( º﹃º ) — chapter twenty one
"i will not fail you again"

"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT me like that?"

      Hiyori started to pinch up her face bit by bit with burning embarrassment, there was uncertainty written in her expression too. Gojo had seemed frozen in his footsteps to the bed as the last sentence slipped off of her lips. Nonetheless, he still managed to have locked eye contact with the redhead despite his rock-like body.

"No one's ever said that before," Gojo seemed to breathlessly whisper out, like he was finally starting to crawl out of his shell and Hiyori titled her head in confusion.

Hiyori retorted, "Doesn't make it any less true."

Gojo still appeared to be in a unstable state of bewilderment. His entire life, Satoru Gojo had felt completely and utterly alone. He was the strongest, and he had always been measured at a level of strength even as a baby. And because he was the strongest, he never let anyone close enough in to genuinely know him. Other than a few select people, from his beginning years of jujutsu sorcer. . .had anyone truly known him.

      And after the events of his childhood, he knew it was safer to be guarded than openly friendly.

"Can I ask you one last question?" Hiyori spoke up quietly, her voice suddenly felt a bit hoarse. The question floating on her mind was one that has lingered there since the very first day she had met Gojo — and she couldn't help hiding it anymore. "Promise."

Gojo tilted his head off to the side at the redhead, "What could it be this time?"

"Had we met before that day in Toyko?"

      The silence that had previously entertained the room was nothing compared to the empty coldness that stretched across now. A mouse could be heard scurrying if there from how noiseless the hotel room had become. Without even saying anything, Satoru Gojo had already given her an answer.

      "What?" Hiyori jumped up unexplainably from her chair. She leaned forward towards Gojo as she stared down the white-haired man in disbelief. "I knew it. I never forget a face, but I can't remember for the life of me from where."

     Gojo seemed to remain quiet, and Hiyori let a little exhale of a laugh out as she furrowed her eyebrows at him — she was waiting for him to explain. Explain where she would remember him from. But her expression started to straighten out as the silence remained, and now the redhead was tilting her head off to the side a bit. Her purple eyes never left the face of Gojo.

      "Gojo.? Where have I seen you before?"

      And after all this time of Gojo allowing Hiyori the joy of witnessing his shining blue eyes — he finally slid the dark sunglasses back onto his nose. Now shielded from the sight, Hiyori had the sudden urge to pout a bit.

      "It was the night your family died."

      Any thought of Gojo's beautiful eyes was zipped away as the sentence processed in her brain. Her expression twisted with a mix of twisted pain, unbelievable surprise, and a jolting shock. Her breath skipped as she waited for him to peel open those lips again.

      Hiyori felt like she couldn't physically get out a word, "What?"

      "It was after. . .everything. When you were in and out of consciousness," Gojo explained while a sigh escaped his lips. He was utterly not prepared for a conversation like this to explode out of nowhere. How come that redhead had to be so damn stubborn and smart. . . "That's when you probably caught a glimpse of me."

      "Why were you there?" Hiyori immediately questioned, she hadn't hesitated a second to peg it.

      Gojo tried his best to muster a little smirk while he replied to the girl, "I thought you promised the last question was your last question."

     Hiyori just stared at Gojo with disbelief and very disappointed crossed arms as a response. She really didn't need to muster anything else before Gojo realized he knew better than to not answer her question.

      "I was instructed to track the cursed spirit that attacked your family that night," Gojo described, and Hiyori's eyes darkened as the flashbacks of that haunting night echoed before her eyes. "But it was already too late when I got there."

      Hiyori had to physically force herself to exhale a deep breath, she certainly hadn't pictured this when she thought of going into Gojo's room. Finally after seemingly being on her feet for awhile, she decided to steal the chairs cushion back again.

      She placed her hands on her forehead as she stared down at the ground, "Do you know what cursed spirit killed them? Is it still alive?"

     "Vengeance is not a look good on you, Hiyori," Gojo directly answered, there was no uncertainty in his voice as he spoke. Hiyori usually would've deadpanned towards her sensei, but there was no amusement for her to play with. "There's no need for you to get involved, the situations being handled."

      "So it's still alive," Hiyori gritted her teeth together so tightly her jaw would surely feel tender in a moment. By now she was staring down the hotel wall in front of her with pure hatred and tightened fists were formed on her lap. "I always wondered, but no one would give me answers after all the months I tried."

      "I mean it, Hiyori, you need to leave this to—"

      "—To the adults? Like you?" Hiyori pondered, and she finally shifted her eyes over towards Gojo after avoiding contact for so long. The white-haired man could recognize the glossed over look in those purple orbs and the meaning behind it. "You need to tell me everything you know about that cursed spirit, Gojo."

      Say Sato again. Not Gojo.

            Say it playfully too.

                  Say it.

      "Apparently you're not listening to a word I'm saying — read my lips instead," Gojo instructed, his long fingers flicking towards his lips. "You're not getting involved. At all."

      "That's fucking ridiculous," Hiyori stood up from her comfortable chair in disbelief. "You don't understand! I can help, Gojo. I have to do this."

      "It would never be a good idea, Hiyori, you would understand that if you weren't biased to begin with," Gojo sighed as he realized how disappointed he was in how the night was forming into. "Can you trust me to do this?"

      "Apparently I couldn't trust you the first time," Hiyori hissed out before even thinking — she instantly regretted the sentence as soon as it escaped her lips.

      She wasn't able to grasp onto Gojo's expression when his whole demeanor darkened and went stone cold while he stayed planted on the hotel bed. Hiyori felt her spirit crumble as she pinched her face together, and after what felt like hours her tightened fists were released.

      "I didn't mean it like that," Hiyori exhaled in defeat, she could never control her emotions when it came to the night her family perished. "I'm sorry, Satoru."

      And here she had made the mistake of ruining the night, it could've been eventful with some light laughs and entertaining questions. Nothing like this. She hated how the night had twisted into — and she hated herself for being the one to create it. Once she finally deemed the night officially gone before her eyes, she began to head towards the hotel door.

       Just as her fingertips grasped onto the doorknob, Gojo had appeared right behind her back. He had a grasp around her spare hand, pulling her to an immediate stop.

      "I will not fail you again, Hiyori."

~,~

      "I slept like a frickin' baby!"

      Hiyori just so happened to yawn as Nobara let the sentence slip her pink lips. She tried her best to muster some sleep after leaving Gojo's hotel room last night with the dooming lingering conversation. It was now around ten am, only managing to get around four hours of sleep before tugging herself up from bed.

      She was surprised that she didn't wake Nobara when she entered the hotel room after leaving their white-haired sensei's room. Not even stirring the slightest as Hiyori collapsed into bed. The brunette must've been right then about the fact she slept like a frickin' baby.

       Both Hiyori and Nobara met up with Yuji and Megumi just a little bit ago for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Nobara didn't hesitate to explain the whole meal would be on Satoru Gojo's bill, as well.

      "Those beds are super comfy," Yuji beamed as he stuffed two pieces of crisp bacon into his mouth. He was eating as if it was his last meal on planet earth, the sight made Hiyori smile at her pink-haired best friend. "I still can't believe we're here for three more days."

      "Yeah, it's certainly going to be an eventful couple of days," Megumi mentioned when he finished chewing a small forkful of scrambled eggs.

Hiyori had yet to really join the conversation this morning — call it a mix between her inconsistent sleeping schedule and the stagnant words that she and Gojo exchanged last night. The whole conversation was still fresh in her mind, she had kept replaying it over and over again as she fell asleep.

She hadn't seen the white-haired man thus far into the morning, she pondered if he was even staying the three days or just leaving the four young adults to themselves. Hiyori wondered to herself why a part of her seemed so disappointed by that thought.

"Earth to Hiyori?"

      Hiyori had been stirring around the bowl of cereal in front of her for the past five minutes, but she hadn't taken a single spoonful of it yet. Nobody seemed to particularly notice, that was except for her best friend — Yuji Itadori.

      Yuji had bumped his elbow into the arm of Hiyori to even further gain her attention, and she absentmindedly swung her head to make eye contact with those puppy-dog brown eyes that belonged to Yuji. She blinked a few times once she realized how long she had been staring into space, blinded by her uncontrollable thoughts.

      "How'd you sleep?" Yuji grinned brightly towards his best friend. It was the kind of smile that stretched across his entire face and he always had to close to his eyes from the smile crinkles.

      Hiyori's mind flashed to how she had texted Megumi this morning that she had actually slept through the night — and that was why she hadn't responded to his text message from the night prior. She didn't particularly like lying to Megumi, but she also didn't want to explain how she was already preoccupied with Gojo. She certainly didn't want to disclose the conversation the two ended up sharing.

      So Hiyori gulped as she nonchalantly shrugged, "Pretty good, actually. I did wake up on and off though."

      "You kinda look like you stayed up all night," Yuji was much quieter when he spoke now, Hiyori doubted that either Nobara or Megumi sitting across from them heard the sentence. "No offense."

      "Shut up," Hiyori huffed out as she finally scooped some of the cereal from the bowl into her mouth, the sugar seeping into her tastebuds immediately. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't."

      "You could tell me," Yuji's shoulders defeatedly slouched, and Hiyori deadpanned towards her dramatic best friend. "I wanna know things."

      "I'll tell you later," Hiyori spoke through her mouthful of slightly-mush cereal. Yuji still seemed to understand her perfectly, since he practically jumped in his seat and his pouty expression was replaced with excitement, Hiyori thought it enough.

"Anyone see Gojo this morning?" Nobara questioned as she shoved her now empty breakfast plate forward on the shared table. "I'm surprised he isn't bombarding us with his own kind of plans."

"Maybe we actually have the day to ourselves," Yuji laughed aloud, which was softly followed by Nobara's giggle.

"I saw him leave early this morning when I walked to the front desk — because Itadori forgot our hotel key and we were locked out," Megumi flashed a quick glare at Yuji — who instantly hid his face and his posture succumbed. "He didn't seem to be a good mood, honestly."

While the rest of the group pondered what exactly could've upset Gojo — Hiyori's eyes spread with a mix of fear and confusion. She tried her best to recollect herself, shoving another two spoonful's into her mouth so she wouldn't have the opportunity to talk. Was he in a shitty mood because of me? Was it because of what I said?

     Nobara hummed, "How come?"

      "No clue," Megumi shrugged, and then his coldened blue eyes shifted towards Hiyori. She seemed off this morning, that much was obvious, but he didn't know what the hidden reasoning was behind it.

Megumi couldn't believe he had gathered the courage to text the redhead in the middle of the night last night — he didn't even know what he had hoped to achieve. Other than wishing to be in her presence, the raven-haired boy struggled to understand anything else he felt about her.

"Probably didn't get his beauty sleep," Yuji laughed to himself, and he finally seemed to be able to destroy the giant plate of food in front of himself. "You know how he is about his sleep."

Hiyori forced herself to swallow the mushy food in her mouth, which made a very awkward sounding gulp which all of the fellow jujutsu sorcerers heard. The redhead then slowly pounded her fist against her chest a few times, with the three pairs of eyes on her.

Hiyori raised her shoulders, "What?"

"Weird ass," Nobara retorted towards Hiyori, who only dramatically gapped as a response. "Let's get shopping before Gojo ransacks us here."

a/n: got such bad writers block and i still feel like this chapter isn't perfect but enjoy anyway (●'ω｀●)