Friends

Mashiro took out her phone and sent Itadori a message.

"Mashiro": [Address link]

"Mashiro": Come here. Hurry.

"Yuji": On my way.

"Yuji": What happened? Did you spot Mahito?

"Mashiro": Not yet. Just get here first.

"Yuji": Okay. Who's the student being targeted?

"Mashiro": Junpei Yoshino.

"Yuji": Got it. I'll be right there.

Mashiro put away her phone and continued following him.

Junpei Yoshino reached his front door, only to find someone he hadn't expected.

"Yoshino, I was going to tell you at school, but school isn't really the place to talk about something like this." A portly man, sweating profusely, stood up and addressed him.

"Mr. Tomura..." Junpei Yoshino looked uncomfortable. "What is it?"

"Ah, I just came to say, you were close to them, weren't you? I'm sorry for your loss," Tomura said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

What was he talking about?

Junpei Yoshino's eyes widened. He was close to those people?

The people who burned him with cigarettes, forced him to eat bugs, and even took pictures of him getting beaten up-he was close to them?!?!

Anger filled Junpei Yoshino's mind, and a savage impulse surged through him.

"Ah! Mashiro, what are you doing?!"

A petite, cute silver-haired girl with a strange wheel above her head kicked a pink-haired boy toward him, interrupting his thoughts. The cursed energy gathering in his hand dissipated, too.

Mashiro let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thankfully, Yuji had arrived just in time. She had kicked him over to interrupt them; otherwise, she would have had to intervene herself.

Mashiro walked over and stood between Junpei Yoshino and Tomura. "Sorry, we need to talk to him. Please come back another day."

With that, she tilted her head, signaling for Itadori to take Junpei away.

"Hey, we weren't finished talking," Tomura said to Junpei as Itadori pulled him away, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Who are you? What do you want with my student?" Tomura asked the girl in front of him.

She looked harmless enough, but who knew? Maybe she was some gang boss.

That was how it always went in light novels!

"Mr. Tomura, you should look into the relationship between Junpei Yoshino and the deceased instead of simply assuming they were close."

With that, Mashiro turned and left.

Itadori pulled Junpei Yoshino along to the river, where they sat down on the steps.

"Um, what did you want to talk to me about?" Junpei asked cautiously.

"Oh! That," Itadori began, then froze. He didn't know why Mashiro had called him over, either. "Uh, hang on. Let me ask."

He took out his phone and was just about to message Mashiro when he spotted her walking over from the main road.

"Mashiro! Over here!" Itadori waved at her, his voice loud enough to carry across the river.

Mashiro came over and sat on the steps beside Junpei.

She sat casually, her hands braced behind her as she looked up at the sky, which was already beginning to darken.

"You can see it, can't you?" Mashiro asked.

Junpei paused. "What?"

"The Halo above my head."

Junpei fell silent for a moment, apparently considering how to answer.

"You hesitated. You can definitely see it."

Junpei glanced at her, then lowered his head again. "Yeah, I can."

"Okay, got it." Mashiro paused. She had no idea what to say next!

But! She'd had the foresight to call Yuji over.

She decided to play her movie card. "What kind of movies do you usually like watching?"

Itadori sat cross-legged on Mashiro's other side and immediately leaned over at the question.

"Oh, movies! I've been wanting to see that new action movie. The one with a motorcycle flying over a fireball on the poster. What was it called again?"

"...Explosive Pursuit," Junpei said quietly.

"Yeah, that's it! You know it!" Itadori's eyes lit up. "Is it good?"

"I haven't seen it yet. I don't usually go to the movies alone." Junpei lowered his head, rubbing his fingers over the knee of his school uniform trousers. "Lately, I've just been watching old movies on my computer at home. Last month, I watched Seven Samurai. The Akira Kurosawa one."

"A black-and-white movie?" Itadori scratched his head. "I've never watched one of those."

"It's really good." Junpei's voice grew a little louder as he said it, but he retreated into himself again afterward.

Mashiro listened without interrupting, nodding and silently congratulating herself on her cleverness.

Itadori, meanwhile, got excited. He said he'd watched Akira Kurosawa's Ran with his grandpa when he was little, but hadn't understood it. All he remembered was a huge crowd running around on a grassy plain.

For once, the corners of Junpei's mouth lifted slightly. "That scene is the most iconic part of the movie."

Itadori scratched the back of his head and said sheepishly, "Then I'll rent a copy from the video store sometime and watch it again. Want to join me, Junpei?"

Junpei didn't agree right away. He looked at Itadori as if trying to make sure he meant it.

Nothing about Itadori's expression suggested he was just being polite. He glanced at Mashiro again, but she was still watching the clouds.

So she really was leaving this all to me? The corner of Itadori's mouth twitched.

"...Sure," Junpei said.

Itadori grinned, then asked what else Junpei liked to do besides watching movies.

Junpei hesitated. "I'm learning to cook. I want to cook for my mom."

"I can only make curry," he added.

"Curry's great! I can make sukiyaki." Itadori patted his chest. "I broke in all the pots in Mashiro's kitchen. Let me tell you, the trick to curry is to cook the onions until they're caramel-colored. You can't rush it."

Junpei blinked. "You cook, too?"

"I did all the cooking at home when Grandpa was in the hospital." Itadori paused. "Grandpa was a better cook than me, but he only taught me how to mix sauces, nothing else. He said boys didn't need to learn how to make every dish. Having one or two specialties was enough."

Mashiro gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment beside them.

Junpei looked at the smile that remained on Itadori's face after he said that. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Your grandpa, is he now..."

"He's gone," Itadori said. "It happened last month. I bought the flowers, too. He didn't like flowers, but he'd always look at them for a long time."

Junpei lowered his head, his fingers going still on his knee. "My dad left when I was in elementary school. He didn't die. He left."

"He abandoned me and Mom and went off on his own," he said. "Maybe he thought I was too boring."

Itadori didn't try to comfort him. He simply sat there and listened quietly until Junpei finished.

Mashiro remained in the same position, looking up at the sky. A breeze blew in from the river, lifting a few strands of her silver-white hair.

"...I don't think you're boring," Itadori said.

Junpei turned to look at him. Itadori's expression was earnest, completely different from when they'd been talking about movies.

He's a good person.

Junpei thought to himself.