(◕︵◕) — chapter three
"your stress reliever tastes oh-so-good"

"WELL. . .WHERE COULD I EVEN begin?"

      Hiyori was completely serious, where the hell could she start? The past five years had contained a lot, especially to divulge in with someone who had meant so much to her all those years ago.

      Yuji didn't seem to have any issues, disclosing firstly that he was Sukana's vessel — who she had heard of from her old mentor. The king all of curses, living inside her best friend. She simply didn't believe it. Yuji offered to switch with Sukana for merely a second to show her, but she promptly refused. Seemed like a terrible idea, no matter how interested she was in seeing him.

     Yuji shrugged, "Well, when did you start seeing curses?

      Hiyori wasn't too hesitant to answer that question, "I've always seen them. I thought everyone did, but then I started talking about them more and more and my parents thought I was officially crazy."

      By now Yuji was only a foot away from Hiyori, sharing the same couch Kugisaki was just at. He had faced her direction with crossed his legs — his palms resting on his ankles. His body had unconsciously started to lean forward in excitement and curiosity.

      "That's why I left, Yuji, my parents thought a private school would help my so-called delusions," Hiyori continued to explain. The girl now had her elbow resting on the top of the couch, her legs curled underneath her body. "Well, not a private school like here. A real private school, but turns out I started seeing them even more frequently there."

      Yuji's eyes shined brightly interested, they were like huge puppy-dog eyes staring her down. Like it was a cliffhanger of his favorite book series, and the next sentence determined it all.

      But Hiyori didn't want to share the next part of the story, so she stayed quiet.

      "Oh, is that all? I thought you'd tell me what happened afterwards," Yuji scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, his tone of voice almost carried a bit of disappointment.

      "No, sorry, that's really about it," Hiyori shrugged aimlessly, but she was internally biting the side of her cheek — a little nervous habit she frequently exhibited.

      "Well, how are your parents? Reiko was always so kind," Yuji beamed at the thought of Hiyori's mother.

      Reiko was always such a pleasant woman to be around — always offered Yuji a place to stay, made Yuji's favorite meals frequently, she even took him to tag along with the mother-daughter duo whenever they needed groceries or just run some errands. Yuji cherished those memories of his childhood.

      Hiyori felt her entire body practically seize up, like she couldn't move a single bone or muscle no matter the amount of begging. Her heartbeat had disappeared for a moment, but now it had come in full force — like it could just burst right out of her chest. Her expression rang pain, a nose twitch to hide her tears.

      "They're dead."

      Yuji's once brightened look of joy immediately dropped. He felt a pinch in his eyes, they were glossing over. His eyes had dropped to his hands, but then he switched back up to search Hiyori's expression — she looked defeated.

      Then, it all started to make sense. Hiyori had felt more shy in public now then she was when she was a child — hesitant to speak when she used to shout her mind, low shoulders as if something was weighing them down, hell, the bags under her eyes could explain how well she had been getting sleep. Her body was in shape, no doubt about that, but there were still some areas that were small — like she hadn't been eating enough to sustain the muscles.

     These were all signs Yuji had accidentally brushed over.

      "I'm sorry," Hiyori spoke softly, not so much in a hushed tone but like she didn't have the power to speak any louder. "It was almost a year ago, I lost them."

      Yuji didn't want to ask the next question.

      "And your sister?"

      Hiyori's glossed over eyes stayed focused on her palms tightening around her thighs in an angry fit — she was holding back her tears through distracting pain.

      "No. . ." Yuji trailed, his brows had crumbled together. "Yori, I'm sorry, it was my fault for bringing it up."

      "You would've found out sooner or later," Hiroyuki murmured, she was thankful that Yuji hadn't asked for the details of losing her entire family. "But do you mind keeping this between us for now? At least until I get to know the others better."

     "Of course, you're my best friend, Yori," Yuji faintly smiled in her direction, an attempt at hopefully making the girl feel more comfortable after telling such a tale of her life. "Pinky promise."

     "Pinky promise?" Hiyori pondered, flashing back to when they were children and their top loyalty to each other was never breaking a single pinky promise — and in their entire childhood, they never did, once.

     Yuji stuck out his left pinky in the air in front of Hiyori, and the girl swiftly mimicked his action. At once, they wrapped their pinkies around one another and warmly smiled towards the other.

      Hiyori wanted to comment about how warm Yuji's touch had been, a little spark that had ran through her body. But decided not, sounded too cliche.

      "Thanks, Yuji."

（ミ￣ー￣ミ）

It was surprising to Hiyori to have a sleepless night after the kind training she went through today — not to mention the incredible break down of her life she had with with Yuji earlier. You could say she was both mentally and physically exhausted, but yet, her mind preferred to be awake during the late hours into the night.

      Last time she had looked at a clock, it was just before two am, but that was awhile ago when she put the muffins in the oven. And if the muffins had four minutes left on them, she guessed it was almost two-thirty in the morning.

      Questioned the muffins, did you? Well, clearly, Hiyori is an insomniac baker. She promises it's not as crazy as it seems, she just thinks it's a better way to spend her time than twisting and turning in bed for hours.

      Hiyori had just finished up some fresh blueberry muffins, with a soft drizzle of crushed pecans on the top. She was surprised to be able find everything she needed to bake with with ease in this new kitchen. All the supplies she needed, it was a great relief.

      The alarm on her phone rung throughout the air, which she quickly scolded herself for having such a loud ringtone in the first place. She had hoped she didn't wake anyone on the main floor up.

      Hiyori scattered to the kitchen, popping on an ovenmitt while hooking her hand around the burning hot metal pan containing six beautifully baked muffins. A little proud smile crossed over her face, she would be excited to tell her classmates about them in the morning — maybe she'd get some brownies points.

      "Now, what could little ol' you be doing at a time like this?"

      Hiyori nearly dropped the hot pan to the ground when the sudden voice startled her, but luckily the pan clattered to the kitchen counter instead — still made a rather excruciatingly loud noise that vibrated through the house. If they hadn't been awakened from her alarm going off, surely they were awake now.

      "What the hell!" Hiyori seethed through her teeth, yet still in a hushed, aggressive tone. She yanked the oven mitt off her hand, throwing it down on the couch as dramatically as she could.

      Hiyori had examined her muffins before even glancing up to her surprise visitor — because she had already recognized the voice.

      Gojo.

      Gojo's head tilted off to the side while intently watching the girl who was apparently baking in the middle of the night. Her focus wasn't even on him, and that's what made him so interested. Every woman would always look at him, despite any distractions. But here Hiyori was, looking carefully at her pan of muffins to see if any had been messed up from her scared frenzy.

      It almost pissed Gojo off she hadn't even bothered to look up. But then again, another part of him began to feel excited, he always enjoyed a little challenge here and there.

      It's true. Having everyone be madly in love with you without even needing to try can be, well, what's the word — boring. He liked a little thrill, a little game of cat and mouse. And Hiyori just seemed to be the perfect candidate to become a challenge.

      He was determined to get under her skin.

      "You're the one baking in the common area," Gojo retorted, perking one eyebrow up in interest. "What are you doing up? If you think tomorrow's training is going to be any better than—"

      "—I just couldn't sleep," interrupted Hiyori, an exhale of a sigh could be heard even from where Gojo was standing.

      This was when Hiyori finally decided to steal a glance at Gojo, but to her surprise — he looked different than any other time she's seen him. His usual black uniform was replaced with a pair of dark grey sweats. His shirt still remained black, but instead of a long sleeve he decided on a shorter sleeve that almost reached his shoulders. The muscles in his arms were flexed while he had his arms crossed over his chest — his back was leaning against the wall in a nonchalant manner.

      But the most prominent thing Hiyori noticed was his missing blindfold — not to say he didn't have anything covering his eyes. Instead of his blindfold, he had a pair of dark sunglasses that shielded his eyes. But even now, she couldn't see the color of his eyes in this darkness. At least now she could see his somehow perfectly shaped nose, she almost wished some part of him was messed up where he couldn't call himself perfection anymore.

      And instead of his blindfold keeping his hair up, the spikes were all down. His white hair was messy, not as styled as they had been before. But clearly that was because the man was previously asleep five minutes ago, probably before her alarm went off.

      Hiyori had to stop herself from checking him out any further.

      Her previously scorn expression returned, and it was now her turn to huff her arms over her chest, "I could've dropped all my hard work."

      "And what a shame that would've been," Gojo answered almost immediately, slowly tracing his bare feet over the cold ground to enter the kitchen. He happily perched himself practically hip to hip with Hiyori, leaning down to study the blueberry muffins himself. "Because these things smell delicious."

      Hiyori wanted to almost blush at the small compliment. She's used to baking by herself and for herself, no one else had really taken interest in it. Hearing someone compliment on a recipe she had been working so hard to perfect felt, well, nice.

      "Thanks," Hiyori replied with a bit of hesitancy, her eyes aimlessly falling to Gojo's bent position. But quickly trained her eyes to gaze away, instead at the muffins she was suddenly craving. "You can try one, I guess."

     "Oh, gosh, just for me?" Hummed Gojo, but he hadn't even given the girl a chance to reply before he wrapped his long fingers around one of the delicate muffins.

      Hiyori was at least going to warn the man that they were still probably scorching hot, but Gojo just popped the whole thing into his mouth in one go. Her eyes almost widened at the action.

      She raised her hands to cover her mouth, expecting him to gasp at how hot the food was, "It's probably so hot!
Gojo—"

      "—That's amazing!" Gojo interrupted, he clapped his hands together in a cheerful gesture. Hiyori questioned whether he was being genuine, or just trying to not hurt her feelings. She wasn't quite sure, and Gojo seemed to notice this. "I'm serious, these things deserve to be showcased in the best bakery in Japan."

      Hiyori's eyes softened a bit, another compliment that she had always wanted to hear. This time, her cheeks did begin to rise with redness — but with the dark lighting in the kitchen, she prayed it wasn't that noticeable.

      A smile crept onto her face unknowingly, "You're crazy, they're good but they're not that good."

     "Oh, but they so are," cooed Gojo, using a spare hand to lean on the kitchen counter. "You do this frequently? Will we have to warn the other students of your presence in the middle of the night so none of them get startled to death?"

      "I don't have to," Hiyori defensively rose her hands. This wasn't even her house, she should've asked first before exploring the whole kitchen for herself. She felt the embarrassment rise in her cheeks. "I didn't mean to invade or anything, I can do something else to pass the time."

     "No way," Gojo shook his head, and this made Hiyori tilt her head in confusion. "I'll tell Oda and make sure to keep everything stocked for you. I'll let the others know in the morning of your unusual behavior. This is a great and healthy habit, I think having sweets in the house for every occasion will be great."

      "Great for everyone or just great for you?" Retorted Hiyori — she remembered Kugisaki complaining of Gojo earlier and his obsession with everything sweet.

      "Not just for me!" Gojo exclaimed rather dramatically, placing his hand on his chest in fake-hurt display. Hiyori rose a single eyebrow. "Okay, yes, great for me."

      "I don't bake every night, dummy," Hiyori responded, placing the muffins out of the pan and onto a clean plate she had pulled out before Gojo waltzed in. "Only sometimes."

     "When you can't sleep?"

      Hiyori exhaled when she set the last muffin on the plate, "Yes. I've done it since I was a kid, it's a good stress reliever."

      Gojo's eyes softened behind the set of dark sunglasses he had on, the whole idea of stress-baker Hiyori was absolutely adorable and he couldn't stop being more interested in the topic.

      "And your stress reliever tastes oh-so-good," Gojo commented, and the statement almost felt a little bit off. "Oh, and don't think I'll go easy on you."

      Hiyori glanced up to make eye contact with Gojo, her brows had twisted in confusion. The shades so dark she couldn't actually make eye contact, she suddenly felt enticed to just rip those glasses straight off his face so she could see them — decided against it. Hiyori felt a trace of a butterfly appear in her stomach, but instantly swallowed down whatever that was.

      She only hummed in response.

      "Tomorrow's training, don't think I'll go easy on you just because I found you up all night," Gojo explained, there was a ghost of a smirk on his face.

      Even though he had remained cool and collected on the outside, he was turning on the inside. He craved a reaction from her, using that teasing little statement — but he didn't get one.

      Maybe this was going to prove to be more challenging than he thought before.

a/n: HEHE JUST SUM FLUFF. slow burn for the win foreva & always.