* * *

The next school morning went on as usual. But when Megumi spotted Yuuta in the hallway, he ran away from him, before Yuuta saw him, so he could avoid him. He really didn't want to say anything to Yuuta, or get talked into seeing his family. 

He knew that he would have to face them eventually. But if he could avoid for the time being, then he would.

During class, Megumi and Yuuji were sitting beside each other, listening to the lecture like normal. And then Megumi poked Yuuji in the shoulder with the back of his pencil. Yuuji turned to look at him. 

Megumi tore out a small piece of paper from his notebook and wrote on it, then he placed it on Yuuji's desk. Then Yuuji picked it up and read it. It read:

Meet me at the back of staircase Y at lunch. I need to talk to you. 

⤜-------⤛

They met up at the back of the staircase.

Megumi was at a breaking point. At first was going to keep it all in, since he didn't like confiding in people, but this time he felt like if he didn't rant to someone then he would explode.

Plus, even though they only had one conversation, Megumi could tell. That Yuuji was the only one who really listened. 

"So everything turned to shit yesterday," Megumi started off the conversation. Yuuji hadn't even taken his lunch out of his bag yet.

"Why what happened?" Yuuji asked. 

"A lot of stuff. I'm not in the mood to get into details. But my future has already gone to shit. So I'm planning on running away." He told Yuuji.

"Wait, really?" Yuuji asked again, slightly disbelieving. "Are you really going to run away? Where will you go? What about school? Where will you live?"

Megumi thought about it, then said, "I haven't thought about all the details. But it'll be away from all of my family members, that's for sure. Maybe I'll drop out of high school and get some random ass job."

Yuuji shook his head. "That really doesn't sound like a good idea. You don't even know where you're going, or how you plan on living. I don't know what happened, but I think you should just finish high school so you at least have a diploma and then move away-"

"That'll take too long!" Megumi interrupted him. "I can't take any more of this bullshit. I'm going to go insane if I have to keep putting up with them. I need to leave, or at least I need to do something."

Was it really that bad that Megumi had to run away? Yuuji wondered.

"You said do something right? Then you should look at other options other than run away." He suggested. 

It was hard for Yuuji to propose any solutions without knowing any of the details. "Like, uh, for example, if there's an obstacle in the way, then maybe instead of running away from that obstacle, maybe you could try removing it! Or working around it."

"That sounds cryptic as hell." Megumi responded. "You're just repeating what we heard in class aren't you?"

"Yeah," Yuuji admitted. "I don't really know what else to tell you though," he said sadly.

Megumi decided to give it some thought anyway. If the object was Yuuta, then instead of running away from him, he could try removing him out of the picture instead. There had to be something to get him to stop. But Megumi already thought of that option, nothing he did seemed to work. 

And then suddenly Megumi got an idea. A weird one, but one that might actually work. 

"What if we date?" Megumi asked.

"Huh?" Yuuji looked at him, confused.

"It's a good idea!" Megumi said more enthusiastically. "We don't have to really date, we can just fake date. If I have a fake boyfriend then Yuuta will have to leave me alone! Can you be my fake boyfriend? It might end up lasting for a long time though, until around graduation. Just until I can leave this place."

Yuuji was iffy about the idea. "I-how will that work? This is confusing me. How do you even 'fake date' in the first place?"

"When we're alone together, we don't need to act differently, we can just be friends." Megumi explained. "But when we're in public, especially when Yuuta sees us, we need to act close or else he won't lay off me." 

"I don't know if this is a good idea." Yuuji said.

"Please." Megumi pleaded with him. "You told me that I needed to face my problems instead of avoiding them when we were at the Udon shop. So this is exactly what I'm doing. This is the solution."

"Are you sure that you are actually solving your problems this way or are you using this as an elaborate way to escape them again?" Yuuji remarked.

Megumi was speechless. He had a point. 

"Just help me." He requested. "I know it's a lot of trouble. I can give you money for it." Even though it's my dad's money but I don't give a fuck, Megumi thought. 

"What!?" Yuuji said. "No. I don't want to be paid for it. I don't even know if I want to do it in the first place." Yuuji wanted to help Megumi, but he didn't know if he should go along with Megumi's plan. 

"Then," Megumi had an idea. "You have to do it because you owe me. I paid for your udon noodles that time." He smirked.

Yuuji took out some change from his pocket, which were only a few coins. "Then I'll just pay you back-"

"¥23,500 (213 USD)" Megumi blurted out. "¥3,500 for each bowl, which is ¥17,500 because you ate five bowls, and and extra ¥6,000 for appetizers, and you ate three appetizers." 

Yuuji was startled. "H-how is it that expensive!? That's insane!" He cried. "I, um, uhh," Yuuji went into a panic, flailing his arms up and down.

 ¥23,500 wasn't a lot, well, at least not to Megumi, but he guessed for the average high school student it was pretty expensive.

"Here's the receipt." Megumi took out a piece of paper from his wallet and handed it to Yuuji. "Normally the prices don't get that high at regular udon shops but we did go to an upscale one. It was even voted best udon of the area for four years in a row. It's no surprise that it ended up costing this much."

Yuuji was speechless. He couldn't pay him back, especially because of his current situation. He thought that paying for the udon was a favor that Megumi did for him, but Yuuji figured that nothing in life came that easily. 

And there was a part of him that also felt bad for Megumi. If Megumi was going this far to have a fake boyfriend because he couldn't think of any other option, it sounded like he was in a bad place in his life.

"Okay, deal." Yuuji agreed to Megumi's plan. "And if I do this, then I won't have to pay you back right?"

"Of course." Megumi responded.

"And....one more condition," Yuuji added.

"What is it?" Megumi asked.

"You have to keep taking me out to restaurants around the area." Yuuji felt a bit spoiled by requesting something like this, but he was also new here and wanted to try out the different foods around Tokyo. On top of that he didn't have money to spend going to different places. 

"Deal." Megumi said. 

"Really?" Yuuji asked.

"Yeah. I've got the money. It's not a problem." Megumi said. It was actually a benefit for him, because now he had another excuse he could use if Yuuta ever forced him to hang out again. He could just say he was going on a date with his boyfriend to a restaurant. 

"Man I'm jealous." Yuuji said wistfully. "If only I could say that. 'Money's not a problem'. You sound like a rich kid." He looked on with envy.

"Well you're not wrong, my family is well off. But they'll probably cut me off soon." Megumi told him.

"They'll cut you off? Why?" Yuuji inquired. 

"Nevermind." Megumi dismissed it. "That's not something I'm going to get into." He brushed the topic aside.

Megumi continued. "Anyways since we're dating, we'll need to address each other by our first names so we seem close, otherwise it won't seem believable. You can call me Megumi. And I'll call you Yuuji."

Yuuji. Something about being called by his first name made Yuuji feel a bit giddy. Maybe it was also because he's never had a close friend call him like that before.

"Okay." Yuuji smiled. "Then I'll call you Megumi. That's a nice name," He complimented. "I think I read it a book somewhere that it means blessings." It suits him, Yuuji thought.

"Ugh," Megumi scoffed.

"Is that a bad thing?" Yuuji asked, confused.

"Yeah. I just got reminded of some annoying memories. I hate my name." Megumi said, with no emotion in his voice.

"I think it suits you though," Yuuji told him. "You seem blessed. I mean you're smart and good-looking and rich and-"

"Stop." Megumi interrupted him and shot him a dirty look. "Don't say anything more. If this is fake dating thing is going to work between us, you can't mention that again."

"Oh, uh, okay. Sorry." He apologized. Yuuji guessed that if he asked anymore about it, Megumi would just close himself off. "I won't talk about it anymore." He promised. "Before I offend you anymore, are there any other topics that I avoid or things you don't want me to do?"

Megumi was in disbelief that there was someone willing to respect his boundaries. Yuuta, his friends, even his own family didn't do that. Itadori Yuuji was a diamond in the rough, or so it seemed. 

"Wow, you really are a considerate guy." Megumi said, with the faintest hint of a smile. "Thanks for asking." 

Megumi thought about his answer, and then told him, "No family talk. Well, it's okay if you want to tell me about your family or yourself, but don't expect the same from me. If you hear any weird rumors just ignore them and don't ask me about them. And, well, that's pretty much it."

"Okay, got it." Yuuji mentally noted it. 

"So do you want to hang out after school?" Megumi asked him.