"So there was a note?"

"For the eighteenth time, Gojo, yes. She told you there was a note."

"I just want to make sure I'm understanding this all correctly, Megumi!"

"What more is there to understand? It was a freak fucking anomaly, not a surprise when you invite every sorcerer known to man to the one event!"

Megumi and Gojo had been bickering back and fourth for what felt like hours at that point, I receded into myself in one of the foyer chairs, wishing to god I could take the damn heels Nobara forced me to wear off.

"What do you think about it all, Ayane?" Gojo asked toward the end of their squabbling.

"I mean, I'm not sure. It's weird. And personal. But I can't imagine what for?"

The room fell into silence, all of us deliberating in our own minds about the events when we got interrupted by Shoko and the principal entering the room.

"Trace amounts of poison found on the dead birds," Shoko said plainly, looking at me, "Looks like someone was trying to counteract your healing prowess. It's widely known in the sorcerer world that even those who can use healing or reversed curse techniques usually can't handle poison."

"Definitely targeted, then," I sighed, letting the adults debate about the situation, listening to Megumi throw his two cents in every once in a while. I sat with my face in my palms.

"She's a risk, Gojo. I told you, I didn't want you bringing anymore risks to my door," said principal Yaga.

Immeasurable guilt struck up through my throat, hindering me from even speaking. It was probably true. No, definitely true. Without Gojo at all times, I was a risk. I knew it, he knew it. I think to an extent, Megumi knew it as well. It was all luck that I didn't burn Megumi to ashes earlier. Hell, I even had trouble most training sessions not burning my own clothes.

"Look at her sweet face," Gojo delighted as he walked over behind me, pinching my cheeks, "This girl is not a risk. We'll protect her. We agreed on this before she begun here."

"You are the reason I get headaches," the principal sighed, pinching his nose. I couldn't help but feel worse. I looked over to Megumi who shot me a reassuring glance.

What do I do?

I could go back to Tokyo, find some sort of job. Now that I knew more about curses and all the fun things that came with them, it'd be okay and I'd probably be able to carry myself for the most part. Actually, there didn't really seem like an alternative when I thought about it.

"I can leave, if that's what you want," I said shyly, hoping they'd disagree. I didn't want to leave, but if it was causing so many people stress, I'd rather go elsewhere.

The principal looked down, crafting his words gently so it seemed. He probably wanted me to go. Megumi's face dropped and he gripped onto my arm, about to speak.

"Under no circumstances," Gojo replied sternly. Perhaps the sternest I'd ever heard him.

Thank god.

Megumi's grip on my arm loosened, and I looked up to him, nodding a silent thank you for the support. I caught Gojo's eyes under his black sunglasses shifting between us.

Principal Yaga nodded and addressed me directly, "You'll remain here on campus for the foreseeable. No outings. No wanderings. No missions. We need to monitor you."

At least I don't need to go back to the streets.

"You're not serious?" Megumi piped up.

"Megumi..." Gojo warned.

"No, fuck that! Why should she have to shell up because you're all afraid of a few birds? Isn't our job to go and kill curses for a living? Why are we drawing a line here?"

"Megumi, it's okay," I tried to soothe him. He was furious.

"No, it isn't okay!" he was the most serious I'd ever seen him, "You people will do anything to avoid a kicking from higher-ups. Even if it means denying someone their autonomy."

"Young ma-"

"Whatever, this is bullshit," Megumi interrupted principal Yaga as he walked out of the foyer and headed to the dorms.

"That kid has got some issues," Shoko remarked.

"Tell me about it. Try raising him."

I decided not to chase Megumi after he stomped off. I was surprised that of all the hills to die on, he chose the one where it was about me. I pushed it to the back of my mind as Principal Yaga went over all the logistics of 'monitoring' me.

No cameras would be involved in my room because that was deemed too invasive which I politely agreed with, but I would be limited to only the dorm areas, with supervised garden walks daily. I could choose who I wanted to visit my room, but I had to have a guest book. It kind of felt like what I imagined prison would be like.

But I didn't care.

I had a roof over my head.

After everything was all said and done and the principal and Shoko had left, Gojo came over to the couch I was curled up on and sat beside me.

"Trouble in paradise?" he smirked.

"What does that mean?"

"Ah, it's just a saying. What I'm meaning is...you and Megumi."

I blankly stared at him, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on," he pushed my shoulder lightly, "Don't be coy now. You can tell your teacher."

"I feel like if I'm telling anyone about my love life, the last person I should be telling is my teacher," I huffed.

"Hah! You said love life!"

Fuck.

"I didn't mean tha-"

"I know what you mean, young Ayane. Alas, perhaps you and Megumi are fated in the stars, yes?"

Blank stare.

"Gojo, do we have to do this?"

He giggled like a school girl, "Well, I'd usually say no. But I did raise Megumi, I want the best for him."

"Is this a 'don't hurt my sons feelings or I'll hurt you' type conversation?"

"Ah!" he hollered, "'My son', that's hilarious. But no, I want you both do to what you want to do. Youth is fleeting and I want all of my students to experience it to the fullest extent."

I cringed at the implications, "Then what is this?"

"Just...be careful."

"You got it," I replied reluctantly with my thumbs up, silently ushering him to remove himself as fast as possible.

I thought I was clear of him until...

"Oh, before I forget," he remembered, peeking his head around the door frame that he was oh-so-close to leaving, "The girls told me you don't have a phone, is that right?"

"That's right."

"We'll need to rectify that. You'll be bored in your room all day."

And with that, he sauntered away.

Not like I can go out and buy one now, is it?!

---

Since the night of the fateful lock down a week ago, I'd spent most of my isolation in the training room. My flames had become more manageable and I was able to hit targets accurately without blowing the place up. But I was getting frustrated. If it wasn't so ironic, I'd probably refer to myself as a caged bird. Upskilling made me want to go all out but there was only so much I could do within the confines of the tatami matted training room.

Even out in the garden, I wasn't free to roam. I couldn't practise harnessing my wings that Gojo was sure I had because there wasn't high enough elevation points to start from. I truly thought I'd be okay with the feigned imprisonment, but having that little taste of freedom really opened my eyes to how big the world truly was. I wanted to spread my wings and fly, or however the saying goes. It made me think of Megumi and I's fish conversation.

I hadn't heard from most of my classmates or fellow students, either. Everyone was off for their break, so most were out and about, doing different activities each day. I even overheard Inumaki and Yuuji heading towards the beach one day.

That was another thing, Yuuji. He hadn't spoken to me at all since that night. I didn't know if I'd monumentally fucked our friendship up by stranding him on the dancefloor, or he was just busy. It was hard to say.

Whilst staring into space during my training session, I could hear the second years outside on the field, running and having fun. I was craving company.

I hit the dummy harder with my flames, shooting off in repeated motions till the frustration became too much and I started just straight using my fists, then my legs, then my whole body weight till the practise dummy was on the ground.

"Bad week?"

I turned around to see the face I'd been missing the most, "Megumi!"

He smiled and headed over to me, "What's going on?"

"Oh, you know," I smiled back, "Incarceration and what not. Where you been?"

"I was out of town on a mission this week. Sorry I couldn't talk to you, I was gonna text you but I don't have your number."

I tried to hide the excitement I felt when he admitted he wanted to text me, "Oh, I don't even have a phone yet," I laughed, "I really need to get one. Haven't been able to go out since we got our allowance, though."

He was kind of shocked, "You don't have a phone?"

"Nope."

"Shit, fair enough," he laughed.

"Did your mission go well?"

"Well, to be honest, something weird did happen that I wanted to talk to you about."

He had a sort of guilty look on him which made me worried, "What's up?"

"It's nothing too crazy, it's just I was in a fight with a curse - which looked so odd. Remember that mission we did? You said the curses were so human?" I nodded and he continued, "Yeah, it was like one of them again. Well, I assume. Anyways, it had me pinned and it took hold of my wrist and..."

He handed over what used to be my bracelet that I'd put on him at the ball. It was in pieces.

"Shit," I sighed, "That sucks. What was so weird about it, though?"

He seemed somewhat surprised about my nonchalant nature regarding him breaking my bracelet, but I was going to tell him it was fine after he spit out whatever he was holding in, "It started chanting when it caught hold of it."

"Chanting?" I asked, perplexed, "Chanting what?"

"Well..."

"Megumi, come on. I won't be frightened. What is it?"

He bit his lip and took a pause before answering, "It grabbed it off me and started chanting 'phoenix, phoenix, phoenix'. It gave me a chance to exorcise it because it was so focused on it."

I stared at the ground, furrowed brows, "Huh?" was the only intelligible thing I could think of to say.

"I know. So weird. I'm in two minds to tell Gojo because I don't want you holed up here even more."

"Yeah," I sighed, "It's been pretty shitty. But it's not the end of the world. Hopefully these weird events can stop soon. Maybe I can go out and buy a new phone and get my bracelet fixed eventually."

I sat on the floor and he sat in front of me, "So. You wanna get out of here?"

"More than anything," I laughed, "I'm sure they'll figure out what to do with me soon."

His eyes shifted, "I'm serious. I'll sneak you out."

I giggled pushing his shoulder playfully, "Yeah, very good. That would be fun."

He caught my wrist as I pulled back, catching me by surprise, "I'm serious. Do you want to?"

"Megumi..." I began, "How in the hell do you think we can sneak out of this facility? I get monitored every day and night. People stand by my door and everything sometimes. Shit, who knows what'll happen to you or me if we go out."

His boyish smirk made me nervous, "Maki's on duty tonight, right?"

"Till ten, yeah..."

"Well I'll tell her to play dumb and I'll sneak you out with my shadow technique."

I stared at him, wide-eyed, "You're not serious?"

"I've told you about three times already, I am. I want to take you out of here."

My heart felt full. His thoughtfulness made me happy, but I couldn't help but still have anxiety. If what he told me about his curse encounter was true, surely going out would be a recipe for disaster.

"I mean, I want you to take me too. But what if Maki doesn't agree?"

"She will, it's Maki. Rebellion is her favourite thing, next to causing pain."

I nodded, "Very true."

I ignored all the warning flags and decided, 'fuck it, I'm going out'.

We headed back to my dorm where Maki was in fact waiting outside, idly scrolling on her phone.

"Yo, I'm taking Ayane out for a bit. Cover for us?"

He's so casual about it!

I stared at Maki who slowly looked up from her phone, anticipating a big fat 'no'.

"Why don't I trust you, Megumi?" she asked, eyeing him up, "Where are you taking her?"

"Out."

"How blasé. I need details." Excellent word choice, Maki!

"Well, wherever she wants to go, I guess. I don't want her to be housebound forever. She needs some time out."

Maki looked between the two of us as I gave her the most pleading eyes I possibly could.

"Fine," she huffed after a long time, "But you protect her with your life, yeah? She had to save your ass from a flock of birds. Aren't you supposed to be some kind of animal tamer?"

Megumi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, I'm not. But she'll be fine. She wants a new phone."

Maki delighted a little, "Well, we'll finally be able to text. Okay, well I guess I'll have to let you go, then."

I smiled and pulled her in for a hug which she did pull back from a little, only because she wasn't the touchy-feely type, "Thanks so much, Maki. You're the fucking best."

She shrugged it off and ushered us inside of my dorm so we'd be able to sneak out freely.

"I'm just going to hop in the shower and get ready real quick, is that okay?" I asked Megumi, acutely aware of how much I was sweating all over the place from my training session.

"Sure. I'll wait here."

"No reading my diaries or any other weird shit!" I shouted as I hopped into my en-suite, taking clothes in with me to change. Megumi just laughed in response.

He better not read them. I've definitely written a passage or two about him at some point.

I didn't spend too long in the shower, opting for just a body one considering I'd washed my hair that morning. Although, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't putting the work in, using the expensive stuff that Nobara told me to buy. Very perfume-y.

Throwing my clothes on, I hopped out of the steaming room to find Megumi sitting at the edge of my bed as if the rest of it was lava, or something.

"You look comfortable," I joked, hanging up my towels on the racking to dry.

"I don't want to impose."

I smiled, clipping my hair up and standing in front of him, "Okay, let's do this."

He nodded and stood up, putting his hands on my waist which made me flush, but I tried to tell myself it was just because of the shower.

"You might not be able to breathe, so take a deep breath."

I nearly nodded but I was cut off by being enveloped in darkness.

My body felt so cold and unweighted, it was so peculiar, and the next thing I knew...

"Welcome to the city."

---

It was so nice to feel some air again, even if it was heavily polluted, city air.

Megumi and I had been walking around for a little whilst I tried to regain my balance after shadow travelling. It really took it's toll on me for some reason!

"Here's our first stop," Megumi said as he gestured to the Apple store.

"Shit, okay! I've only ever looked at these places from the outside, they look way too swanky for me to go in."

He laughed and patted me on the back gently, "Well your a Jujutsu High student now, nothing is too swanky for you."

I smiled and entered the brightly lit, hyper-sanitised store.

"It's like a spaceship."

"You're like a little kid, sometimes," he laughed, "Come on, let's go ask one of the workers to set you up."

We headed over to one of the friendly employee's who took care of everything for me, down to the case and accessories. I embarrassed myself a couple of times by questioning the phone jargon I'd never heard before. Forgive me, phone store man for never owning a device! How the hell am I supposed to know what iOS is?! Luckily, Megumi and the worker laughed lightly at my incompetence instead of making me feel too insecure about it. It sure racked up a bill, but it was worth it even just to spend the time sitting so closely with Megumi on the shared bench.

God, I'm a fucking simp.

Leaving the store, Megumi bumped me on the back and smiled, "So can I be the first number in your first phone?"

I tried not to get too giddy. But that was most definitely flirting. Thee Megumi, flirting with little old me.

"Hmm, I don't know if you're fit for that. I was thinking more Maki, maybe Nobara..."

He pretended to be offended for one second before saying, "Shut up, let me see."

He typed in his number and sent himself a text, immediately going to his phone to save my number.

"What's the little black thing beside your name?" I asked inquisitively.

"It's an emoji. It's a little black dog."

I looked closer and saw that it was, in fact, a cartoonized dog, "Nice! Can I have an emoji in your phone for my name?"

He blushed a little, "I already gave you one."

"What is it!" I shouted excitedly.

He reluctantly handed his phone over, displaying my name with a little bird next to it.

"Shit, that's so cute, thanks!" I smiled, "Okay, where to next on this big adventure?"

He put his phone back into his pocket and began walking, "Well, I was thinking we could go to a fish store. Get that air stone you were talking about."

I smiled, "You remembered."

"Wouldn't forget it. Was the only thing that stopped you from turning me to a memory."

I tried not to facepalm, "Fuck, that's so embarrasing. I promise I can handle myself better now."

"I know you can, I seen you going ham on that dummy earlier. Shit was scary."

We both laughed together and had nice conversation all the way to the fish shop.

I was like a kid in a candy store.

There were so many things I didn't even know there were variations of in here.

Corals, different species, aquarium plants, lighting, substrate...

"This place is amazing."

"Go have fun, I'll walk about," Megumi smiled and I nodded to him my eternal gratitude.

"You're literally the best."

I didn't know where to start. I spent some time looking around their selection of fish, admiring in particular the range of Koi and Arowana they had.

I need to get a pond one day.

After admiring the collection, I headed over to the more technical side, looking for what we came here for originally.

"Hey, can I help you with anything?" I heard from behind me. I turned to see a boy around my age with a staff shirt on.

"Oh, hi! Yeah, I'm looking for your airstones?"

He smiled and gestured me to the right area, "So what size of tank are you shopping for?"

"Around 24 gallons," I replied, "I also might need some filter sponge and tap-safe as well?"

"Certainly!" he smiled, taking me around the shop to the various different areas, "That everything?"

"Yep," I nodded, "Thanks very much."

"Not a bother," he smiled, "Are you a new hobbyist? I've never seen you in here before."

"Oh, you know," I said politely, absolutely not about to tell this man the fact that I'd only ever cared for orphanage fish tanks, "I just moved here."

"I see, so you don't know your way around that well then?" he asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"I mean, I-"

"She gets around perfectly fine. Thanks."

Megumi came up behind me and took the bag with my stuff in it, heading straight for the door. I didn't want to be stranded so I quickly waved and thanked the store worker, jogging lightly to catch up with Megumi.

"You okay?" I asked as we stood outside of the store.

"He was flirting with you."

Red donned my cheeks.

"Huh?"

"God, you can be naïve. He was flirting with you. If I didn't step in, he was about to ask you out."

I looked at him, confused, "Don't be mean, I'm not trying to be naïve. I thought he was just being polite."

"Well, he wasn't."

Shit, he's mad.

"Why are you being standoffish?"

"I'm...not."

"You definitely are."

"Shit, Ayane! I just didn't want him flirting with you, happy?"

I hid my shock behind a smirk, thinking about teasing him, but I decided not to.

"Come on, let's go get boba or whatever that shit is you said you like to drink."

"You really remember everything, huh Megumi?" I teased. Couldn't help it.

"Hurry up," he scoffed, walking in front of me.

We went to a local boba shop, ordering their specials and headed to a city park which was slowly quietening down since it was nearing late night. We walked around aimlessly for a while before sitting on a bench which had a great view of the night skyline.

"It's so pretty in this part of the city," I sighed, taking sips of my drink.

"Yeah. You always appreciate the mundane."

"What's that supposed to mean," I jeered, pushing his shoulder.

He pushed mine back, "I just mean you always appreciate the little things."

"We really need to work on your tone and word choice."

"You can try," he joked.

We sat quietly for a little while before I finally asked him what I'd been wanting to ask all night.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

He took a brief pause, sitting further back in the bench in deliberation, "It's kind of convoluted."

"I've got time."

Looking at his watch, he laughed, "To be honest, you don't really. Maki's off duty soon."

"Well, I still want to know."

"You're keen."

"Megumi!"

"Fine, sorry. I just think it's unfair."

"What's unfair?"

"Your lock-up. Your whole life, actually. You've went from one extreme to the other. Essentially homeless to then never being allowed out. It's unfair."

"They're just doing what they think is best, Megumi, it's okay."

"Are they, though? They tend to avoid problems until something unavoidable happens, like you getting hurt or something."

"I mean, I am a sorcerer now, kind of in the job description."

"What I mean is unnecessary harm."

"I guess..."

The tonal shift in our conversation gave me anxiety and I couldn't decide if I wanted to try and make it light hearted or not.

"You're a kind person, Megumi, aren't you?"

He looked at me with a glint in his eye, "Kind? A kind person wouldn't put you in this position."

I frowned, unsure of what he meant, "Well, what kind of person would put me in this position?"

"A selfish one."

"You're selfish?"

"Yes, completely."

"How do you figure that?" I enquired earnestly.

"Well, I guess it's my true nature when I want something."

"Your true nature?"

"Yes. I'm impulsive..."

His gaze shifted from the skyline to me.

"...obsessive..."

His had grazed over mine that was placed on the bench.

"...imaptient..."

His other hand held my cheek in the sweetest way.

"...I'm selfish."

His words were like a magnetic force, perfectly designed to draw me into his pretty face.

"And what is it you want?" I asked quietly, our faces almost touching.

"What he wants is to be grounded, apparently!"

Fucking Gojo Satoru.