CHIYO WASN'T A FAN...

of amusement parks, as she preferred somewhere more serene, like museums. hence, she offered to watch everybody's things while they mounted on various exhilarating rides that seemed to drop sixty feet into hell — from the girl's perspective at least.

"we can't just leave you alone here", maki argued, even though chiyo was fine being by herself.

     "I can stay. I don't like any of these rides anyways", megumi offered.

     "oh, you don't have to do that to yourself, fu—"

     "alright, great! we'd all feel much better if fushiguro was with you. ya know, he's a pretty reliable guy", yūji proudly stated.

the rest scurried off, with sukuna casting the duo one last glance, as chiyo was now left alone with megumi.

"aoki-senpai, do you want to take a seat on that bench over there? it's probably more comfortable than just standing here with all their bags and such", megumi pointed out.

"r-right, good call!", chiyo weakly smiled, taking a seat beside the first-year, as her social anxiety kicked in.

'I've never directly talked to fushiguro-kun before...he's always pretty quiet compared to the other first-years...'

the two stayed in an uncomfortable — for chiyo at least — silence, as screams and curses could be heard whilst the cart looped upside down twice in a row.

attempting to take another step forwards from leaving her shell, chiyo had asked how megumi's day was going.

"good I guess. and you?"

"I'm doing fine myself", chiyo answered.

     and that was it. that was the end of their conversation.

     internally cringing at herself, she wondered what else there was for her to talk about.

     "ah, by the way, when are basketball tryouts?", chiyo questioned.

     "I believe it's july 21st, a thursday. and results come out the very next day", megumi replied.

     "oh, well...a-are you nervous?"

     "not really", megumi honestly responded, "if anything, I'm more concerned for yoshino".

     "why's that?"

     "he originally wanted to join the film appreciation club, but was swayed by yūji's request of wanting all his friends to tryout with him for basketball".

     chiyo hummed, as she finally lifted her head to glance at megumi.

     "so is that the reason why you're trying out too? because yūji-kun asked you to?"

     shaking his head, megumi cracked a slight smile — so minuscule that chiyo didn't even notice.

     "no. I genuinely like basketball. after all, my dad is the head coach", the boy reminded.

     "a-ah, right! and fushiguro-sensei didn't come on this field trip, did he?", chiyo noticed.

     "he didn't want to leave my mom alone for four days while I was gone, so he opted out", megumi informed.

     "I see..."

     upon falling into silence again, the first-year had decided to start up a conversation as well. his evergreen gaze shifted from the bag that he was holding, onto the second-year that was seemingly staring at her shoes.

     "what about you?", he asked.

     "w-what about me?", chiyo awkwardly chuckled.

     "are you going to apply to be manager? if I remember correctly, yūji had asked you to, but you didn't really seem like you wanted to", megumi exposed.

"oh...umm, I don't know. I've never joined any clubs or extracurricular activities. and...I don't really have anything to offer if I were to become manager", the timid girl honestly stated.

     "I don't think so".

     chiyo's eyes ever so slightly widened, as megumi unintentionally complimented her.

     "you're very open-minded and patient even after orimoto-senpai ruined your dress. that's a great quality to possess when managing a group of boys".

     "t-thanks...", chiyo softly muttered, as she was glad that even though she couldn't see her own shining qualities, someone else did.

     the girl tended to be harsher on herself, as she always compared herself to her outgoing mother, who was not only the captain of the soccer team, but also graduated fifth in her class.

     "ah, but don't feel pressured to join because of what me or yūji has said".

"I-I really appreciate it. thank you...fushiguro-kun..."

megumi rubbed the back of his neck, as he turned his head the other way to get a fresh breath of air. for some reason, looking at chiyo's sincere expression made it hard for him to breathe.

however, it wasn't like the suffocating perfumes that struck his nose when his fangirls pushed themselves onto him. nor was chiyo's laughter like those high-pitched giggles that had sent his head into a migraine.

there was a type of soothing aura when he was around her; a presence that he didn't mind.

     "OIII, FUSHIGURO!!"

the dark-haired boy softly sighed, as his peace did not last.

"we're back!", yūji announced with a wide smile across his face.

"thank tengen for the fast pass. or else we would've had to wait for hours", mai smiled.

     "you should've seen kugisaki. she was screaming like a banshee!", the younger itadori laughed.

     "and you weren't?!", the orange-haired girl retorted.

     whilst the first-years playfully bantered amongst themselves, chiyo was approached by orimoto.

     "would you...like to...", hesitating, the dark-haired girl looked back at okkotsu, who just gave his girlfriend an encouraging nod.

     "go ride...the...the carousel...together?"

     chiyo nearly dropped maki's backpack, as she watched the dark-haired girl bite the bottom of her lip in anxiousness.

clearly she wasn't used to asking people to go do things with her, as her eyes nervously adverted from chiyo's gaze.

"a-ah, yes! sure!! let's go right now!", chiyo exclaimed, snapping out of her shock, as she handed the bags back to the zen'in twins.

"we'll come along t—"

"no!", orimoto denied, as she snatched chiyo's hand and started booking it.

"what the—"

"relax, mai. she's probably just overwhelmed by all of us", maki explained.

"if you think about it, aoki-senpai's the one that was most open about being friends, so she's probably trying to approach her first", yoshino added on.

"mah~ in the meantime, let's go play some of the shooting games and win some prizes!", yūji suggested.

     "sounds good to me", the second-year boy smiled.

     as the group traveled to a stall with many stuffed animals hanging on each and every side of the walls, okkotsu had targeted for a specific soft toy.

     "which one are you thinking of taking down?", yūji asked.

     "probably the penguin. rika likes them", the second-year replied.

     "ehh? how cute!!", kugisaki awed, as maki and mai were determined to take down the largest plushie for they were competitive amongst themselves.

     "got your eye on something?", yoshino nudged sukuna.

     "not particularly", the latter honestly answered, as he watched megumi take one of the fake guns and shoot at a brown bear with a dress — per kugisaki's persistent request.

"really? you don't see anything that you'd like to take home?", the dark-haired first-year questioned.

"do I look like the type to take home plushies?", sukuna scoffed.

"well no...but someone else might appreciate it", yoshino implied.

     "who? yūji?", sukuna joked, causing the dark-haired boy to roll his eyes.

     "you obviously know who I'm talking about", he stated.

     "hm".

"oh come on. I think she'd appreciate a little gift from you", yoshino encouraged with a slight smile.

sukuna seemed to ponder for a moment, before he had questioned his friend.

"say, if you were her, who would your crush be?", the pink-haired boy seriously asked, picking up one of the fake guns, as he started aiming at a specific item.

     "huh? I'm not gay", yoshino stated, causing an irk mark to form on sukuna's forehead, as he had incidentally missed his target.

     "yeah but I'm saying IF you were her", sukuna repeated.

     "mm, aoki-senpai seems like a nice girl, so she'd probably like a nice guy?? maybe fushiguro? I don't really know...I mean, a lot of girls like fushiguro", yoshino shrugged.

     the stall owner handed sukuna his prize, as he had made the hit.

     "congratulations!", he exclaimed, to which sukuna had just looked down at the small plush that fit snuggly in his palm.

     shoving it in his pocket, sukuna had turned to yoshino with a frown.

"you really think so?"

sensing his friend's displeasure, yoshino had decided to give it a second thought.

"well everybody's different. maybe aoki-senpai likes—"

yoshino was suddenly interrupted by maki and mai panicking, as it seemed whoever was on the other side of the phone was being threatening.

     "MAI, KUGISAKI, AND YOSHINO, GO FIND GOJŌ-SENSEI. THE REST COME WITH ME", maki commanded with an urgent tone, to which all had complied.

"maki, what's wron—"

"no time to explain! orimoto and chiyo are in trouble!"

chiyo whimpered in fear, as her and orimoto embraced each other.

"don't worry, chiyo-chan. yūta will come save us", orimoto whispered.

     chiyo simply nodded, as she occasionally glanced at the group of second-years and first-years.

     amongst them, was itō shōta — who chiyo had recognized as one of yoshino's main bullies. after all, the boy was the one that had shoved her to the ground that day that she had helped bandage yoshino.

"mannn~ they sure are taking a long time to get here", one groaned with impatience.

"right? do they even care about these bitches? what if we took the wrong ones?", another chimed in.

"relax~ I've seen the blonde one with sukuna. after this fight, he'll most likely be suspended. I mean, how can our school possibly house a student who keeps beating up others, right?", itō laughed.

chiyo flinched upon realizing that their entire plan was to get sukuna deferred, so that no one would get in their way during school.

quietly asking whether orimoto still had her phone on her, she was about to text okkotsu to tell sukuna not to come. however, itō's sharp eyes did not allow the second-year to do so.

"oho? we've got a little sneak here! let's see who you're trying to contact", itō fake smiled, snatching orimoto's phone out of chiyo's hand, as the blonde second-year struggled to steal it back.

"p-please give it back!", she choked out, as itō held the girl's face in place with a grin.

"say, now that I look closely at you...you're actually pretty cute", he hummed, as orimoto hastily stood up and slapped the male's hand away.

"don't touch her, you filthy pig".

"hah?! and who the fuck do you think you are? just because you look slightly attractive, that doesn't give you the right to insult me", itō snapped back, as he diverted his attention back to chiyo.

"but back to you, say...how about you and I—"

     the warehouse that they were inhibiting was suddenly intruded by chiyo and orimoto's friends.

     "oi, dipshit...keep her out of this, would ya?"

     AUTHOR'S NOTE: BEAT HIS ASS BRO,, BEAT HIS ASS BRO‼️🤬

     sukuna w/ ear piercings though???🫣