ヾ(＾。^*)♪～ — chapter eighteen
"transparency"

      "I DIDN'T KNOW SHE COULD dance like that."

      "Who knew this girl was buried deep inside in Hiyori?"

      "This is not apart of the mission."

      The three young adults staring into the crowd of dancing people were pretty defeated. They had tried over and over again to touch Gojo for the past two hours — tried dancing close to him, tried randomly touching him through the crowd, tried surprises. Absolutely none of it had worked and they still hadn't touched him yet.

      Gojo said they had until the nightclub closed to accomplish this feat, which was just under an hour away. The first-years had been scrambling in their heads to find a viable plan, but no such luck yet.

      And wondering where Hiyori is, you ask?

      She was in the middle of the dance floor. Her hips were swaying along to the beat of the song — Low, by Flo Rida. Her eyes were shut closed as she just let her body move in whatever way she pleased. Completely let go and relaxed, she felt no weight on her shoulders.

      After the young man bought Hiyori two drinks, she separated and caught up with Nobara. Then, another man offered to buy drinks — Nobara didn't turn this one down either. After the short lived talk with the second man, the bartender gave Hiyori another drink that apparently was from the first man.

      She hadn't bought a single drink for herself all night, and yet she was wasted.

      This is the Hiyori Hinata that would've been alive if her family had lived. If she had never saw curses to begin with. If she hadn't become a jujutsu sorcerer.

      If she had been normal.

      "How many has she had?" Fushiguro questioned beside Nobara as the three sat away at a table. They were close enough distance to keep a safe eye on Hiyori, but also on Gojo as well. The white-haired man had taken a break from the dancing himself, leaning on the wall with his back against it.

      "I don't even know," Nobara stared in disbelief at the redhead on the dance floor. "I didn't even know she could move like that."

      "Me neither," Yuji said with spread lips, his eyes hadn't left the body of Hiyori in over two minutes.

"We have to stay on task," Fushiguro stated, he was staring down both of his mesmerized friends — he groaned.

"Wait," Nobara suddenly sparked up, and she gasped while covering her mouth. "I just had the fucking absolute best idea."

"Oh, that's just great."

(◠﹏◠✿)

Satoru Gojo's eyes never left the body that belonged to Hiyori Hinata the entire time he stood off the dance floor. Men would occasionally slip by, trying to influence her to dance with them — but she would wave them off every time.

While his back was still leaning against the wall, he had folded his arms over his chest. It wasn't that he wasn't as popular at Hiyori — because at least twenty different giggling girls had walked to him thus far, but there was something still bugging him.

Seeing her butt in that short purple dress that hugged her curves in the most perfect way possible, the way her hair was curled and flowing around like magic. She never needed makeup, Gojo thought, but she still looks so fucking good.

Gojo's eyes were torn from Hiyori when he spotted a dark-haired man making his way through the crowd — and from his steady and confident walk in Hiyori's direction he could gather what was about to happen. Unknowingly, Gojo's eyebrows had buried together and his eyes suspiciously narrowed at the unfamiliar man.

Hiyori didn't even notice the first time the man tapped her bare shoulder, too distracted in the music apparently, but once he warmly placed his right hand onto Hiyori's lower back — she glanced up. She unconsciously backed away from the unfamiliar touch, but she was able to recognize it was the same dark-haired man from before, the first man that had spoke to her earlier in the night.

"Hey," Hiyori warmly smiled, tilting her head off to the side a bit. "Haven't seen you in a bit."

"Well, I can't lie and say I haven't been looking at you all night," the man sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes unconsciously racked Hiyori's body up and down, the girl herself didn't necessarily notice.

"Oh, yeah?" Hiyori giggled lightly.

Gojo in the distance felt his hands form into tightly shaped fists at the sight of Hiyori laughing because of this man. He even felt the pinch from his fingernails digging slightly into bare skin. His jaw tightened as he gritted his teeth even tighter they could've cracked. He could say anything that was more funny than him, certainly.

Hiyori reached forward to place her fingertips around the man's bicep, but she wasn't even able to fully wrap her hand around it. wow, that's big. She laughed it off, "C'mon, let's dance."

Yeah! by Usher had now began playing, and Hiyori felt the familiarity of the music immediately in her bones. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to win this mission and stay for the next three days, but after she witnessed the fourteen failed attempts from her fellow students — a part of her had given up.

May as well enjoy the night then.

Hiyori and the tall black-haired man started moving their bodies together in a rhymic way. Her chest was touching that of the man's, his hands had been playing along the side of her waist while tracing both up and down. Hiyori's palms on on his arms, she honestly loved feeling his muscles right now for some reason.

"You're a good dancer," the man had to bend down some to whisper into Hiyori's ear, the action made her wiggle a bit from how ticklish it was.

From a far enough distance away, Nobara, Fushiguro, and Yuji were all watching from the back of the dancing crowd. They still wanted to blend in a bit, so Yuji and Nobara were softly swaying their hips to the beat of the song.

But the three sets of eyes were completely on Hiyori and the man dancing together.

"This seems like a terrible idea," Fushiguro stated while completely absent of emotion. He wasn't one to dance, no matter the setting, so he was just awkwardly standing in the young crowd with his arms folded distastefully over his chest.

"No, give it another minute," Nobara rose a single index finger towards Fushiguro — wanting immediately silence from the negative man. "If I'm right about this, she's gonna be able to touch Gojo."

"But how?" Yuji questioned with confusion written all over his face, he had slightly furrowed eyebrows.

He didn't like seeing Hiyori dancing around with this random and unknown man — he wanted it to be him. Not even in such a romantic way, he thought. He just wanted to be the one dancing with his best friend.

Nobara snapped, "Just watch."

Hiyori had turned away from the man so her back would be facing him, she slowly backed up against the front of his body. Then, from behind, his fingertips had been teasingly trailing Hiyori's bare skin on her shoulders.

But then, the feeling of his touch immediately disappeared.

"Hey—" Hiyori spoke up, and then she warily turned on her hips — the tipsiness could be spotted in her light swaying. Her eyes widened into saucers, and her already flushed cheeks from the alcohol burned even harder in the darkness.

Satoru Gojo was standing just two inches away from her.

She felt her restless breath get stuck in the back of her throat, her lips had fell ajar from the surprise. Her once dancing body had came to a complete stop. She peeled her lips open, but was interrupted.

"You won."

Hiyori didn't even make sense of it at first, but when she followed Gojo's gaze down to her hand — she saw it. Her fingertips had softly wrapped around Gojo's own hand, probably in the mix of losing her previous dance partner, and his infinity had not been activated. She was genuinely touching his skin, she did it — she had actually did it.

She had touched him.

Hiyori didn't say anything, instead she just kept staring at Gojo. The alcohol she had consumed thus far into the night seemed to be taking over her body more than ever. Her eyes didn't leave the sunglasses of the white-haired man — she wanted to despise him so much, but at this current moment. . .she couldn't find it in her.

If he's such a sick — why do I feel like my heart skips a beat every time I look at him?

Any other time she felt uncontrollable emotions bursting in her heart somehow because of Gojo, she shoved them away. Every time. But this time? She didn't fight against it, she didn't want to fight against it. She noticed her hand was still locked onto Gojo's and she didn't necessarily want to release it.

"I want to see your eyes, Satoru," Hiyori softly stated, like she was still stuck in a daze.

The last time Hiyori had muttered Satoru Gojo's first name there was no emotion attached it, she used it to get under his skin. However — this time around, there was some more attention written in it, it rolled off her tongue in such a way Gojo felt a groan rumble in the back of his throat. He wanted to hear her say his name again, desperately.

Gojo gathered himself and laughed, staring down the redheaded girl with a grin, "Then do something about it."

Hiyori didn't quite understand what the white-haired man meant by that bit. If it had been a suggestion for her to willingly take off his glasses, or not. But after a second of hesitation, her drunken state had already made a decision. She slowly reached her unsteady arm forward. In a second, she had her fingertips around Gojo's cold, metal sunglasses.

"Always so dramatic," Gojo teased as he slipped his fingertips on top of Hiyori's own, and helped her pull off his dark sunglasses.

Hiyori's soft lips slowly peeled open, a faint gasp escaped her lips.

Never in a million years would she had imagined Satoru Gojo to have such breathtakingly beautiful eyes. The blues of his eyes were so damn bright, she wanted to compare it looking at the sun on summer day. It was all so much to take in, she simply couldn't believe it.

one look into those eyes,

         and i knew it was all over.

                  i was in the perfect amount

      of trouble.

"Wow," Hiyori drunkenly blurted, she didn't care about trying to recover from that one.

Gojo wanted to say something sarcastic, or funny, or something that would make the drunken girl roll her eyes. But for one of the first times in his life, he wanted to be real.

"Having six eyes activated all the time fatigues me, that's why I always try to keep my eyes covered," Gojo stated, and the intoxicated Hiyori was slightly taken off guard by the sudden honesty.

"I like them," Hiyori slightly slurred together — now that she wasn't moving as much, the alcohol really seemed to be sinking in. "It's not fair."

"What is?" Gojo's eyebrows bent down together, like an instinct — he had taken another step closer to the redhead. He could smell the conditioner lingering in her hair from how close they were together.

"How can I be pissed at you when you're so stupidly pretty."

Gojo's eyebrows had uncontrollably twitched from the genuine compliment that slipped from Hiyori's lips. Surprisingly, he hadn't laughed. His blue eyes were still visible, he hadn't dared to put the sunglasses back on yet. Hiyori hadn't glanced up when she spoke — honestly, she hadn't even meant to let the whole sentence slip out so easily. She didn't realize how much the alcohol was affecting her system up until now.

"Don't ever tell anyone I said that," Hiyori warned, she had finally gained the courage to lock eyes with Gojo again. Somehow, Gojo couldn't help a grin to grow across his face when he recognized the burning red on Hiyori embarrassed cheeks.

Gojo gently placed his hand close to the redhead's ear, his skin grazing hers ever so teasingly. He delicately pushed back some of the flame-colored hair of Hiyori's from her face and neatly tucked it behind her ear, and Gojo authentically and in every truth and reality — stared lovingly back at Hiyori.

The gentleness in his brightened blue eyes, the caring smile that the corners of the lips were barely turned, the tilt of his head like he was completely interested in her and the rest of the world around them disappeared.

"Someone as pretty as you shouldn't be pissed at another pretty person like me, strawberry," Gojo's once completely full of tenderness expression turned for a more badgering manner.

Hiyori scoffed, "Did you just call me strawberry?"

"C'mon," Gojo leaned forward so he would be able to match Hiyori's shorter eye level. "I think it's pretty obvious why I'd call you strawberry, strawberry."

Hiyori wanted to stay close to Satoru Gojo's touch, she wanted to continue this little flirty and playful and interesting conversation with Satoru Gojo, she wanted time around them to just pause for a little bit.

She didn't get her wish, though.

"You did it, Yori!"

Hiyori was practically dragged away from the touch of Satoru Gojo as Yuji Itadori wrapped his muscled arms around her from the back. He gently twirled the girl in one circle, careful of her short dress of course, and then placed her back on her own two feet. Incidentally, it was quite a few feet away from Gojo.

"You should not do that to someone who's intoxicated, Itadori," Hiyori warningly shot up one index finger in the boy's direction — she suddenly wanted to dart off to the closest bathroom and just let it all out.

"Ugh, but you did it! Let us celebrate!" Nobara exclaimed while she shot forward to engulf Hiyori into a tight hug. Hiyori groaned as the brunette didn't let go of her excruciatingly long touch until the purple-eyed woman practically scraped her off.

"You should also not do that to someone who's intoxicated, Nobara!"

Meanwhile Nobara and Yuji continuing their conversation with the victorious Hiyori, Fushiguro had stepped towards Gojo instead of his fellow classmate. The white-haired man slipped his dark sunglasses on once again. The two stood arm to arm, watching the group of young adults sharing their excitement of winning their mini vacation.

Fushiguro finally spoke up, "Did you let us win?"

Satoru Gojo took a solid minute to form a response, pondering thought against thought in his mind — until he finally figured out the best answer.

"In all transparency, I didn't even realize Infinity was deactivated until she touched me."

a/n: get out. GET OUTTT i had so much fun writing this hehe