(˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ ) — chapter ten
"i won't bite"

IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.

      WHY? Why would her best friend be sitting covered simply by a cloth in a morgue right now? Why did he purposely switch places with Sukuna knowing he would die? She knew the answer to that question, but didn't want to accept it. Hiyori wanted to be angry, no, furious, with Yuji — for breaking his promise.

      But she couldn't find it in her.

      The water that trickled from the shower head was a bitter cold against Hiyori's naked body. She didn't want the comfort of warmth right now, despite the fact she was near shivering. Her arms cradled her body, her red-colored locks of hair were sticking to her skin from the wetness. Hiyori's eyes were clouded with emotions, with a million and one things racing through her mind.

     But despite everything she was feeling, her face held absolutely no amount of emotion. It was completely frozen with a disassociated glance, like an emotionless robot.

      After what felt like a decade, her eyes shifted and traced the bathtub under her feet. Then, they stretched to check the water coming from the shower head. She didn't remember getting in the shower, had she been that out of it she hadn't noticed getting herself on the shower? Finally, her eyes drifted to her body.

      With her hands outstretched in front of her body, her eyes widened with recognition. Her heartbeat sped up within a second, feeling as if it could bounce straight out of her chest. There on both of her palms, lingered some of Yuji's dried blood.

      As Hiyori's breathing ran rapid, she quickly ducked under the shower water to rub her skin together harshly. Desperate to get it the hell off her. She couldn't stand it, stand the idea of all that remained of her best friend was stained on her skin.

      "No, no," Hiyori murmured under her breath repeatedly, practically clawing at her skin to get rid of the crimson-colored liquid. Tears were streaming down her cheeks at this point, clouding some of her vision.

      The blood of Yuji Itadori was no longer lingering anywhere on Hiyori's body, she had scrubbed it all off. But she still felt it, felt like the blood was still staining her hands. She repeatedly kept scrubbing at her palms, scratched under her fingernails, as a desperate attempt to feeling clean.

      And she wasn't stopping.

( '～｀ヾ)

For one of the first times in his life — Satoru Gojo was left speechless.

He had no words, he wasn't sure what he could say. But he knew Hiyori needed someone, leaving the grieving girl by herself would do no good. She's probably going insane in that pretty little skull of hers at this very moment, Gojo thought to himself.

He'd learned his lesson from previous years. Leaving grieving people by themselves through the horror of losing the ones they care about, never did any good. Kugisaki had said she stopped by Hiyori's room earlier, but she had been sound asleep in her bed and the brunette refused to disturb her.

      Gojo rose his fist to surely pound an echoing noise on Hiyori's door, but he hesitated. If she was still sleeping soundly, he didn't want to risk waking her — he contemplated.

      Here Satoru Gojo was, outside Hiyori's bedroom, with a knuckle tucked under his chin in thought. He had his hips slightly bent, making his tall frame somewhat shorter. He pondered, what was the best plan of action? Knock and risk waking her up? Step inside and risk walking in on her doing something private? Some dirty thoughts ran rampant inside his mind, but he quickly shoved that to the side by clearing his throat out.

      His eyes glanced down to the clear plastic box that was in his left hand. Six macarons laid perfectly styled in the box with a combination of flavors and toppings, they looked so delicious he could drool. But he shook away his temptations, he just wanted to drop the sweets off and disappear into the shadows. He pleaded Hiyori was still asleep, he hadn't really thought of what he'd say if she were awake and would ask about the sweet treats.

      His long fingers collided with the metal of the doorknob, and he twisted it ever so slightly to crack open the door. He snuck an interested gaze into the lightly lit bedroom. His eyebrow was lifted in curiosity, and he spotted the outline of Hiyori's body covered by the comforter of her bed.

      Gojo tried listening in for some snores, but nothing seemed to echo from the room. He nudged the door open ever so slightly, the wood of the door creaked as it scraped the wooden flooring. Gojo glanced up.

      What he was expecting, was a slumbering Hiyori that might've been softly startled by the noise — like when she scared her the first day of training when she arrived. But what his eyes laid on, he never imagined. Hiyori's pink lips were parted in shock, her heavy breathing could be heard even from where Gojo was standing. She was using her palms for support as she had lifted herself from the bed, a forced reflex of her sudden defensive manner after the day before. Her purple eyes were sharpened, like she was ready to immediately defend herself. This defensive state was so opposite to the last time they had this situation.

      Seeing her in this state, it now came flooding to Gojo just how bad the situation was.

      Gojo had a stunned expression, and as soon as Hiyori's brain was able to recognize the face of a non-enemy — her tensed body fell a little. She heaved out a deep breath, and licked her dry lips.

      "Sorry, I, uh, I didn't mean to scare you. Or wake you up," Gojo replied softly, and Hiyori had to glance up to the man to actually understand his voice was the same voice being so. . .gentle? It took Hiyori off guard, to be frank.

      This was when her bright eyes fell to the clear plastic box in his hands, and her head tilted to the side in confusion. Gojo recognized this, and cleared his throat weirdly.

      Think.

      THINK, SATORU.

      "Sorry, I stopped for a snack awhile ago and I just walked by your room, figured I'd see how you were doing," Gojo spat out quickly, and he cracked open the box of macaroons and grabbed one of the chocolate-flavored ones, and popped the dessert right into his mouth.

      You are a complete dumbass.

      "Oh, right," Hiyori nodded, her voice was soft and thin. This was when Gojo realized it was the felt time he'd heard her speak since, well, yesterday. It felt odd.

      "So. . ." Gojo paused, why was it so difficult to have a conversation like this? All he wanted to do was dive into whatever it is that Hiyori was feeling, see if he could help her. But here he was, putting this dumb and cold facade on. The macaroons were for himself, he just happened to walk by Hiyori's room — how was he ruining it so bad? "How are you?"

      Hiyori didn't answer, instead her face fell. A shadow was drawn across her face, shielding her eyes. She hated feeling like this, like she was weak. And it felt even worse that Satoru Gojo was the one asking, the strongest.

      "I'm fine," Hiyori stated in a heated tone, uncontrollably. Gojo sensed the emotion bubbling under the skin of the redhead.

      "You don't have to be fine," replied Gojo, his tone was more thought out — a warmth stuck to the words. "You. . .you watched your best friend die. You can grieve."

      It felt like a knife was stabbed right through Satoru Gojo's heart as he spoke the sentence. Lying to her, why did it feel so difficult? And wrong?

      "And why would we have to keep me being alive away from Yori?"

      Gojo swung on his hips to turn towards the very much alive, Yuji Itadori, standing a few feet away from him. Somehow and in some miraculous way, Yuji came back to life while his 'dead' body was in the morgue. Unbeknownst to anyone, even Yuji since he didn't remember, but Sukuna had made a pack with the pink-haired boy containing two conditions.

      "Because Itadori, we have to make everyone think that you're actually dead," Gojo explained, tapping his finger rather quickly on the boy's nose. "And if your best friend isn't actively grieving, the higher-ups are going to know something's off."

      Yuji sighed, "But I've never broken a pinky promise to her."

      Gojo deadpanned at Yuji, "We're attempting to keep you alive by doing this, and all you're thinking about is how you're breaking some dumb pinky promise?"

      "It's not dumb," Yuji immediately echoed, his tone of voice had quickly shifted into a more serious set. Gojo perked a single eyebrow up in surprise. "I don't think I can do this knowing she thinks I'm dead."

       Gojo huffed out an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes dramatically — no sense of wanting to put his own life first for once. How admirable, but utterly stupid at the same time.

      "Fine, how about I just tell her? And explain the only way for you to survive is for her to sell the part of the grieving best friend," Gojo suggested, gaining Yuji's attention. "But you won't be able to meet with her, not until after the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event."

      Yuji pondered the possibility, he hated not being able to see Hiyori for all that time. But at the very least, she would know that he was alive. He swallowed some nervousness in the back of his throat, and gave Gojo a firm nod.

      Gojo knew from the beginning he was never going to keep his word. There was no way Hiyori would be able to genuinely seem like she was grieving the boy if she knew he was still alive. It was the only way to make sure Yuji would remain alive, at least for the time being. They would meet up though, just as Gojo said, during the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event.

     But it felt so wrong. Seeing the completely different Hiyori sitting in front of him changed his thoughts. It was easy to say let her grieve before — but seeing her like this, Gojo just wanted to blurt out the fact Yuji was still alive.

      But he couldn't.

      "Doc said that you should take it easy for a few days," Gojo stated, trying to keep his voice was swaying — he despised himself right now. "But you can take more time than that if you want."

      "I don't need time," Hiyori spoke quickly and firmly, Gojo glanced down to make eye contact with her through his blind fold. "Yuji wouldn't want me to. Let me train to get stronger."

      Gojo tilted his head a bit as the girl spoke, the words surprised him. She appeared broken, her eyes were red and swollen from her previously dried tears, her face was more pale than usual. She barely missed being murdered by Sukuna, and training was the first thing on her mind?

"Do you, uhm, want one?" Gojo questioned, and he used the extremely long length of his arm to stick the plastic box of treats practically in Hiyori's face.

She glanced down towards the macaroons, then back up at Gojo — waiting for his face to twist with amusement and tease like he would never actually offer one to her. But his face, for one of the first times she had ever seen, looked sincere.

"I won't bite," teased Gojo, and then his infamous smirk returned back to his lips. "Maybe."

Hiyori hesitantly dove her hand into the box of sweet treats, picking out what appeared to be a matcha macaroon. She gave the dessert a small bite, and unwillingly — a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. She couldn't even describe how delicious the food melted in her mouth.

      "We still have to discuss what happened to you when. . .when Itadori died," Gojo struggled to find the right words, but that part was true — Hiyori needed a better understanding of her power.

      "What do you mean what happened?" Hiyori questioned, and she burrowed her eyebrows in confusion, consuming the last bite of the macaroon.

      Now it was time for Gojo to be the confused one, tilting his head to the side like a puppy, "You don't remember?"

      "I only remember bits and pieces, but what the hell are you referring to?"

a/n: SATORU GOJO u liar (ง •̀_•́)ง (as if i didn't write this)