HEADS TURNED AS THEY...

     watched itadori sukuna casually make his way down the second-year's hall. most deduced that he was probably here to beat up some upperclassmen that had wronged him.

     however, they were quickly proven wrong upon seeing him stand before classroom 2-b, hesitant.

not many dared go near him, until an unfortunate soul was stopped and interrogated by his intimidating ass.

     "oi, is she still here?", sukuna asked a random student.

"w-w-who??"

"isn't it obvious?", sukuna retorted.

     'no, it really isn't!', the random student and the others around them mentally thought in sync.

     "huh? what're you doing here?", maki questioned, suddenly showing up and becoming everyone's savior.

"who are you again?", sukuna asked, causing an irk mark to form on the girl's forehead.

"maki, you ignorant fool".

"say that again? I'll—"

just as the students around them thought that sukuna was going to hit a woman, chiyo had popped up from behind maki with a bright smile on her face.

"oh, sukuna! what're you doing here?", the blonde second-year asked, as maki grumbled something beneath her breath.

     "I'm here because..."

     "because...?"

     "the bento box", sukuna reminded, to which chiyo had perked up at that and went back into the classroom to go grab it.

"here you go! thank you for the delightful lunch once again", chiyo softly mumbled, to which sukuna had just nodded, still not leaving.

"i-is there anything else I can do for you?"

"didn't you say that you were afraid of the dark?", sukuna questioned, to which the second-year had flinched in embarrassment.

maki raised a brow, as chiyo proceeded to twiddle her thumbs.

"u-umm...m-maki and mai invited me to this café today so..."

     "oh".

     sukuna was about to turn around and leave, before chiyo had invited him as well.

     "y-you could bring yūji-kun and your shared friends too i-if you'd like!"

     "chiyo! it was supposed to be just us three", maki harshly whispered.

     "I'm sorry maki!! but it'll be fun. plus, you're always telling me to meet new people", chiyo quietly rebutted.

     "if you insist", sukuna shrugged, phoning his twin, who was waiting outside the school gates.

"hey, where are you?", yūji asked.

"we're coming. now ask megumi and them if they're free today", sukuna demanded.

"why? ah, junpei says he is", yūji answered.

"and so is kugisaki and fushiguro".

     "great. see you all later".

     "wait—"

     as sukuna hung up, he had briefly informed that his friends will be tagging along, to which maki internally groaned, as she gave mai a heads up with a text.

     "a-awesome! I can't wait to meet your friends, and you've already met maki and mai, so..."

     sukuna simply nodded, as chiyo and maki had guided him and the other first-years towards the new café that mai was already waiting at.

upon arriving at the cute coffee shop, chiyo had fate to thank, for she sat beside sukuna, who had yūji on the other side of him.

the rest settled down, as megumi greeted maki and mai, for they were his second aunts.

"huh?"

the entire table stared at the zen'in twins and megumi, who did not share the same last name.

"ah yeah, megumi's father married and took the last name fushiguro instead of zen'in. to be fair, I would've done the same if I were to marry", maki briefly explained.

"now that I look at it, you three do look pretty similar...", kugisaki mumbled.

chiyo glanced up, as she noticed yoshino as the boy that she had helped that one morning when he was getting bullied.

the two of them made brief eye contact, as the second-year had flinched upon yoshino thanking her in front of everyone.

"ah, so you're aoki chiyo! I was wondering who you were", the orange-haired first-year stated.

"m-me? why...?", chiyo awkwardly muttered.

"ehh? it's because I've heard so much about you, yet I've never been able to put a face to it. you're the one that helped yoshino and gave sukuna that cute bunny lunch, right? even fushi—"

megumi gently nudged kugisaki's leg under the table as a sign to shut up, to which the first-year had glared at him in response.

"o-oh well....n-nice to meet you all...", chiyo softly greeted, as a waitress had soon arrived at their table to come take their orders.

chiyo internally panicked, as she didn't really get a chance to look at the menu properly, yet the others were already ordering, and her turn was almost here.

'what should I get?!? a drink? a slice of cake?? some macarons?? aww, everything looks so cute here!! I can't choose!'

"umm miss? what would you like?", the waitress repeated, causing chiyo to just randomly blurt out an order.

     "coffee please!", she squeaked, disappointed by her lack of self confidence to ask for a little more time.

     "are you sure, chiyo? I thought you didn't like bitter things...", maki whispered.

     "it's...it's fine", the blonde girl sighed. 

     "alright...and for you, sir?", the waitress inquired.

     "I'll take a strawberry smoothie and a fruit parfait", sukuna confidently ordered.

     as soon as the waitress left, yūji raised a brow at his brother.

     "since when did you—"

     "since now", sukuna immediately shot down, as the high school students all patiently awaited for their food and drinks to come.

     "so, what clubs are you guys in?", kugisaki asked the second-years.

     "mai's in a modeling club and I partake in competitive archery", maki answered.

     "archery?! I didn't even know that we had an archery club at our school!", kugisaki exclaimed, now intrigued.

     "and what about you, aoki-senpai?", yoshino asked.

     "ah...I'm actually not in any extracurricular activities. I don't think I'm particularly good at anything, so I prefer to just lounge around at home after school", chiyo explained.

     "ehhh? then how about you become the basketball manager for the elite team? ya know, me, sukuna, fushiguro, and junpei are trying out for the competition team at the end of this semester since basketball season doesn't start until second term. if we make it, you should be our manager!", yūji suggested.

     "I-I don't think I fit the bill...plus, isn't there already a manager...?"

     "no. my father fired the last one because her voice was apparently too obnoxious", megumi chimed in, to which sukuna had mused at the young fushiguro's involvement in this conversation.

usually the dark-haired boy preferred to just listen rather than talk.

"your father...oh! you mean fushiguro-sensei!"

     "yeah! he's the head coach for the elite team, so I think we all have a pretty good shot!", yūji grinned.

     "you know, just because you're friends with megumi, that doesn't mean that you'll make it onto the team right? it's based on skill?", mai honestly stated.

     "yeah, but I have confidence in us! and plus, fushiguro's dad loves us!"

     "not really but sure", megumi muttered beneath his breath, as the students were suddenly interrupted by the waitress serving their food.

     chiyo thanked the lady as she depressingly stared at her cup of black coffee.

     'maybe...maybe black coffee won't be that bad?? maybe I can put some sugar packets in it or something!'

     glancing around, the blonde second-year had noticed that there were no sugar packets on the table, meaning that she'd have to ask the waitress for some.

     'never mind then...'

     just as she was about to pick up her cup and take a sip, sukuna had slyly pushed his strawberry smoothie and cup of parfait towards the girl.

     the straw wasn't used and neither was the parfait eaten out of yet.

     glancing up, chiyo noticed sukuna taking her cup of black coffee instead.

     "I forgot that I don't really like sweets", he said, only loud enough for chiyo to hear.

     chiyo's eyes sparkled with admiration upon seeing sukuna drink the cup of coffee without any sweetener or such.

     "t-thank you...sukuna", chiyo smiled, to which it could be seen from the corner of sukuna's eye.

     though most didn't really notice, megumi did.

     'she's...kind of cute...'

     "hello, mom? yes, I'm home", chiyo said over the phone, as she locked the door after sukuna and yūji had offered to walk her home.

     "did you eat yet, chiyo? I'm sorry I haven't been home recently. this project's taking much longer than I was anticipating", the girl's mother sighed.

     "it's okay, mom! I'm fine just by myself. and plus...I know you're working hard, so please make sure you're resting as well!"

     "always so sweet and understanding of my darling chiyo", the woman praised.

     "by the way, when's class observation — parents' day? I want to make it back by then".

     "oh, I believe it's after our school field trips: friday, july eighth".

     "I'll definitely be back before then. however, I just hope my boss doesn't assign me another project. anyways, how's school? make any new friends?"

     "school's fine. and yeah...I'd say that I made some new friends..."

     "good, good! I can't wait to meet them soon. anyways, I've got to go, chiyo. love you lots and take care!"

     "love you too, mom. take care".

     as soon as the woman hung up, chiyo had fallen onto the couch in her living room with a sigh.

     "I should've asked mom to sign the slip for the field trip..."

     sukuna had successfully returned home with yūji, unfolding the furoshiki to reveal a note from none other than chiyo.

     'dear sukuna, thank you for the delicious lunch again. I really liked the shrimp tempura. it's one of my favorites! can't wait to see you tomorrow. smiley face'.

     pinning it on his bulletin board, sukuna was suddenly reminded of his duty to help chiyo confess to her crush.

     "ah shit...well, I wonder how that's going for her".

     AUTHOR'S NOTE: hc that sukuna doesn't like sweets bc he's a bitter hoe,,

     also the stupidity runs strong in the itadori family