A/N: First of all, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading my fic!!! Reading, liking, commenting! It always makes me so happy that people enjoy reading my fic and letting me know their thoughts. Even if I don't like or respond to every one of your comments, I read them all!!! I see all of your comments!! <3

One thing I like about wattpad is the fact that readers have the option to start conversations or reply to each other's comments in every chapter!!! It has something of a community and I like to see how my readers get to talk to one another

By the way! FEEL FREE TO RECOMMEND MY FIC TO OTHER ITAFUSHI SHIPPERS!! I don't know how active the Itafushi community is on wattpad or how many on-going Itafushi fics exist here, but if you know people who would like to read an angsty & smutty Itafushi longfic, tell them about my fic ;DDDD

Onto the story now! (This is NOT a filler chapter)

A scoop of light angst for this chapter, no more than that (Say 'thank you, author-san' /j)

Chapter summary: Megumi is not sure how to deal with the situation.

—----

"Regret won't bring you anywhere. Stuff has already happened. What happened, happened. You can't change anything about it anymore and there is no use in losing a single breath on regretting it or crying over it. All that is left for you to do is to face the consequences. Face the mistakes, if that's what you consider them to be. The only thing you can do is to deal with them. Deal with it in a way that you can endure it. In a way that is not self-destructive." For the finishing line, Toji went dead serious, "Whatever you do, good or bad, live with it. You have to live with it."

'The only thing left for you to do is to deal with it.'

Strangely enough, somehow, in some way, that advice was giving Megumi some sort of comfort.

It was giving him a direction on how to go on.

Megumi would have to deal with his mistakes.

-------

It was Monday morning and Megumi had come back from his father's home.

Monday morning meant attending the joint class. At first, Megumi had been reluctant about going there – for obvious reasons – but then he thought it absurd to let his studies suffer because of Yuuji's presence in one of his classes. It was absurd to Megumi. He was a med student after all. He had a lot of medicine-related things to worry about ...

Megumi had no intentions on acting like a coward.

So, as usual, he was sitting at the very front by the windows, waiting for the class to start. The seminar room filled in with people and the elderly professor arrived last.

As always, the lecturer would make an attendance check first, but Megumi wasn't paying attention to that. His father's words were ghosting inside his head, however he couldn't make good use of them yet.

Megumi wanted to deal with the consequences of his own actions in an endurable way, but he couldn't figure out how exactly it could be expanded onto his problem when it concerned not only him, but also Yuuji.

Megumi had realized that he had to deal with his mistake.

How exactly should he go on, though? How should he live with it in particular?

Megumi was confused. He was indecisive. At a loss for solutions.

A novel difficulty in his life, a novel kind of hopelessness, novel feelings ...

Megumi wanted this lingering trouble to end — no matter how.

"Where's Mr Itadori?" The professor slightly raised his voice to make his point clear.

Part of Yuuji's name reaching his ear, caused Megumi to look up and direct his attention to the front. The professor was looking at him because he knew that Yuuji and Megumi would always sit and do things together in his class.

Megumi gave the empty seat next to him a quick glance. He had expected to see the seat not be occupied by Yuuji, but at the same time Megumi had thought that Yuuji would choose one of the seats at the back instead; totally ignoring and disregarding Megumi's presence.

Yuuji was skipping this class instead?

Was Yuuji feeling the same as Megumi had earlier?

Reluctant to go anywhere where he would find himself in Megumi's vicinity?

"Will probably come later," Megumi told the professor indifferently. He didn't know why he had said that in the first place. Megumi had no idea where Yuuji was or if he was going to turn up to the joint class later. After coming back from his father's home in the morning, Megumi had put his bag in his dorm room, his roommate not in sight, and had made his way to his class right away.

The professor accepted Megumi's answer silently and went on checking off the remaining names on his list.

As soon as the actual lecture started, Megumi's consciousness slipped back to his mental war of thoughts.

The fact that he had to go past lamenting over the mistake he had made and live on (without making it self-destructive) did seem like the best solution, but ... what now?

What to do?

Was there a way for Megumi to live on and fix things at the same time?

If yes, how could Megumi do that? He was wondering about it.

If no, why not? Megumi was thinking about that, too.

The most draining thought was the one that reminded Megumi that he had never handled such a thing before.

He couldn't pinpoint his own emotional stance — couldn't even form words that would reveal how he was feeling right now.

An impalpable, ridiculing waft of negativity was closing in on him, hugging him closely and whispering discouraging croons into his ear.

A fiend seemingly supposed to corrupt him.

Sometimes Megumi was thinking about whether he deserved all of this.

Did he deserve it, the suffering, because he had made that one mistake?

Was it one mistake? Could it be considered a single mistake?

Megumi had slept with Yuuji's adoptive father a second time, stayed silent about it, feigned normalcy and had gotten into a relationship with Yuuji, all the while not taking it seriously from the very start because he knew he would break up with Yuuji some time later anyway.

Was that one big mistake or did he mess up repeatedly and in a horrendous way?

After all, the whole time, Megumi had been aware of what he was doing.

All of his doings had been a deliberate act.

He had hurt Yuuji, even if he hadn't recognized at the beginning just how hurting it would be.

Megumi wanted to make things right.

Megumi had to deal and live with his mistake.

And Megumi was thinking about possible ways on how he should confront Yuuji.

None of the questions that rose in his mind could be answered by himself and none of the scenarios he was making in his head sounded good enough.

Megumi was alone with his thoughts, with his struggles, with his life, and he didn't know how to proceed.

It was truly the worst for him.

Something about not paying attention in class and wallowing in self-doubts and self-pity made it easy for Megumi's perception of time to basically shut off and go to sleeping mode, hence why class ended before Megumi could register it.

He raised his head to the sound of chairs scuffling across the floor and students buzzing around and throwing their bags onto their shoulders or backs. Blinking, Megumi came back to the here and now, and started packing his own bag as well.

As he stood up, he caught sight of the professor who was looking silently at him with an expression that appeared to show off disappointment.

At first Megumi didn't understand why the other was giving him such a look, but then he remembered Yuuji's words from a week ago:

'I thought you'd turn up to the lesson. Told the prof you'd be late ... The look he gave me after class ended ...'

Yeah ...

Megumi understood very well now how Yuuji must have felt back then.

Megumi should have just said nothing at all. Since it couldn't be changed anymore, he shrugged at the professor demonstratively as he walked out of the room.

Great.

Having come late to class on the first day of the semester, having skipped class last Monday and having told the professor something that didn't turn out to be true ...

Megumi had managed to make an impression on his professor — a nonexemplary impression. It wouldn't surprise him, if the professor was secretly starting to hate him.

That would make two.

Two people who hated Megumi.

***

After all of his classes had ended the same day, Megumi walked straight back to his room. Partly anxious and partly nervous, he slowly opened the door.

When he realized that he came back to a room that was as empty as it had been in the morning, he quickly decided to just distract himself and unpack his bag which he had used over the weekend.

He had barely started taking his clothes out when he heard a key turn in the lock. The sound had Megumi on guard right away and he ceased all his doings, turning his face towards the door. Megumi was bracing himself for everything that might happen next.

When Yuuji opened the door, Megumi saw that he wasn't looking usually cheerful. On the contrary, a veil of stagnating displeasure was marking his expression.

However, once Yuuji's eyes caught Megumi's, his facial features hardened and a deep frown lined his forehead.

He had figured out that Megumi had gone to some other place over the weekend, but he couldn't have cared less about that.

Yuuji slammed the door shut behind him, and Megumi simply watched him do that, staying silent.

Bad.

A bad sign.

A very bad sign.

Megumi neither flinched nor backed away nor opened his mouth as Yuuji marched towards him with fast-paced steps, hands balled into fists.

Yuuji stopped in his tracks right in front of Megumi, scowling at him. He squinted his eyes, one corner of his lips twitching, breathing hard.

Megumi watched Yuuji's eyes. The pure ... loathing mirroring inside them didn't go unnoticed.

Yuuji used to look at Megumi with bright glee in his eyes. There used to be so much liveliness and mirth in Yuuji's features — no matter how much Megumi would try to ignore Yuuji's friendly approaches in the past.

Megumi felt bad.

It was his fault that none of those emotions were left in Yuuji. He had ruined it.

Everything.

So, he would rather stay silent now – and not be the one to say something first and possibly make things worse – and wait for Yuuji to commence.

The nasty tone trailing along every of Yuuji's uttered words cut through Megumi's body as though a sword was piercing his heart.

"How long was that between you and him?"

Well, that wasn't what Megumi had expected Yuuji to say first after days of them not talking to each other at all.

How long? Megumi thought, Does he think that ...?

Megumi cleared his throat, and reprimanded himself for appearing so self-conscious with his timid manner.

"It was ... nothing more than those two times ..."

"Oh, don't fuck with me. Stop lying. How long? When were you two going at it, huh? Behind my back and stuff. When did you stop fucking him? Before or after getting together with me? Are you still fucking him?"

"No!" With a self-deprecating inner feeling, Megumi got self-conscious again. He could barely stare at Yuuji for longer than three seconds. "It's the truth. I never had anything else going on with him. It was just ... those two times ..."

"Oh, just twice!" Yuuji's tone was vile and highly mocking as he clapped his hands together loudly to underline his sarcasm. "Thanks for being so considerate. I feel so much better now."

Megumi hated it. That tone. The way Yuuji was speaking to him.

Yuuji wasn't done yet. All of that hatred was back.

"Why did you fuck him again?"

Yuuji had mocked him. Megumi disliked the way Yuuji had mocked him. So, he pressed his lips together, looked down at the floor and didn't say anything. In addition to that, a frown was adorning his face this time.

Yuuji gritted his teeth, his upper lip twitching irritatingly.

I fucking despise you, Megumi.

This stale moment caused Megumi to say out loud the first thing that came to his mind.

"You know it now. Do what you want with it. I have to deal with it my way. And I won't leave my dorm room for days anymore."

Yuuji didn't even bother scoffing at that. He continued regarding Megumi in a scornful and condescending way. But since their dorm room had been mentioned, Yuuji made one last statement.

"I'll change dorm rooms. I'll find someone who's willing to switch with me."

The hatred that Megumi could sense very well. The dying opportunity of a pacifistic communication that hadn't had a chance to bloom in the first place.

The short but brash treatment had Megumi react with slight pettiness.

"Fine."

"Yeah."

"Do it."

"Yeah."

And with that, Yuuji went to his desk, picked something up from there and left the room.

And at the same time, Megumi felt like seeing something unapproachable walk away on him.

***

Yuuji was avoiding Megumi, clearly.

He would always try to be the first one to wake up and the first one to leave — preferably, doing the latter before Megumi would wake up.

Yuuji and Megumi didn't have any classes together – except for one – and they wouldn't cross paths anywhere on campus. Yuuji had a general idea of the places Megumi would frequent (because he used to pick Megumi up from those places to bring him along to lunch break with the others), so he avoided them of course. Naturally.

Megumi, on the other hand, didn't want to play that game with Yuuji. He had chosen for himself to do things the way he usually did and not get affected by Yuuji's silent treatment or the way Yuuji gave him the cold shoulder.

Megumi wanted to go on as usual. Really. And yet he found himself at the library after classes for a much longer time than usual. And he would literally choose anything as a study place, as long as it wasn't his own dorm room.

He would come back late to his room, wishing for Yuuji to already be asleep, so that he didn't have to face Yuuji's glaring glances.

It was a tug-and-war. Sometimes it was Megumi who came back to the room while Yuuji was asleep and other times it was Yuuji.

But, in the end, Megumi was avoiding Yuuji just as much as the other way round.

Just when he thought that it couldn't get worse, Megumi felt a yank on his arm from behind as he was about to go to the library one day.

He turned around and came face to face with the second-last person he wanted to see right now.

Nobara. Yuuji's close friend. Yuuji's best friend.

Nobara let go off Megumi's arm as the other turned around fully; a deep, exhausted dreariness on his face. She cocked her head to the side a bit, wearing a neutral expression as she wondered about Megumi's behavior.

Megumi didn't say anything. He waited for Nobara to cuss him out.

To Megumi, the only possibility was that Yuuji must have told everything to his closest friend.

How would she go about with it now? Talk calmly but firmly to him and lose her patience and composure as soon as Megumi said something she didn't like to hear? Or would she angrily throw reproaches at him right from the start, fuming as she did so?

"Gosh, what's with that face?" Nobara began benevolently, "I know you don't like to talk much, but – like – not even a 'hello'? Haven't seen you in ages, Megumi. Yuuji not with you? Did you finally manage to tame him? I wouldn't want to see him 24/7 either. It's weird, though? I've seen him even less than usual. Do you know where he is?"

Perhaps this was not the worst. Megumi was sceptical about Nobara's lack of a telling-off.

None of the things she had said just now sounded two-faced or anything of that sort. She was having a genuine conversation with Megumi.

And that was what threw him off guard.

Nobara raised a brow upon witnessing the incredulousness in Megumi's face.

"Didn't he tell you?" Megumi asked sharply.

Nobara stunned a little.

"What do you mean?"

He really didn't tell her, Megumi concluded in his mind.

So what? It wasn't like that would change anything. Everything between him and Yuuji would go the same way — namely, down the drains.

Nobara was raising one of her hands towards Megumi, worriedly, as she asked, "What's up—"

"Don't touch me!"

Megumi pulled his arm away from Nobara's gentle grasp, giving her a harsh glare. Nobara was taken aback.

He knew that she didn't deserve any of that, but his thoughts and emotions were all over the place.

Megumi was stuck in a maze of confusing emotions and there was no exit in sight.

And, as time went on, he had less and less control over his functioning self.

Sometimes he was easily irritable, other times he was gloomily depressed — but he never felt confident or decisive enough to do something about the obvious problem at hand. Things were hard; so much harder to deal with than imagined. That was the way Megumi was feeling at the moment.

And it was complicating matters drastically, Megumi was barely noticing it.

Thus, impulsively, Megumi turned around and walked away; leaving Nobara behind before she had a chance to ask him more questions.

Nobara was too stunned to move from her spot as she watched Megumi's retreating figure.

However, she was curious about whether there was something up.

***

It was a few days later that Nobara met up with Yuuji to eat lunch together at the cafeteria.

It was true that Yuuji had met up with Nobara lesser than usual. They had exchanged messages regularly, but Yuuji would answer them with one-word replies. He would even tell her casually that he was skipping classes here and there, and during period breaks or after his last class of the day he would be somewhere without telling her where that 'somewhere' was.

They were eating lunch, but Nobara noticed how Yuuji was rather moody and had gone completely silent after that short greeting he had given her right before entering the cafeteria with her.

That was so unlike the Yuuji Itadori that Nobara knew ever since high school.

They were sitting next to each other, Yuuji mindlessly playing with his meal more than taking bites of it. He wasn't even glancing at his lunch, his eyes were cast forward — spacing off as he wore a grumpy expression.

Nobara couldn't explain what had driven her to throw stones in a glass house, but she did. She did exactly that.

"Where's Megumi? You used to bring him with you for lunch."

Yuuji stabbed his meal with his fork, hard.

"I hate him," he pushed out through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched taut.

Okayyyy, Nobara thought to herself. But at least now she knew that something was definitely up between those two. Which was weird in itself because she couldn't come up with a reason or scenario that would evoke such a reaction from Yuuji.

What had happened between them?

Of course, Nobara wouldn't discard Yuuji's foul mood just like that. This time, she was tiptoeing.

"Want to talk about it?"

Yuuji's mood worsened and he began to scrunch his nose disgustedly.

"Absolutely not. Not now or ever."

Alright. Nobara finally understood that whatever Yuuji was going through was very serious business.

It would be tasteless to go on right after what Yuuji had told her, so Nobara looked at her own meal, already thinking about how to comfort her best friend later — once Yuuji's emotions weren't seething this much.

Suddenly, the piercing sound of cutlery being dropped onto a plate was heard and Nobara saw Yuuji standing up abruptly and taking his tray.

"Finished eating," was all he said in a raw grumble, his moodiness omnipresent. Giving that curt statement, Yuuji then walked past Nobara, going away.

It was right when Yuuji had left that Toge and Yuuta joined the table with their own trays of food, watching Yuuji's hasty departure with confusion.

Had Yuuji seen the other two approaching and realized then that he wasn't in the mood for a group lunch?

Nobara was wondering about that. Frankly speaking, Yuuji hadn't really looked like wanting to have lunch with Nobara either. He had merely tolerated her existence earlier. And when the others had been about to join, his patience must have worn off altogether.

Now, Toge and Yuuta were giving Nobara an odd look.

The female student retorted with a silent but telling pout. Then she claimed, "Something is up."

"What did we do? To him, I mean," Yuuta asked.

"Nothing. It's not about you two. Or me ..."

The three of them didn't have much time to dwell on that issue because Maki joined them with a big grin plastered onto her face.

"Y'all, guess what, guess what?" She exclaimed victoriously, stopping in her tracks when she reached them within earshot. "Guess who just won 50 bucks in a bet because she managed to finish four cup noodles in under one minute?? Eh-eh?"

Maki snickered to herself as she proudly waved five ten-dollar bills in the air. She didn't know what kind of a conversation had been going on seconds earlier.

Nobara, Toge and Yuuta looked at her silently, not sharing her enthusiasm.

Maki eventually realized that she was being weirdly stared at, getting defensive.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

She didn't get a response, though.

Nobara groaned after looking at the vacant spot next to her.

"He forgot to take his wallet with him."

Nobara held up said item with a sigh.

"Maki will give it back to him," Toge decided promptly.

"Why me?"

"Because you ruined it."

"Because I ruined what?"

Toge was talking nonsense, earning himself a quick glare and a nudge to his ribs from his boyfriend Yuuta.

Maki didn't understand anything that was going on.

***

Yuuji was sitting on the biggest meadow on campus. Ripping out grass leaves next to him, legs stretched out, upper body slouched weakly.

Nobara found him there when she was about to meet up with her study group.

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Yuuji asserted sternly when he looked up. He held his glare only for a few moments, turning his head to the side. With a pout, he muttered meekly, "My wallet ..."

"Maki is taking care of it," Nobara reassured him calmly. Her voice was soothing Yuuji's inner state. Just a bit, but it was balm to his agitation nevertheless.

Megumi was sitting at his desk. Holding a pen and placing dots on the paper in front of him with tapping motions. Resting his face on a palm, head hung low, unconcentrated.

He had to deal with it. Megumi had to deal with his mistake ...

But it was so difficult.

To Megumi, it was basically impossible.

And the worst was that he couldn't even tell why he was struggling so much. Why there was no progress. Why he couldn't figure out a way to make some progress.

Taking the obvious thing aside, he didn't know how to deal with something when it was marked by avoiding manners, unspoken conversations and one-sided hatred. All of which he had no immediate influence on.

A knock on the door reeled him back to the now.

"Want me to listen at least?" Nobara asked softly as she sat down next to Yuuji, flattening her jacket over her bottom because today was rather a cold autumn day. She pulled up her knees and hugged them.

Nobara gave Yuuji a trace of a genuine smile. Yuuji wasn't looking at her, impersonating bleakness.

Megumi went to the door. He would rather be moping alone than have someone disturb his dreary loneliness. He opened the door to a grinning Maki who was in a good mood and holding up a wallet.

Megumi furrowed his brows, not in the least interested in Maki keeping him company, since it was one of Yuuji's (his) friends who had stopped by.

"You're not allowed to the boys dormitory building."

Maki scoffed good-humouredly.

"Good evening to you too, dipshit."

She didn't know much, but the others from the friend group had told her that something was probably wrong between Megumi and Yuuji. She went inside the room without being invited to, waving the wallet in her hand.

"Yuuji forgot this, so I decided to be a sickeningly nice and good friend and give it back him. Which one is his bed? Probably the messier one, huh?" Maki guessed it right and tossed the wallet onto Yuuji's bed.

With great dismal, Megumi observed how Maki ended up sitting on his chair at his desk, crossing her legs and smiling confidently at Megumi.

"You can leave now. You know that, right?"

"You want me to leave. Which means something is troubling you."

Maki grabbed the pen Megumi had been using just now and drew circles next to the dots.

"We don't have to talk about whatever problem you have. We can talk about me instead. You don't know yet what my major is, do you? No one probably told you because you weren't curious, right? Well, I'll tell you then. It's mechanical engineering." Maki threaded her fingers together and rested them at the back of her head, leaning back in the chair. "My parents, actually my whole extended family, are averse to the idea of women doing 'men's jobs'. My sister is the only exception. The rest wanted me to go to nursing school and become an obedient wife and mother soon after. Fucking disgusting. They're stuck in the medieval ages, but don't even want to realize it."

Megumi closed the door and wanted to make it clear to that he wasn't interested in any kind of interaction at the moment. So he sat down at Yuuji's desk and turned his back at her.

"Don't look away. Turn around." The firm dominance in her voice told Megumi that resistance would only lead to more tedious problems he didn't want to face. Not now or later. He turned his face to Maki, looking at her with hooded eyes. Maki grinned, indulging in reciting her own life story. "I'm gonna ace this, you know. My major. Once I've finished my studies, I want to see their pathetic faces. The way they're gonna look at me once they see that I've succeeded in the STEM field against all of their expectations. Can't wait to wave my money and status in front of their faces. Especially my cousin, that asshole. I'm gonna shove my salary down his throat until he he's choking on it." Maki laughed menacingly.

"Wishing you luck." Megumi said nonchalantly.

"Are you mocking me?"

"I'm actually serious."

Maki pursed her lips, her eyes scanning Megumi up and down behind her rectangular glasses — calculating his behavior. She crossed her arms.

"Okay, fine. I think everyone, who knows you and Yuuji for more than three minutes, can tell that you two are on bad terms at the moment. For whatever reason. What did he do?"

Megumi blinked slowly, no energy left to even sit properly.

"Why do you think it's him who did something?"

Maki scoffed again.

"Because he's the more stupid one of you two."

Silence spread between them for a while.

"No way." Maki raised a brow, looking Megumi up and down again. "It was you? Crazy."

Megumi avoided her gaze, looking out of the window.

"What happened?"

Megumi's eyes followed the swaying branches of a tree, all of its leaves already discarded off.

"Wishing you all the best in mechanical engineering. I'm serious," Megumi replied at last.

"You're changing the topic."

"Really. I'm all for more women in STEM."

"Stop changing the topic."

Megumi dropped his head, looking at his hands, inspecting his palm.

"Damn, did you cheat on him?"

Megumi closed his eyes, sighing. The second one who's assuming that, he thought.

"No, I didn't," he said, but didn't bother sounding convincing.

Maki let a long period of silence pass. She pushed herself away from Megumi's desk, slowly spinnning in his chair. She raised her next question matter-of-factly.

"Can you fix it?"

"Don't think so."

"Why?"

Megumi shrugged his shoulders.

Maki stopped rotating in Megumi's chair. Still sitting on it, she used her feet to roll her chair towards Megumi, until both of their knees were touching. She lowered her upper body, her gaze eventually meeting Megumi's. Megumi looked into her eyes dully.

Maki gave a small smile. Not a petty or unserious one, but an innocent upcurve of her lips.

"Sometimes ... some time needs to pass before you can make the next step. Even if it's just baby steps. Sometimes you can't do anything about that. Let time pass first. And then think about what you need or want to do next."

Maki had been talking about her misogynistic family earlier, how did she change the topic as swiftly as that? Megumi pressed his lips to a thin line. He had actually registered her words. Her advice.

She stood up, about to leave. Megumi let her, not saying anything back to her. There was one last thing Maki said before she closed the door behind her.

"Baby steps."

"I'm for real. I don't wanna talk about it," Yuuji uttered in a snappy tone, scowling.

Nobara – Yuuji's close friend for a good three years – knew how to handle that side of Yuuji's. She remained silent, resting her head on Yuuji's shoulder. Comfort could transcend through various layers of verbal or nonverbal communication after all.

It had an effect. Yuuji started without being explicitly prompted to.

"It's so depressing. So shitty."

Nobara listened intently.

"I don't have to do a thing. I don't have to do anything. But Megumi ..." He halted, his scowl deepening. He shrugged his shoulders once, not getting it. "Megumi ... He didn't even— ..." Yuuji stopped there, not knowing how to put it into words.

Megumi didn't even ... what?

Show remorse?

Say sorry?

Feel bad?

"He didn't do what?" Nobara tried cautiously, her voice like velvet. She rubbed her head against his shoulder soothingly. Telling him that she was listening. That she would always listen to his worries.

Yuuji didn't give an answer. He swayed to another point.

"He never wanted to be my friend or get close to me ever since the beginning. I knew that. The way he was behaving and talking to me, I knew it. But I didn't want to leave it at that. I couldn't. I'm not like that. I don't treat someone passively, almost as if they were non-existent, when knowing that I'm sharing a room with them or dealing with them in some other way. But ... I should have just done what Megumi had wanted from the beginning. Being no more than roommates with him."

Nobara squeezed Yuuji's arm affectionately. She then hugged said arm.

Time was over. The time slot for the free display of Yuuji's emotions had reached its end. He was closing up once more.

The last thing he said (twice in total today) was,

"I hate him."

***

It was the next Monday and Megumi was sitting in his joint class. The elderly professor had just begun opening his lecture, going over the attendance list as usual.

Meanwhile, Megumi was pondering on some moments of his conversation with Maki. He had done that a few times the past few days, attempting to draw a coherent conclusion from of it.

"Full attendance today," the professor announced after checking off the last name on his list.

The seat next to Megumi was occupied by someone he didn't know, which meant that Yuuji must have chosen a seat somewhere at the back — most likely as far away from Megumi as possible.

The professor went on.

"That's good, actually, because more than half of the semester is over, so it's time for you all to work on getting your grades for this class. As I mentioned a few times already, all of you are going to work in groups on group projects."

And then he went on, explaining some outlines about the group projects, the deadline and several drafts that each group would have to submit before finalizing their work that was to be graded at the end of the semester.

Megumi wasn't listening to that much, staring at the blank page on his tablet, blinking and considering some things.

Perhaps Maki is right. Megumi would often catch himself thinking that way.

The professor was continuing with his speech.

"As for the groups, I decided to assign each of you to a group of two or three. Choosing groups on your own is not allowed."

Baby steps.

Let some time pass and then ... proceed with baby steps. Certainly, things would come easier and more ... naturally then, right?

Megumi could envision an outcome, if he were to do it that way. An outcome much better than whatever it was he was stuck in currently.

Almost everything was better than the current situation.

"Now, let's see," the professor stated, taking another list in his hands. He made a short and high-pitched exclamation as he looked at the top of his list. "Ah, right. The two rascals who came late on the first week and even skipped classes once."

Megumi's ears picked up the last bits of the professor's statement.

Did he hear that correctly?

... Yes.

Yes, he did.

Despite not looking up, Megumi's attention was sharpened.

He covered his eyes, thinking, Oh no ...

There were only two students in the whole class who fit that description ...

"Megumi Fushiguro and Yuuji Itadori. You two are going to work on a group project."

—--

A/N: Soooooo!

What do you think about this chapter?

The Yuuji & Nobara talk? The Megumi & Maki talk? Any thoughts on that?

The group project was first mentioned in chapter 4 ... Yep. It was my plan all along 🤭

What do you think?? Is the group project gonna be a chance for Megumi and Yuuji to talk things out or is it going to make things worse?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Any kind of feedback is appreciated <3