker, but finding it disgustingly dirty, he had to take the time and clean that too.

He wasn’t as surprised that the only big enough pan the small dormitory's kitchen had, was also dirty. 

It was when he was drying everything that he became conscious of a presence in the hall staring a hole into his back: he turned to find out it was Panda.

“Good morning” he nodded at him, the animal also muttered out a greeting. “Is your quarantine over?” Panda seemed shocked he knew, “I– yes, it ended yesterday” he sighed. After a moment of silence, he asked. “Are you cooking for them today?” Nanami hummed.

Panda was normally very reserved and quiet, so what bothered Kento about his attitude seemed to be the constant frown on his face. “How did the missions go?” maybe some small talk would lighten his mood, “Nothing happened apart from them getting the fever” Nanami heard another sigh. “On the brighter side, since you can’t catch it, you can help them now recover” he opened the bag full of vegetables and Panda sighed again , “I can’t” Kento hummed in confusion, “I can’t because there’s the chance it will stick to me again, and it could spread to everyone else” he pulled up a chair and sat down, “So I’m stuck in my room, I’d train with the first years but they’re busy”, Nanami was about to reply but he sighed again –

He had come here to cook in peace, not to deal with… this. Panda almost sounded like a puffing train from how much he was sighing. 

He tried cheering him up, “It’s not your fault they’re sick” he started washing the veggies, “Humans get sick on their own either way” Panda shook his head, “Yes but, Ieri-San explained to me that this specific fever–” it was Nanami’s turn to sigh, not being able to focus on the meal preparing process. 

“Have you asked them if they blame you for what happened?” Panda blinked, “Huh?” he repeated the question: “ You are blaming yourself for getting them sick, but have you asked them if they blame you for getting sick?” 

Of course he hadn’t.

Him sitting there sighing was bothering Nanami and doing Panda no good.

“You can’t help them recover because you can’t get near them, right” The student nodded, “Will helping me make lunch for them make you feel better?” they stared at each other for a few moments, then Panda sighed and got up, as a silent answer. 

Nanami grabbed a cutting board, a knife and what vegetables he had just finished washing. “Cut these, be careful not to cut yourself” he handed him the knife and left the student at the task, Kento was then able to focus on making the meal.

They worked in silence for a while, one time Panda sighed and Nanami fulminated him with a glare, he stopped sighing for good after that one.

Ieri walked by to refill her empty water bottle and it was written all over her face she wanted to ask Nanami a lot of questions: Why was he there, why he was making lunch, why Panda was wearing an apron, why he was wearing an apron and why the whole kitchen smelled of multipurpose cleaner and onions. She opted to nod a greeting and refill the water in silence. 

As the vegetables finished cooking and the rice patiently waited in the cooker, Nitta swung by, having heard from Ijichi about Nanami’s lunch plan, she asked if she could help with anything. 

“Go tell the students lunch is almost ready if you please, and ask them who would like to eat. Just so I know how many plates to make” Nitta shook her head, “Oh, we don’t bring them lunch anymore, they all started to get out of their rooms to eat” Nanami nodded, “Then go tell them to be ready. Panda, could you please set the table?” He started doing that and Nitta left for the rooms, as soon as Panda finished the task, he turned to leave, Nanami threw him a puzzled look. 

“Can’t stay…” is all he said before Kento looked back at the pan, stood still for a moment, then walked up to him and handed him his phone. 

“ ...What…? ” As soon as he grabbed it, Nanami turned away, “Hold on to it”

He clearly wanted further explanations, but the groggy voices of his classmates came closer, so he left without another word.

–

“...So thank Nanami-San for cooking you guys today’s meal!” Nitta was leading ahead, the three second years all looked tired, “Nanami-San?” the Zen’in girl looked surprised to see him, “But Ieri-San said you were on vacation..?” he finished filling the last bowl of rice, “I am” the trio looked at him in disbelief, “Now sit down or the food will get cold” he scoffed and they obeyed. 

They sat down - Nitta and Nanami too - and started eating. Everyone was quite hungry, so for the first few minutes, silence resided.

“I didn’t know you cooked, Nanami-San” the woman in the suit seemed low-key surprised, he simply hummed, “It’s really good too” Yuta pointed out, Toge added a silent, “Salmon”. 

“It’s no surprise” they all turned around to see the assistant manager enter the kitchen, heading for the pans to grab some food for himself. “Nanami-San has always had a talent for this” they all blinked, always? “It’s no talent to follow recipes” Kento remarked, “Oh actually, it is. Last time Maki tried to bake she almost–” the tired boy got interrupted by a punch on the head from her classmate, “Shut up Okkotsu” she eyed him ready to hit again, he mumbled out an apology.

“I agree, I’m not the best cook either” Nitta added as Ijichi sat next to her, “Once I tried to make Pizza at home and…” she trailed off, “Let’s just say we ordered takeout that night” she laughed at her own memories.

“Pizza isn’t very easy to make. I just cooked some rice and vegetables, there’s a big difference” Kento, having finished his meal, got up. Just in time to see Ieri-San enter the kitchen, “Mmm this smells good… can I try it too?” Nanami nodded, “Sit down, I’ll bring you a plate” she thanked him and sat at his place. 

When he brought her the plate, he also walked behind the second year's before asking Ieri for her phone, “Hmm? Don’t you have yours?” Nanami insisted, and once he obtained it, he called his own phone, someone on the other end picked up, “H-hello?” , the three kids perked up, “Tuna?” Toge instantly recognized the voice, “Here, you guys can have this” Maki – looking pretty confused, just as everyone else in the room for that case – took the phone and found Panda’s face on the screen, “Panda?” the device replied, “Maki?”  

The two boys scooted closer to the girl to find on the screen Panda’s surprised face, “Panda! You’re ok!” Yuuta seemed as happy to see him as Inumaki, “Kelp”. 

“You guys looked terrible” the supposed animal noted, making everyone complain, “Like you look any better!” Maki scoffed, “We were worried about you, dumbass” which seemed to surprise Panda, “Worried? …Me?” , Toge nodded, “Salmon”, Yuuta explained further, “We were told you had to isolate for a while, was it boring? Did you feel lonely?”  

Nanami couldn’t see the phone’s screen but something told him the supposed animal was way more surprised at his classmates being worried about him than he let on. “Not really… I had plenty of books to read” 

They kept talking for a while: sometimes laughing, sometimes someone sighed. All of the adults – apart from Nanami – left one by one, getting back to their work. It was while he was washing the dishes that Panda asked the question Nanami had hoped he would ask.

“So… you guys aren’t mad at me?” Maki made a questioning noise, gulping down a bit of water. “About what?” a sigh came from the other end, “About giving you a fever? It was my fault you guys caught it” the black and green-haired students looked at each other, “Why would we be?” Yuta replied with yet another question, “It isn’t your fault. Yes it got stuck to you–” Maki took over, “But it’s not like you did it on purpose, you dumbass. We couldn’t get mad at you even if we tried” Toge nodded, “Salmon”. 

While hearing it from them eased his guilt, he still couldn’t shake the feeling it was all his fault. Thankfully, the fever was nothing serious. A yawn came from the other end, “I’m tired” Maki agreed, “Yeah, same” Panda perked up, “You guys should go back to bed, Ieri-San told me if you rest plenty now, the fever should go away quicker” a “Tuna” turned into a yawn. 

“I’d hang up myself but…” he showed to the camera the one not holding up the phone, “My paws are too big for the phone”, the girl laughed at that, “I’ll hang up Panda, don’t worry” Yuuta reassured him, “Bye! See you soon!” the tired smiles everyone flashed at him made him also smile, “Have a good rest” and the phone beeped, signalling the call was over. 

As soon as that happened a knock on his door made him get up and open it, Nanami was standing outside of it, half-empty bags hanging from his arm. 

“Did the call reassure you no one blames what happened on you?” 

Oh, so that’s why Nanami had handed him the phone. 

“Yes… I believe it has” the man opened his hand and Panda placed the device onto the palm, “Thank you… Nanami-San” he bowed slightly, he got a scoff in reply. “It was the only way I could get you to stop sighing” and he turned around, leaving Panda to his room. 

He swore once the word of this little event started spreading, Gojo’s teasing was never going to end…

But maybe Gojo was right, he did care for the kids. 

Chapter Text

The cold air of winter hit him as he stepped on the porch, the familiar figure of Gojo Satoru sitting down with a drink in his hand, what wasn’t familiar was the silence and the crouched position, bending on himself. It was even weirder when Nanami slid the door close and the man didn’t turn around.

He walked right behind him and looked at the distant light of the city, “Is the alcohol already getting to you?” he expected to be met with sassiness, jokes and laughs, all he got was silence. 

Something was wrong: Gojo wasn’t ok

He glanced down through his glasses, and the man had one cheek in one hand, drink swirling in the other. “Don’t tell me you’re getting too old for parties” his lip quirked up slightly, “No, just needed fresh air”.

Nanami stared at him baffled, Gojo was never this serious, ever . Something bad must have happened to get him like this.

He sat down next to the white-haired man, sipping on his drink to stay warm, “It is pretty crowded in there…” 

“Yeah, the students can get pretty rowdy if they want to” Kento glanced at the man again, getting seriously worried about him. He deadpanned, “This isn’t like you Gojo-San” he turned to face him, and Gojo didn’t budge, “I know, give me five minutes and I’ll be back inside” he was asking for alone time, and every bone in Kento’s body told him to not leave. 

He sighed, “What’s on your mind? Sharing is supposed to help” Gojo scoffed, “I’m not used to seeing you preoccupied, it’s not a good look on you, Nanamin~” he sang his name, but it was sadder, drained, forced . 

“I wouldn’t test the limits of my patient, just tell me while I’m worried” and they sat in silence for a bit. 

“They remind me of us” 

Kento hummed in question, looking back at him. Gojo sighed, “Itadori, Kugisaki and Fushiguro. They remind me of… us ” Nanami had a pretty good idea about who he was talking about, “You see yourself in Itadori, don't you?” the sad man smiled, “Kinda, I guess” the blonde took another sip, “What bothers me is that I see Geto in Megumi” he tilted his head, “And how he interacts with Kugusaki and Itadori… They remind me of us…” the nostalgic smile faded, and gloom fell on the sorcerer, “Do you know what day it is?” Kento looked confused, “Christmas eve?” he could feel the annoyed look from underneath the bandage, “No shit, Sherlock, apart from that”. 

He shifted, “Of course I do, twenty-four of December, the day of the night parade of a hundred demons” he took off his glasses and placed them down next to the drink. 

Silence fell.

Nanami was slightly confused, why was Gojo mourning on the memory of such a day? Yes, some sorcerers died but…

His eyes widened in realization.

“Do you miss Geto?” The white-haired man finally turned his head to look at him, “How can I not?” Nanami gulped down another sip, staring at the glass in his hands. 

“At first, I thought you were overreacting when Haibara died” The blonde tensed up at the name, “Yes, he was your best friend, yes you had shared a lot with him… But I couldn't comprehend why you let that weigh you down so much” he admitted, “But then… Geto chose his path. As long as I knew he was alive, somewhere, I could ignore my sadness, call it off as childish. I could run away from the thought that he was sentenced to death. And if I ever saw him, I could ignore the order and walk the other way, saying I didn’t see him” Nanami didn't miss how his lip quivered and his hand clenched around the glass, “But then I wasn't able to run away anymore, but then he died and-” he stopped and took a deep breath, “And then I couldn't blame you for how much you mourned Haibara. Actually, I now wondered how you lived knowing that you’d never see him again” At this point Nanami was staring at Gojo, and he very slowly, to give the man a chance to back away, tugged down his blindfold, revealing blue sky eyes shining with tears, “You miss him a lot, don't you?” the man nodded, swallowing nothing, but he needed to let it all out, he had the right to be sad.

And so Kento embraced him when Satoru collided with his body, literally throwing himself in his arms. 

He was crying, Nanami could feel the exact spot on his shoulder dampening with tears, shoulder’s shaking, and all he could do was to hold him. Before he knew it, he was rubbing soothing circles on the sorcerer's back. It hit him like a truck to see his senpai - but most importantly - the Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer, crying . 

The ball of annoying cocky sunshine that was this man, letting his facade drop – no, shatter in front of Nanami: Gojo had his infinity down, he was allowing Nanami to touch him, allowing the man to feel the warmth of Nanami’s body, contrasting on the everlasting coldness that his infinity created around him.

They didn't speak one word, not that they needed to, the hug was meaningful enough for both of them: Gojo knew Nanami didn't like this kind of physical contact, and Nanami knew Gojo needed to feel protected , understood, even just for a moment, to let his restricted emotion come through.

Kento remembered their years at Jujutsu Tech, for both of them they were years filled with precious memories and bloody nightmares. For Gojo even more, since Nanami had also left as soon as he could.

He never felt remotely guilty for changing career paths, and Nanami didn’t intentionally avoid talking to Gojo. It just sort of happened, both being busy in two very different ways. But now that he thought about it, he did feel a little bad for… Never stopping to consider how his senpai felt. Not that it was very easy since he was more annoying than anything, but this was on purpose, in a sense: If Gojo acted goofy and confident, he wouldn’t have to face his worries and insecurities. 

The man in his arm shivered, which low-key scared Nanami at first, but it must have been a side-effect of the sobbing.

At one point Gojo must have realized he couldn't keep running away from his demons forever.

Nanami eyed the glass door that divided them from the small party, hoping that no one would mind their prolonged absence. Because explaining why Satoru was a crying mess in Kento’s arms was going to be… impossible, without losing all dignity. For both.

“I’m glad you’re back, Nanamin” the wavering voice startled him, “I’m so happy you came back” the blonde sighed, “As I’ve said, between a salaryman and a Jujutsu sorcerer, the least worse was–” Gojo shook his head, rubbing his face in Kento’s shoulder, “No, I mean I’m happy I get to see you again” that made his eyes widen, leaving him speechless, “I know I annoy you all the time but…” he sniffed a couple of times before sitting upright, glossy ocean eyes staring right into his soul, he whispered: “Please don’t leave me again ” he clenched his fists, “Not you too…”  

He had never seen the white-haired man so honest, and serious. Of course they both knew they couldn’t swear to each other not to leave… after all, dying was a form of ‘leaving’, they both knew that too well.

“If you mean that I won’t change profession again, no, I won’t be doing that” although that didn’t sound very reassuring, for Gojo it looked like it did the trick, since he smiled, using the back of his hand to wipe his tears away like a child. The light breeze reminded him of the wet spot on his shoulder, and he couldn’t help but frown at it. “It’s going to take a while for it to dry…” 

“Sorry…” Gojo reached to rub it but Nanami swatted the hand away, “Don’t be, you need to let out your emotions more often anyway… just not on my shirt. This time I’ll let it pass” and he picked back up the glass he had put down to avoid spilling the contents, gulping what liquid it had left down.

The flip to his usual stoic attitude made the pale man smile, “Are you saying you will hold me again if I start crying, Nanamin?” he teased, Nanami knew he was teasing, “Yes, just don’t think too much about it” and the perfectly serious answer made Gojo’s subtle smile drop into a stunned one. Nanami got up and sighed, “I care about you, you dumbass. Maybe remember it next time you want to annoy me” and he entered back into the building. Leaving Satoru alone with the breeze once again. 

He smiled, whispering to the wind, “Thank you, Kento-Kun ” 

––

Once he entered back inside, he had slipped the blindfold back onto his eyes and proposed a group photo.

Nanami and Gojo made sure the first-year trio was standing close, and both of them at the extremes. 

That photo was added next to the one Gojo had in his room, framing the smiling and young features of Ieri, Geto, Haibara Nanami and Gojo.

Chapter Text

“So? How bad is it, doc?” Nanami kept his eyes closed, scared to see the gravity of the situation, “From here, not good, let me get a closer look” He heard Ieri shift around him, and once he heard her hiss, he knew he was in deep shit.

“Oh my… this is a big cut…” what was he going to do now? If the situation was that bad, how could he get back on the field? 

“Nanami-Kun, you should see this” he sighed, slowly opened his eyes and stared at the sigh in front of him, making his blood run cold:

His beloved jacket, damaged and dirty.

“This might be repairable… I can’t say the same thing for the trousers…” they both looked at his legs, almost completely exposed by the ruined and torn fabric. “You don’t have a spare change here at school, yeah?” he sighed, letting his head hit the wall behind him, shaking his head. “This can only mean one thing, Nanamin…” Oh how he loathed what this situation implied…

“I’ll go ask Ijichi if he can get one that fits you” she carefully laid out the ruined jacket on the nearby table and exited the room. As Nanami awaited his celestial punishment, he thought about how he got to this point

–––––––-

Five hours prior

“Absolutely not” he turned to the next page. 

“Oh come oooon!” the white-haired annoyance was sitting opposite of him, his head leaning back against the couch, “I forgot I promised Yaga-San to take care of that, and you know the higher up will bully me if I don’t do what they ask!” Nanami huffed, not holding back a smirk, “Serves you right” Gojo answered with a “Huh?! You’re so mean to me Na-na-min!” sitting properly on the couch. 

“All you have to do is accompany Maki and Toge, they know how to defend themselves– you won’t have to intervene!” the blonde man didn’t move his gaze from the paper, turning another page, “No” gaining even more complaints from Gojo.

He tried to bribe him into accepting, but Nanami was firm into not working more than he had to… until the sorcerer brought up an acceptable bargaining chip:

“I won’t annoy you for a week!” he finally looked at the man in the blindfold, quiet for a moment. 

“Two weeks” 

“Huuuuh?!” Gojo recoiled, “Two weeks?! That’s too long! I’ll miss you!” he pouted, resting his cheek into his palm, Nanami went back to the paper, “Then I won’t cover for you” the other man sighed, “Ten days, and instead of not annoying you– I will avoid you! How does that sound?”

Ten days without the presence of Gojo Satoru? That felt like a taste of heaven.

“Deal” He closed the paper and folded it as Gojo exclaimed, “Alright! The mission is in two hours, thank you Na-na-min~!” he bounce on his feet, teleporting somewhere.

This felt like a good deal.

Two hours later

This was not a good deal.

“Nanami-San! On your right!” The young Zen’in yelled out as she moved out of the way herself, the multitude of claws swiped without hitting anything.

“If we don’t exorcise this thing quickly–” she hit one of the claws, breaking it, “-We’ll be reduced to shreds!”

The curse they had to fight was strong– nothing too much, but both Maki and Nanami needed to get close to the enemy to hit it, and this one was surrounded by a milliard of claws, needled and blades. So when they got close enough to hit it, they had run away to avoid getting slashed. 

Toge had already downed a bottle of medicine therefore he needed to be careful about how much more he was going to use his voice.

“Inumaki-Kun, if you immobilize it, me and Zen’in will be able to finish it, it is hiding it pretty well, but your previous attacks have weakened it” Nanami’s clothes were already slashed in multiple places, the green-head had brought her polearm along, so her clothes were in a better state.

The boy only nodded at the plan, and once the two remaining sorcerers took a deep breath, they charged toward the enemy. One aiming at the right side, the other at the left.

Once they got close enough, they both covered their ears, Nanami using cursed energy to add another layer.

“Don’t move!”  

The curse froze and Nanami hit its weak point, Maki was staggered by the cursed speech, but recovered quickly, following up with a hit of her own. 

Finally, the curse, spazzing out, turned to dust. 

They all waited a moment to calm their breathing, taking in the faraway bustling of the city. Toge coughed, holding his throat.

“Oi… Nanami-San?” he turned to the girl, whose black uniform was littered with cuts, “I hope you have a spare suit or something back at HQ” He tilted his head in confusion and she pointed at his chest, “Those clothes aren’t doing much to cover you now” and he looked down, freezing as both blood, dirt and cuts littered his suit.

––––––––––––––––––

Present

The assistant manager knocked and entered the room,  wincing at the state Nanami’s clothes were in… and at the good amount of cuts on his skin, “I’m sorry to bring you only bad news, Nanami-San” said man sighed, “Like it could get any worse…” Ieri smiled at the comment.

“We don’t have a spare uniform your size available at the moment, so you have two options:” He took a deep breath, “You either borrow one of Gojo-San’s spare uniforms– which should fit you slightly large or you… borrow something out of his closet” 

Both Nanami and Ieri stared at Ijichi for a good minute in silence, but once the surprise of the news wore off, the two reacted in two very different ways:

“ Pfff… . HAHAhaha !” she burst out laughing, the man with the glasses almost joined her, but was able to control his emotions, Nanami on the other hand…

“What have I done to deserve this?” he stared up at the ceiling and spiralled into despair, “Why did I agree to substitute that idiot? It was his fault he forgot about the mission…” this under-breath mumbling made Ieri laugh even harder, tipping her chair back and holding her stomach. Ijichi was now giggling, “So… What will it be, Nanami-San?” the doctor added a humourous “Pick your hell, Nanamin~”

He tried to quickly think about an alternative, something that wouldn’t embarrass him as much. He could ask Ijichi to go get him some of his own clothes– but it had to be a suit, he prefered Gojo’s uniform to anything that wasn’t a suit. 

Thinking further, counting that his favourite suit was… well– not available, he had a normal black suit, but those you couldn’t wear unless you were a manager like Ijichi and Nitta, so the only available option was…

The business suit.

His old business suit.

Oh hell no.

“I doubt it will look good on me, but the less embarrassing option is the school uniform– but do not speak a word of this with that clown” he looked down from his mourning position to see Ijichi cringing, “Well… I had to ask for his permission to take one of his spare…” Nanami’s blood ran cold, “Actually- he was the one who said you could pick something out of his closet too”

He planned to see Kento in his clothes, just to make fun of him, oh no…

“But he’s on a mission on the other side of Japan. He won’t come back in time to see you” he tried to reassure him, but Ieri voiced his concern, “We’re talking about that dumbass here: He’s capable of finishing the mission in record time and teleporting back here just to see Nanami in his own clothes. He’s done much worse, so this would be nothing” she got up and opened the door, “If I was you, I’d dress up and immediately go home and change out of it as soon as possible” she left the room. Nanami agreed with her, but he was on ‘Watch-over-the-first years-train’ duty today, so it was bound to happen. No matter how much he would try and avoid it.

He sighed, “Just go get the stupid uniform please… I need to be somewhere in ten minutes…” And Ijichi ran off. Leaving Nanami to once again wonder why the universe wanted to embarrass him so badly today.

––––––––––––––––

Gojo’s uniform wasn’t a tight fit, purposely comfortable and suited for battle. So on Nanami, it behaved weirdly:

Being a little shorter than Gojo, he needed to cuff the slacks, and even so, they fell onto his shoe– not enough to trip him though. But where Gojo was taller, Nanami was a bit more built, so the shirt hugged his torso and shoulders perfectly, revealing his built form, but not more than one of his own shirts would. 

He examined the sight in the mirror, and remembered why he had refused to wear this once he started working as a sorcerer again: it made his eyes and hair stick out too much for his liking, no wonder Gojo liked it, he basked in the attention from others. 

It also sent a shiver down his spine as he realized the only thing that had changed about him, was the hairstyle. If it wasn’t for that, he would have looked the exact same as he did back then .

That was exactly what Ieri and Ijichi noted as soon as he joined them.

“It still looks good on you, Nanamin” the doctor smirked briefly, “The brown shoes do add a bit of spice to it” the assistant manager nodded.

“Thank you for bringing this to me, although I feel like I’m experimenting the walk of shame in-” he pointed at his clothes, “ These . Thankfully, It will be just for a couple more hours, goodbye” and he went on his way, more precisely, to the courtyard. 

It was safe to say Zen’in and Toge had already spread the word about his clothes being torn apart, because the first year just started laughing when they saw him and asked no more questions about it.

“I wasn’t expecting the school to have a uniform your size, Nanami-san. I’m pretty sure they had to custom made them for Gojo-Sensei” Megumi shifted his weight as his teammates rolled on the floor laughing, “And you are right, Fushiguro-kun. They don’t, this is…” he sighed, “One of Gojo’s uniform”, he fixed his glasses as the laughing stopped suddenly.

“Huuuh?!” Itadori yelled, “ That is Gojo-Sensei’s uniform?!” his classmate asked, “That doesn’t matter, what matters is that you all start training” and before they could talk back, Maki smacked them both with her polearm, “Yeah, get up idiots, I don’t have all day” and scoffed, getting everyone to stand up and start sparring. 

In all honesty, Nanami didn’t need to be there, the kids knew how to handle themselves. He was simply there to make sure that A, they didn’t play around, and B, they didn’t go too far or hurt each other, and give tips if needed of course. The hidden reason, reason C, was to make sure, in case Sukuna decided to pop in, he wouldn’t try anything funny. But he didn’t mind watching them, it was a way for him to relax while being paid, so what else could he ask for.

He secretly enjoyed hearing their banters and complaints– when he wasn’t the one in charge –because Maki’s simple technique of smacking them whenever they got too distracted was quite efficient, although, not approachable for the adults. 

While he was free, he called an old seamstress who usually mended his clothes without asking too many questions, and asked if she was free for a job, “Oh Nanami-Kun! You alone are a big part of my clients! I still have some leftover fabric from an older job, come leave the jacket here whenever you’re free” . He could buy a new pair of slacks, but the jacket needed to be repaired… if , it even could be repaired. 

Thankfully, his tie hadn’t got touched, nor did the shirt, they were just dirty. Even if the old lady fixed his jacket in record time, he would still need to wear his old suit for a while, at least a couple of days. 

He sighed, turning to look at Maki and Megumi throwing around Itadori and Yuuta. He needed to buy a new suit to have in case something like this happened again… but what colours? He liked his tie too much to change it, so it had to be a colour that went well with it… 

“ Ara Ara, Nanami-San~ You look wonderful in that uniform!” His blood froze as a familiar figure towered over his sitting form from behind. How did he finish his mission so fast?! Instinctively, he shoved his elbow back, “ Uff–! ” and hit the white-haired freak on the leg, “I lend you my clothes and this is how you repay me Kento-Kun?! That’s not a nice way to treat your Senpai!”, he will never admit he blushed at that, but he did, and Gojo smirked, “Shut up. It was either you lent me something or I had to wear my old work suit” 

The tall man sat next to him, “Huh? The dark-grey one with the thin vertical lines?” he crossed his legs, “Don’t you have another suit?” 

Namai took off his glasses, “I have a black one, but I can’t wear it” Gojo hummed, “So you only have three? I took you the type to have a lot of suits” 

Nanami rolled his eyes, “I don’t get paid as much as you, and nice suits are expensive” and so was his apartment, he had to change it eventually. Because of his old job, an apartment near his work location was nice, but it was a fancy area, he could save some money by moving into a more economical area. Plus, the school was off in the hills, so getting away from the centre of Tokyo wasn’t a bad idea.

“Hmm… Guess so” Gojo shifted so he had his elbows on his knees, and a hand holding his head. “At what time are you clocking out?” Nanami glanced at his watch, “As soon as they end practice” the white-haired man made a disappointed noise, and after a minute of silence, he sighed, “I’ll keep watch on them, you can go” Gojo didn't turn to look at Nanami, but Nanami did: he wasn't expecting that. 

It wasn’t that big of a deal to wait until they were done, but if he tried to say anything, Gojo could have potentially teased him or taken back the option. So Nanami stood up, “Thank you, I appreciate it. I'll return the uniform tomorrow” and started to walk away.

“You can keep it” Gojo was still staring at the students run around, “I know you don't like wearing your old suit, so if the uniform works better… Keep it. As a way of saying sorry that I didn't keep our deal”

This sudden wave of empathy from Gojo was starting to scare Nanami, but he simply scoffed, kinda angry that he did break the deal of avoiding him as soon as it had started. “If clothes serve their purpose, they’re good to be used. No matter if you like them or not” and walked away.

–––––––––––––––––

“My my, Nanami-Kun! I wish you told me what it is that you do to this poor jacket!” The kind lady running the place wasn’t as bothered by the state of his jacket, probably used to it by now, “You know that’s something I can’t do…” he grabbed his arm, looking away. This small place always made him feel vulnerable, mostly because there was no privacy, if someone else was in line, they would have heard everything. He always tried to pass in moments where the chances of meeting someone else were low. Like right now, no one was there apart from him, and yet, the smell of detergent, the old counter and the old lady examining his jacket made him uneasy… thank god the lady’s grandkid wasn’t there. She was a few years younger than Nanami and sometimes helped her granny, which resulted in awkward interaction due to the lady’s bad attempts at matchmaking them. 

“I’m sorry to say, Nanami-kun, but I can’t do anything this time, the fabric itself is damaged” she moved her glasses on her head and sighed, “You’ll have to throw this away”.

Well, he was half expecting this, but this meant he had nothing to wear for work for… how long the tailor would take to make another suit. Not counting the cost, which wasn’t going to be crazy expensive, but not cheap either…

He sighed too, “It’s fine, thank you for your time”. He really needed to move into a cheaper apartment. “Would you like me to throw this away for you?” He looked at his destroyed jacket and asked her if it wasn’t too much trouble for her to do so.

––––

“Two weeks minimum and the price is the same as last time” he entered his apartment with the phone to his ear, “Even if I listed it as an urgent commission, it would still take more than a week” Nanami sighed and confirmed the order, regardless of the waiting time. 

He b-lined for his room to grab something to change into, not wanting to stay in the borrowed clothes more than needed. 

After a hot shower and a warm meal, which managed to cheer him up despite the circumstances, he opened his closet to see if he had an alternative to… the suit.

He wasn’t in lack of white shirts, and he could have used plain black slacks… what he missed was a non-black jacket, the alternative was a sweater, but there was no way he was wearing that to work… using a vest was a bad idea, he would get cold quickly, a coat was bad for the opposite reason, it would get too hot, plus, he only had long coats, fighting in one of those could get annoying. Matching the black dress slacks and the top of the uniforms wasn’t a good idea either due to the different shades of black and materials.

Giving up, he went to bed knowing that tomorrow he was bound to wear his old suit.

–––––––––––––––––––––

Good thing that there weren’t many mirrors around the school, either way, he would have avoided all of them at any cost. The first thing he did was bring Gojo his uniform. He wasn’t in his room, so he left it to Ichiji, who thankfully said no comment on his temporary outfit. Although, he did feel his eyes on him a couple of times. He sighed, it was to be expected, this looked nothing like his usual beige suit. His old red tie wasn’t as pretty as his favourite one too. 

He passed the courtyard on his way to his health check-up, where the sunshine child and the sunshine protectors were all doing their own things, “Oh! Good morning, Nanami-san!”. He tensed up at the thought of being seen by his the students. Itadori waved with a big smile on his face, Kugisagi and Fushiguro also greeted him.

He expected at least a comment on the new look, Itadori was the type to ask questions quite freely after all, but nothing. He didn’t know if to feel disappointed or relieved.

Thankfully, he met no one on his way to see Ieri, she was also kind enough to not comment on it either…

…Until the end of the visit.

“You seem more on edge than usual, Nanami-San” She said it so casually Kento wanted to throw her a glance, but she seemed genuinely worried if her frown wasn’t saying anything, “You’re never fully relaxed here at work, but today you seem especially on edge” She kept looking back and forth from his face to the paper she was scribbling on, “Do you wanna talk about it?” 

Not really… 

She read the thought on his face and sighed, “I’m aware you don’t like talking about yourself, but it may help” she shrugged, and while he buttoned his shirt on and she set about putting what she had used back in place, he sighed, “It’s… the only other suit I have that I can use for work is… the suit I used when I worked…” she leaned on the hospital bed in front of him, crossing both her legs and arms, “It looks plainer than your usual Jujutsu sorcerers get-up, but… it doesn’t look bad on you” while the compliment was genuine, that wasn’t the problem.

“It’s a simple suit, but… the memories it holds aren’t pleasant” Ieri hummed, “The check-up is done, you’re back on active duty. Something tells me they’ll get you a mission soon” she moved away from Nanami to sit at her desk, lighting up a cigarette, “I’m going out to drink tonight, you’re welcome to join me” and after taking a drag, she started looking over papers. 

Nanami didn’t reply then, but as the day went on he was seriously considering taking up her offer.

He found an empty desk and started working on the report of his previous mission: where the curse had been found, what could be noted of its behaviour or aspect and praising the two second-year students that helped him. 

After proofreading it, he allowed his weight to push the chair down, stretching his arms and opening his eyes to look at the ceiling.

Huh… why do I remember the ceiling to have panels?”

After a moment his eyes shot wide open and he almost fell off the chair because of the sheer speed he sat up with. 

Desk, computer, the chair, the ceiling… his suit.

A shiver ran down his spine.

What somewhat calmed him down was his green glasses sitting by his hand, and well, the lack of other desks and big windows in the room. Either way, he was quick to send the report and shut down the computer, leaving the room that had reminded him of a nightmare.

On his way out, he found Ichiji with the phone to his ear, and as he stopped at the sight of Nanami, his phone rang. 

But the manager smiled awkwardly, “That’s me, I was just about to inform you of your new mission, and it’s urgent”

Well, at least while in a fight he couldn’t have the time to think about his past workplace. 

They headed for the car immediately.

“It’s a first grade located in a hospital, although it has become agitated and it's starting to make everyone see things” they were already halfway to the location, in the middle of the city traffic, “It has recently started a small fire and everyone was safely evacuated, this is the first opening for us to work without civilians in the way”. He wasn't a stranger to exercising curses around civilians, but it was always easier if there were none around, “You have very little time before people will suspect something is going on. I’ll cast a curtain as soon as we arrive and please be quick, the curse should be around floor three or four”

A job against the clock, although overtime was nowhere close. He nodded and closed his eyes, with focus, this wouldn't be difficult.

They arrived, parked in the middle of fire trucks and Ichiji was already casting the curtain as he got out of the car, Nanami wasted no time talking to anyone and entered the building.

Apparently, the fire was put out before major damage was done, but the fourth floor was quite burnt, that’s where he decided to go first.

The odour wasn’t unbearable, but it stank. Walking around, peeking into each room he started searching for the curse.

Every now and then a chill ran down his spine: the knocked over chairs, scattered objects and the very little light that filtered in from the small windows, it made it seem like the place was abandoned. He thought of turning on the lights since the corridor was quite dark, but he doubted the lights worked and never touched the switch anyway.

A rank one, it showed since there was dead silence, he couldn't even see the marks of curse energy.

He sighed and descended one floor.

There, he found a tiny trail of blood on the ceiling, and since Ijichi has said no one died, it was quite obvious he was on the right floor.

More carefully, he checked each room: first left, then right, then left, then right, then—

A small flame was peacefully burning in the middle of the room, nothing burning at the base of it.

Found it

Slowly and quietly he grabbed a towel nearby and threw it on the blaze, which seemed to piss off the curse since it fell down in front of him and hissed. It was a red and black blob with claws and little legs.

Nanami observed it and immediately searched for his weak spot noticing a—

He also discovered it spat fire as he almost got burned, backpedalling to the left to lure it into the hallway.

The thing must have been slow since it took a while for it to catch up, so– in hope to wrap it up quickly –he patiently waited for it to walk past the door to catch it off guard.

It worked.

As soon a little of its skin (if you can even call it that) showed, he ran at it and slashed. The curse growled but it missed its fiery breath, allowing him to get another critical hit in.

“Y-you’re already done?!” Ichiji was parked next to the entrance, Nanami opened the door, entered the car and sighed, the curtain fell, “It wasn't accustomed to its powers, it probably became a grade 1 right before the fire” the assistant manager nodded, started the car and drove off. 

In the end, he did take up Ieri’s offer.

Sitting at the end of the counter on a spot they both frequented from time to time, sipping on probably their third glass of whiskey, chatting casually, both deciding to ignore the knocked out Gojo, sleeping.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t take you for the type to be affected this much by memories” Nanami’s jacket was folded on his lap, shirt’s sleeves rolled up and glasses on the counter, “I am sensitive for the… impactful things” the doctor was simply without her white coat, cross-legged and swirling the amber liquid, “I guess as a sorcerer you do need to grow a thick skin and a strong mindset if you don’t want to break” They all had it, hiding their weakness far back to only hear it as an echo, but mental health was important. “I guess that’s also why we’re still all single too huh” she mumbled, Nanami hummed, “Do you want a child, Ieri-san?” The ‘if we don’t die before that’ bit was obvious, “Not really” a break while taking a sip, “Already take care of people for a living” she nodded at him, “You?” he sighed after taking a sip himself, “I…wouldn’t mind. But before I even start dating I’d prefer to quit” she seemed to understand, nodding for a few seconds, “Why do I feel like the one that gets laid the most here it’s him” and Gojo snored loudly at that, making her smile and him shake his head, “Probably because he doesn’t take anything seriously” It would never not be funny that he was the lightweight between them.

They ended up calling Ichiji to bring him home.

–––––––––––––––––––––

The next few days were uneventful, a couple of low-grade missions, watching over the students and occasionally accompanying them in missions. Although every time he passed by a mirror or window, he was reminded about his clothes, and of course, their history.

It was even worse when he was on… ‘Babysitting’ duty, which was watching over the first years for a mission not far away from where he worked before. They had already finished and all of them were hungry, so when thinking if he knew of a close-by place, he realised he was uncomfortably close to the bakery he used to grab lunch at when working as a salaryman. “Nothing comes to mind” he pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and Itadori seemed displeased, “Ugh but I’m hungry…” the girl of the group was looking at her phone, “There’s a bakery nearby” his blood froze, “It has good reviews too…” she scrolled a bit more, biting her lip, “Yeah, I’ll guide you all to that” and they marched forward, he sighed and followed them.

He was not entering that bakery. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, he just didn’t need to get reminded of his old job more than everything in this past week had, not that the familiar buildings and streets were helping. Gladly, the first-years didn’t seem to notice his discomfort.

“Do you want anything Nanami-san?” Itaodori asked him before the trio entered, “I’m good. I’ll wait outside” and almost physically recoiled as the familiar bell on top of the door went off. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in… and out. 

What a hell of a week…

While he avoided looking at the store he browsed some unread emails, although most of them were spam, so he was quick to put his phone away when the trio exited, “Thank you again!” Nobara waved and smiled, all of them were holding something, but Megumi had two wrapped goodies, “The lady recognized you, Nanami-san” he froze, “And gave us this for free, she seemed very happy” he hadn’t recovered from the shock when Yuuji dropped another boulder on him, “We asked if she wanted to talk to you, but said it wasn’t necessary, weird…” he munched on his snack, “And you said you didn’t know this place!” he opted to defend himself by saying he hadn’t realized it was this close, but was stopped before he could justify himself, “The lady said you helped her a while back, man, it must be thought working while pregnant” Nobara hummed, walking ahead, the other two doing the same.

Life passes huh…

He gave a small smile as he unwrapped the food and realized it was his usual back in the day.

Maybe this week isn’t that bad.

––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Oooi! Na-Na-Min !” 

He suddenly had the strong urge to disappear.

A sigh, “What do you want from me?” he lowered the newspaper he was reading to see the white-haired freak turn the corner, hands in his pocket and a dangerous grin on his face, “You’re free, correct?” he rolled his eyes, “I am clearly not”, he turned to the next page, “But reading can be postponed yeah?” the tall man towered over him comfortably sitting, “Why would I?” and as he was about to start reading again, the paper got snatched from his hands, bringing it where even standing on his toes he would have never reached, “Because me and the students want to show you something! Come on, get up!” he was grinning, teasingly. 

Another sight, “Fine, I’ll do it for them” and while Gojo made a displeased noise, he still led the way.

A bunch of red flags started waving in his brain as he saw them all standing next to the open door of a bathroom, smiling or giving a thumbs up to their teacher.

“Alright then!” said man spun to face him, clapping his hands, “We and the kids have got a gift for you” 

Oh this was all a big red herring.

“As an apology for not giving you one earlier this year. Gojo-san did forget to tell us your birth date” Megumi pointed out, “And also because we appreciate that you accompany us on missions!” the golden child gave a warm smile, “I appreciate the thought” he pushed up his glasses, “But there was no need to… “ he kept an eye on Gojo, who was barely holding hidden a smirk.

What prank was it going to be for everyone to be on it? Zen’in and Fushiguro didn’t seem the types to collaborate on a prank, they would definitely show it if they were forced to play along with scoffs and rolls of eyes… But they both seemed normal.

“It was a group effort, even Ichiji-san and Ieri-san contributed” Okkotsu said as he walked forward and handed a blank paper bag, “Soooo… now go in and try it!” Gojo exclaimed, putting an arm around Nanami’s shoulder, “Try…It?” he replied, side-eyeing his coworker, “Yup! Now go!” And he was suddenly shoved into the bathroom, almost losing balance and falling on the toilet, “Really hope you like it!” Panda exclaimed, “And the colour too!” That was Kugisaki if the muffle caused by the door didn’t fool him. 

The group exploded into low cheerful whispers, leaving Nanami with his presumed ‘gift’ into his hands locked in the bathroom. While it still did seem like a prank to him, he opted to open the bag before complaining.

He dropped the bag onto the sink and pulled out a medium-sized black rectangular box, closed with a golden ribbon, with the bag on the ground, he undid the bow and… wait.

A fancy golden logo was staring back at him, and Nanami was fairly sure he had heard the name before. They said he had to “Try it on”, so it had to be clothes, it was too thin to be shoes, so that left…

… No…it couldn’t be. They didn’t know his taste, nor his measurements for that reason.

He took off the lid and discarded the paper veil hiding the clothes.

There was absolutely no way–

A small “Hand-made by our tailours with pure, sustainably farmed, high-quality cotton” card hid– Nanami moved it aside just to really take in what he was looking at– a light blue/grey suit with similar coloured buttons sat in the box, even with the poor lighting of the bathroom he could tell it was high quality if the rest didn’t give it away. 

He stared in awe at his gift, how much must have this cost?! And in this little time? They must have asked for priority, and that’s pricey… not counting the brand name…There was no way the kids could have paid for all that by themselves.

“Don’t you have another suit?” 

Namai took off his glasses, “I have a black one, but I can’t wear it” Gojo hummed, “So you only have three? I took you the type to have a lot of suits” 

Nanami rolled his eyes, “I don’t get paid as much as you, and nice suits are expensive” 

Oh…

You fool…

He smiled softly and put the gift down, discarding his jacket and undoing the tie.

–––––––––––––––––––-

As he changed, the question of how they got his measurements popped into his mind, but they did say Ieri had helped, and she definitely had them somewhere in her papers.

He walked in front of the mirror and analyzed how it looked on him: He had a white shirt on him at the moment, but he had a black shirt that would fit better the colour, his tie wasn’t also the most adapt, but it didn’t look half bad, surely his usual one would look better.

The suit felt and looked nice, it fit him right, and it actually felt more comfortable than his usual one, probably because it felt (and probably was) a tiny bit bigger.

He opened the door– that wasn’t locked to his disbelief –and stepped in front of the waiting students and teacher, “Wooow! Nanami-san you look great!” Yuuji exclaimed, Inumaki agreed with a “Salmon” and a nod, “I knew Carolina blue would look great with your blonde hair and green lenses” Kugisaki crossed her arms, looking proud, “You do realize Gojo-san and I eyed it first, right?” Fushiguro mumbled, getting the girl to act defensive. 

“My my! You look handsome Nanamin” Gojo stepped up to him and smiled, “Happy very late birthday!” he got closer to fix an invisible crease, “Since you wouldn't accept my clothes…” he whispered, gaining a wide-eyed state and a slight blush, Gojo grinned and turned to the students, “Mission complete everyone!” they all seemed so happy… It was… Cute, very cute. Seeing them all like this made a small smile bloom on his face.

“Oh look! He’s smiling!” He brought a hand to cover the faint blush on his cheeks, “No I'm not…” and with this opportunity, Gojo started teasing him to  hell and back.

Somehow he managed to actually hit him, and that was the end of a day Nanami wouldn't forget easily.