___________________

'Maybe showing up to UA in the first place wasn't a good idea.'

The once dim room was suddenly filled with warm light and a light buzzing. Yuju stood in the doorway, momentarily taking a look at her home; a small traditional house that still reeked of the perfume and medications of the old couple that had died there not too log ago. If it was of concern, they died from a natural cause called 'old age'.

However, despite the sad loss and tear-welling story they had that Yuju wasn't bothered to share, the little home that could barely fit a small family was as comfy as a little cottage deep in a forest during a rainy season. Though, you could say the wide collection of plants around the entire house contributed to that kind of ambience.

Yuju sighed, kicking her shoes off to the side and wore the indoor slippers before stepping foot inside and tossing her bag on the living room couch.

She made a quick beeline to the kitchen, hunger seemingly taking over her as she gathered any ingredients she could use to cook whatever was possible with her limited resources– a little reminder that she would need to go grocery shopping pretty soon.

Cooking was a hobby of Yuju that helped her to not think of anything else other than possibly burning the food if she didn't pay enough attention to it, and with the sudden exhaustion she felt after pushing herself through the crowd of students that had gathered in front of class 1-A's room earlier, she obviously needed it.

Long story short, everyone was against her new class for the upcoming sports festival most likely due to the villain attack incident a few days ago, and since she was in said class, everyone was against her too despite her having not been included in said traumatic situation.

Amazing.

"4-star ramen.."Yuju muttered to herself as she stared at the ingredients layed out on the counter. It would have to do.

She listened to old music as she cooked and hummed along to some catchy tunes from time to time. The sizzling of the hot pan and bubbling of boiling water was, in a weird way, comforting, and the sweet aroma of sautéed onion and garlic was the embodiment of heaven blessing her nose.

"I want some bacon.."

Sukuna grumbled, suddenly appearing on Yuju's left cheek as a mouth formed and the little slit under her eye opened.

Yuju didn't hesitate to pick up a small bit of bacon from the pan that was still on the fire and tossed it to the curse's eagerly gaping mouth. She smiled when she heard the panicked and restricted screams almost immediately. She liked tormenting the supposed King of Curses from time to time– a little hobby if you will.

The heart-wrenching sound of pain was the embodiment of heaven blessing her ears.

"YOU BITCH! THAT SHIT MELTED MY TONGUE!"

Maybe it was the bitchy-ness in her, or the boredom of living alone in a small house with a Lana Del Rey song currently playing, or both, but Yuju felt it in her core the urge to just be even more of a menace to the curse worse than how much of a menace he is to her.

"Mm mm mhhh! The flavors are melting on my tongue-hhh~"

Exact expression, exact tone of voice; it left Sukuna speechless. All he did was retreat back into the depths of Yuju's mind and contemplate on his throne about having her as his what he now used to call her his 'favorite vessel'.

Yuju was a weird little bitch.

Sukuna didn't bother messing with her for the rest of the cooking session– merely listened to her whistle and hum to parts of songs she especially liked.

The relaxed energy she was giving off in that moment calmed him; it was times like those of normality did Sukuna could relax himself almost into a comfortable sleep. But, just like any other times like those, they didn't last long.

Yuju's phone began to vibrate on one of the kitchen's counter, the ringtone completely contradicting the mellow-y songs of Lana.

Sukuna deadpanned. "You've got to be kidding me.."

Yuju rolled her eyes at his reaction as she dropped her knife and walked over to her phone and picked it up. "What."

"Could've used the standard SAMSUNG ringtone on your SAMSUNG phone, but you chose a FAKE NOKIA one."

"Mind your damn business you fucking fungus."

Incoming Call

CHOSO
+81 XXXXXXXXXX

Yuju immediately answered the call.

...

It's always been empty and quiet in the park when the time was passed 19:30. The only things that was keeping it not look run-down during night time were the street lights and the colorful playgrounds. Barely anyone spends their time around the area after the incident of a kid getting hit and run over by a car nine years ago— rumor has it her spirit haunts the area. Of course, that wasn't true.

Yuju sat relaxed on a bench under a street lamp, arms crossed and legs spread. A man sat beside her, his posture practically the same, only he was much bigger and dressed in samue— it seemed like the cold evening breeze didn't bother him.

They sat in silence for awhile; no words exchanged, just setting into their system of their sudden meeting at an unrecommeded time of the day, though this little routine of theirs wasn't really uncommon.

"How's life in Musutafu so far?"

Yuju took a deep breath in before exhaling. Of course that was what he was going to ask first, but that didn't mean she wasn't expecting anything else.

"I want out." She bluntly answered, and the man beside her could only stay silent. "I'm not meant to be in that damn school of heroes and justice. Their ideology, teaching, actions and a shit ton more are driving me more insane than I already am. Good influence? Good and evil are mixed no matter how hard the world tried to divide them— it's what makes a balance in society if everyone could jut get that through their thick skulls. If all of you thought dumping me in UA was a good idea, all you did was serve me more people i'll turn miserable."

Choso silently listened, both agreeing and disagreeing with her regarding her enrollment to UA.

"Then why'd you showed up in class earlier?" He asked. It seemed like he was testing her and her words, but he was genuienly curious. Why go to a place that you absolutely despite to begin with?

Yuju picked at the end of her hair, grumbling under her breath for a moment before finally giving a proper response, though Choso wasn't sure if he should have expected it or not with what she shared.

"Gojo-sensei and Yuuta threatened to exorcize Hanabi if I didn't show up today."

"Ah.." Choso sighed, "Your adopted cursed spirit."

The 16-year old frowned and looked at him. "You sound disappointed."

"Just..." Choso pushed his untied hair back before suddenly ruffling it back to being messy and all over his face, "it's odd of you to care for something and be dedicated to raise it like an actual child."

Yuju stares at him, almost like a threatening death stare with her head being the only thing facing him. It was creepy and off-putting even for Choso.

"Anyways..." Choso suddenly pulled out and showed a big paper bag loaded and bulging with things inside it. He slid it over to Yuju who hesitantly broke her stare and diverted her gaze down to open the bag and see it's contents.

"Gojo guessed that you'd run out of groceries by now, and since you wouldn't be able to do as much sorcery work as back then due to your new schedule, he was kind enough to buy them for you. That's one less load off your plate, right?"

"Did Yuji-nii send me anything?" Yuju asked, suddenly leading Choso to become silent.

She skimmed over the contents inside the bag, occasionally taking out some things either to take a closer look at it or to take a look at what was under it. There wasn't anything unusual like what she had partially expected. "It's the least he could do as a big brother.."

Choso pursed his lips, not saying anything as he quietly watched her stuff the groceries back inside and folding the opening of the bag close.

"Then again, i'm not suprised." Yuju sighed, "He left me, after all... and everyone else— except you, I guess."

Her words threw Choso off. While they may have been partially true, it just had somewhat of a sense of exaggeration both to demean and praise.

He sighed, "You know that's not true-"

"Then explain to me why they never bothered to show their faces." Yuju dared Choso to respond as she stared intently at him in the eyes. "You know i'm right."

Choso chose not to say anything.

He could only sigh and break their stare. He crossed his arms and legs over the other, tapping his foot on the concrete ground as he stared at a distance in front of him until Yuju eventually diverted her gaze.

He knew not to tilt his head down.

Once Choso made his departure, most likely going back to wherever they were hiding in away from Yuju, the devil herself couldn't get rid of the sour taste between her teeth after their conversation had ended tense. A scowl was apparent on her face as she walked back to her home, slamming the door and kicking her outdoor slippers before practically throwing the bag of groceries on the counter. In that little moment, the boiling pot on the stove hadn't crossed her mind just yet.

She muttered under her breath, biting on her nails as she paced back and forth in the kitchen while her mind was seemingly running on a treadmill on full speed. Her mind was focused on her and Choso's conversation not too long ago, irritated and upset. Did she have the right feel that?

"How dare he... giving excuses for those good for nothings– they're AWEFUL PEOPLE!" Yuju raised her hands to the air before slapping them back down to her side, laughing in pure disbelief as her wide eyes darted across the entire room. "The audacity..

..They're bad people aren't they, Sukuna?"

The pot screamed as hot steam shook it's lid.

"...yeah."

...

"Itadori Yuju?"

Yuju quickly snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes set on Present Mic, another teacher of UA, who stood in the front of the class already staring at her behind his yellow sunglasses/visors– it was more of a complimentary thing for his hero costume rather than something of necessity.

The sudden special mention of her name made majority of the class look at her, curious and confused as brows creased and heads peaked from behind others. Nosy bastards.

"Yes?" She hummed out with a small, twitchy smile.

Present Mic visibly frowned. He moved his glasses further down the bridge of his pointed nose, the wrinkles between his thin, tiny brows ever more prominent than before. His expression made Yuju raise a brow.

"I've been calling you... you've been nipping at your lip and biting your nails for the past half hour of my class." He informed with a tone of voice much softer than what anyone was usually used to hearing from him– it was evident to anyone who heard him that he was concerned. "Do you need to go see Recovery Girl?"

It took a moment for Yuju to process everything he had just said while almost instinctively looking at her hand that had supposedly been picking at the skin of her lips. Between her nails were thin, tiny pink-tinted skin- proof of her teacher's words. 

"Oh..." was the only thing she could let out in that moment. It took awhile for her to actually properly come back to her senses and, when she finally did, looked back up at Present Mic with a reassuring smile like nothing had happened. "My thought must have taken over- I'm completely fine."

Present Mic seemed to second-guess if he should believe her or not, but when he saw that Yuju was now more attentive than ever, he let the situation slide before continuing on with where he previously left off.

A certain someone with nature-y hair and freckles, however, couldn't help himself but to  continuously glance at the skinny girl.

...

Yuju had decided that lunch that she would not eat inside the comforts of the giant box of a classroom that day and just go around the UA campus to tour herself, get herself familiar to the place, it's system, and it's faults.

She was last out of the room like yesterday. Her classmates who were about to head out bid her a respectful bye and a good lunch. One of them, a very extroverted pink girl had invited her to join them, however Yuju politely declined stating she already had plans. The group was respectful to not push and simply bid her goodbye.

Yuju gathered the last of her things into her bag before zipping it close and tossing it over her shoulder before finally stepping out into the hallways. It was  surprisingly empty considering the bell had rung not more than ten minutes ago. She did hear that the cafeteria chef was an amazing cook- all the students were most likely lined up to have their bellies full before afternoon classes started.

She passed the room full of loud, hungry teenagers stuffing their mouths full to the brim, barely taking a glance as she began her descend down the flight of stairs and outside of UA's main building. The first thing that welcomed her was the warm breeze, caressing her bare cheeks while also trying to lift her skirt up which she quickly held down.

A displeased frown graced Yuju's lips. "Bitch."

"What dumbass would have beef with the wind?" Sukuna snorted, a failed attempt at trying to hide his amusement. He was practically rolling on the floor of his innate domain like a ticklish Plankton from SpongeBob, and Yuju could only imagine that his eyeballs were bulging out of their sockets too.

"You and your burnt tongue." Yuju dryly fired back.

"Bitch."

Yuju took on a little walk, munching on an onigiri that she had brought(smuggled) to school in the process.

Despite the despise she had for her brother and Gojo forcefully enrolling her to a hero school, it was hard for her to deny that UA wasn't a beauty. It had the perfect balance of industrial and nature- a good environment for students to get away and have a break from academics for awhile.

She was alone in that moment,  just like she wanted—

"Itadori, right?"

The filling of the onigiri seeped out as Yuju crushed it in her palms.

She turned around, a nonchalant but curious look as her brows raised to be faced with two boys and that pink girl from her class.

"Didn't expect you to be out here!" Pinky commented with a grin. "What're you doing here anyways? We thought you had plans?"

Yuju quirked a brow, letting out a little hum as she licked the onigiri's filling from her knuckle. "I could say the same for you."

"We weren't too hungry so we decided to just walk around campus." One of the boys, owning a pair of odd-shaped elbows, answered.

'They weren't spying on me, were they?'

'Your trust issues are showing.'

"Pretty ucommon to hear anyone not be hungry for Lunch Rush's food..." Yuju muttered.

"Could say the same for you." The odd-elbowed boy chuckled. "I always see you outside the cafeteria but never inside... Sero, by the way– Sero Hanta."

"Itadori Yuju." She gave a curt bow, "nice you meet you."

"You're pretty traditional, aren't you?" The buffer boy of the tree students grinned, his eyes creasing into cresents.

"Kinda like Todoroki-kun!" The pink girl added before suddenly sticking her tongue out with a grin and a pointer finger up. "I'm sure you two would get along real well."

'I wouldn't necessarily find myself being close with a hero's child..'

Yuju smiled, "I'm sure i'll be good friends with all of you soon."

......

This chapter had been sitting on drafts for 3 months and I forgot to publish it whoopsies

Anw merry christmas/have a happy holiday and a happy new year to all of us<3