The cafeteria

On the trip back from Iwate Prefecture to Tokyo, the Shinkansen's windows sliced the passing scenery into frame after frame of blurred images.

Kugisaki sat by the window, her forehead resting against the glass and her eyes closed.

Rihito sat beside her without disturbing her.

It was already evening when they returned to Jujutsu High. The autumn wind had stripped most of the leaves from the trees by the school gates, and their bare branches reached toward the gray-blue sky like a silent welcome.

Knock, knock, knock!

Creak-

The infirmary door opened, and the assistant supervisor on duty poked their head out.

"Hello. We're looking for Miss Shoko."

Rihito spoke politely, then gave a brief account of how the little girl had unexpectedly lost her sight during their mission.

Kugisaki stood beside him without speaking, but her fingers tightened involuntarily.

"I'm sorry, Miss Shoko is away on business in Kyoto. We're not sure exactly when she'll be back, but I'll pass this on to her."

"Thank you," Kugisaki said.

Rihito woke early the next morning.

He first handed in the report he had stayed up writing the night before, then headed to the cafeteria.

"Maki!"

As soon as Rihito entered the cafeteria, he saw Maki already sitting there with a half-finished cup of coffee in front of her.

She glanced up at him, her gaze lingering for a second on a bloodstain he hadn't yet washed out of his uniform cuff.

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

Maki lifted her coffee and took another sip without asking anything else.

A little later, Inumaki leaned halfway through the doorway. When he saw Rihito, he gave him a thumbs-up, then pointed at his throat and mimed eating.

Rihito nodded, and Inumaki ducked back out of sight.

They had met during Inumaki's earlier training, so they were reasonably familiar with each other.

The sun slowly rose, and voices finally began to fill Jujutsu High.

More and more people filtered into the cafeteria.

Rihito sat diagonally across from Maki, his breakfast still steaming in front of him.

Birdsong drifted in from outside the window. Rather than being noisy, it filled the morning quiet just right.

Just then, footsteps sounded at the entrance.

Kugisaki walked in.

Her hair was still a little damp, probably from a shower, and the bruise on her neck, now faded to pale pink, showed above her collar.

She glanced around from the doorway, spotted Rihito and Maki, and walked straight over.

"Morning." Kugisaki set her tray on the table and sat across from Rihito.

Maki lifted her chin in greeting, and Kugisaki nodded back. Neither needed any more pleasantries.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Rihito glanced at her.

There were faint bluish shadows beneath Kugisaki's eyes.

"It was all right." Kugisaki picked up her chopsticks, then paused.

"The old lady called this morning. Said she could get out of bed and walk now. The little girl's been transferred to a major hospital, too. Whether her eyes recover is down to luck."

Her tone was flat, giving away no emotion.

"We've done what we could. The rest is up to her now," Rihito said.

Kugisaki murmured an acknowledgment and said nothing more.

Footsteps sounded at the entrance again, heavier than Kugisaki's this time.

It was Megumi Fushiguro.

He stood in the doorway for a second, his gaze settling on Kugisaki and Rihito, then headed over.

He set his tray on the table with a little more force than usual, making a soft clatter.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Fushiguro's voice sounded no different from usual, but he didn't immediately reach for his chopsticks after sitting down.

His gaze shifted between Kugisaki and Rihito before finally settling on Kugisaki's face.

"You didn't tell him?" Kugisaki turned to Rihito, sounding a little guilty.

Rihito calmly lifted his miso soup and took a sip without answering. Clearly, he wanted no part of this trouble.

"Would it kill you to skip one sip?" Kugisaki muttered through clenched teeth before turning back to Fushiguro.

"It wasn't a big deal." Impatience began creeping into her voice.

But Fushiguro didn't move. He kept staring straight at Kugisaki as though flowers had sprouted on her face.

Kugisaki held his gaze for two seconds, then gave in.

She clicked her tongue, dropped her rice ball onto her plate, and said impatiently:

"First, a curse user who'd been alive for sixteen years chased me around and beat me up. Then Rihito blasted that monster to pieces with a new move. Finally, a bunch of villagers pointed in my face and yelled at me in a shrine."

"Oh, right. A six-year-old girl was poisoned by the curse user. She's in the hospital now, and nobody knows whether she'll keep her sight."

With that, she picked up her rice ball, took a huge bite, chewed a few times, and looked up.

"So it wasn't that I didn't want to tell you. I just really didn't have the energy to go through it all again that day."

"That's it."

The cafeteria fell quiet for a moment.

Rihito kept drinking his miso soup. Maki held her coffee and watched the trees outside as though the conversation had nothing to do with her, but the corners of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

Fushiguro was silent for a few seconds.

"Don't force yourself to tough it out next time," he said.

"Agreed!" Rihito chimed in from behind his soup bowl at just the right moment.

Fushiguro glanced at Rihito, then turned his attention back to Kugisaki.

"At least send me a message next time. I don't want to be kept in the dark even after everything's over."

"When did you get so naggy?" Kugisaki put down her rice ball, but her voice had noticeably softened.

"Fine. I'll message you next time. Happy now?"

Fushiguro didn't answer. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating his breakfast.

Rihito watched the two of them without speaking.

He remembered the steel factory, where he had faced Tanaka up front while Kugisaki and Fushiguro held the line behind him. None of them had backed down.

Something had quietly changed after that. They were no longer just classmates assigned to the same year, but more like comrades fighting shoulder to shoulder on a battlefield.

Soon, everything settled back into its usual morning rhythm.

Bzz, bzz.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

Rihito took it out. Satoru Gojo's profile picture was on the screen: a white cat wearing a blindfold, which Gojo had forcibly set at some point.

"Rihito, grab Kugisaki and Fushiguro and come to my office, all three of you. Time for an extra lesson!"

In the group chat, Kugisaki's and Fushiguro's phones chimed as well, barely a second apart. Clearly, the message had been

sent to all of them at once.

Rihito looked at the line on his screen, and something stirred in his mind.

Satoru Gojo might usually speak flippantly, but he never announced something like an "extra lesson" out of the blue without any warning.

Whenever he brought up something serious so casually, there was usually something behind it that they genuinely needed to know in advance.

And with the Goodwill Event drawing closer, it was unlikely that Gojo had summoned them now just to arrange ordinary training.

It might have something to do with Itadori.

He had been taken away for special training a while ago, but Gojo had never explained what it involved, only saying it was "a secret."

With that thought, Rihito put away his phone and rose from his seat.

"Come on. Let's see what surprise Mr. Gojo has prepared for us this time."

Kugisaki slapped her chopsticks down on the table, looking distinctly unhappy.

"A surprise? Last time he said 'a little surprise,' he threw us into a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's nest."

Fushiguro stood as well, his expression back to its usual unreadable state, though he fell into step a beat faster than usual.

The three left the cafeteria. Sunlight slanted through the hallway windows, spreading a pale golden sheen over the wooden floor.

Rihito walked in front, Kugisaki in the middle, and Fushiguro brought up the rear.

Their footsteps formed three overlapping rhythms in the quiet hallway.

The corridor on the office building's second floor was quieter than usual.

Rihito stopped outside Satoru Gojo's office and knocked twice.

"Come in, come in."

They pushed the door open to find Satoru Gojo in his swivel chair, his long legs crossed and propped on the edge of his desk. He held a cup of milk tea, the straw still between his teeth.

He tilted his head, surveying the three of them from beneath his blindfold as they entered.

"Well, everyone's here." He set his milk tea on the desk, lowered his legs, and, for once, sat a little straighter. "That was quick. Not even ten minutes."

"Mr. Gojo, what exactly is this about?" Kugisaki asked before she even sat down, her voice wary.

Satoru Gojo held up one finger.

"First things first: Yuji won't be coming back for a while."