Chapter Text
When Sukuna was offered the chance to transfer and study in a school in Tokyo, Yuuji was excited for him.
Yuuji knew from a young age that Sukuna was meant for bigger and better things. His older twin was smarter, more clever, responsible, strong, and many more things that Yuuji wasn’t.
After their grandpa passed away, it became more apparent just how strong his older brother was. Sukuna became the rock in their now family of two, making sure Yuuji was taken care of and happy, even with school and his own life to worry about. While he was grateful, Yuuji was worried that he was hindering Sukuna. He didn’t want his brother falling behind just because he was feeling down.
So, when the opportunity to learn in a school in the city reared its head, Yuuji pushed for Sukuna to take the chance. He didn’t mind staying behind if it meant that his brother would get ahead. He would be sad for a while, but at the end of the day, he knew how to take care of himself. He would get through not having his brother around for a couple of years.
What Yuuji didn’t expect was to also be invited to move into the city along with his brother.
He wasn’t invited to attend the same school, but they were offered an apartment nearby in the city for Yuuji to stay in while his brother stayed in the school’s dormitories.
At first, Yuuji thought the offer was too good to be true. But then, unexpectedly, a teacher from the school in Tokyo visited them and explained the situation.
The man sitting down in front of him stuck out like a sore thumb in their humble kitchen. Pristine black clothes that wrapped around a tall and lean body, a shock of glossy white hair that stood in his scalp, as if levitated by a ghost, and a blindfold of all things covered his eyes.
Can he see through that? Yuuji wonders as the man talks about Yuuji’s possible living arrangements should he accept the offer to move into the city.
“All living expenses would be paid for by the school. It’s really no trouble. The school has money to spare, after all.” The man, who introduced himself as Gojo Satoru, tells him loftily. The tone he was using made it hard for Yuuji to fully trust the man.
What if this whole offer is just a scam? he begins to wonder.
Yuuji turns to his brother who sat next to him at the dinner table. “Is this really true?” Sukuna would be able to tell if what the man was saying was a lie more so than he could, after all.
“It is. I told them I would only go to their school if they gave you a place nearby,” Sukuna says truthfully, his arms crossed and his expression stern and unmoving. He’s being completely serious.
The confession makes Yuuji frown. He really didn’t mind staying in Sendai. Him staying would mean that Sukuna could spend less time worrying about him and more time focusing on school. Again, he didn't want to be a bother to his brother.
Sukuna, as if reading his mind, then says, “Did you really think I would be able to leave you behind while I go to some “elite” school a couple hundred miles away? Don’t be stupid, brat.” I would worry about you either way, is what he didn’t say out loud. Yuuji got the sentiment anyway.
Yuuji turns to Gojo again. “And I really wouldn’t have to pay for anything?”
“That’s precisely right,” Gojo then hums, head tilting towards the ceiling, “Maybe not money for things like groceries or clothes, but all utilities would be paid for. You don’t even have to sign a contract with us!”
“But no money for essentials?” Sukuna directs a scowl towards the white-haired man, “What kind of half-assed offer is that?”
Yuuji waves a hand around to calm Sukuna’s antagonism. “The apartment is generous enough! I really didn’t expect to be given so much! And I could get a job to pay for any extra expenses.”
“So, you’re taking the offer?” Gojo asks, facing Yuuji with a genial smile on his face.
“Hold on a damn second- “
“Yeah,” Yuuji interrupts Sukuna, who snaps his head toward his younger twin with a frown on his face, “Getting a job isn’t a big deal, Suku-nii. It’ll give me something to do while you’re not around. And you’re going to study in the city! Wouldn’t you do the same for me if it were the other way around?”
At Yuuji’s smiling face, Sukuna could only stare for a moment before turning his head to the side, hiding from his younger brother’s sparkling gaze. “Fine. Just don’t keep quiet if it gets to be too much,” he mumbles.
“Ah~ brotherly love,” Gojo croons, getting the twin’s attention, one glaring and the other smiling with joy, “So, the move happens in about a week. Be sure to pack all your stuff by then. And don’t worry about the school transfer, it’s already being taken care of.”
And that was that. Two weeks later and Yuuji managed to move safely into his new apartment and start at his new school in the city.
The school was okay. Pretty much the same as his old school in Sendai, except a little more crowded. In his first week, he spent a lot of time trying to find a job that would accept his schedule for after school and ignoring any club offerings he got (mostly for sports clubs), but other than that, the week passed by normally with Yuuji trying to pay attention to his classes and mind his own business.
It wasn’t until the end of the week that he ran into trouble.
Back in Sendai, Yuuji wasn’t the type to get into fights – that was mostly Sukuna – but it wasn’t uncommon for people to challenge him to prove their strength against his own, since he had immense physical strength. It always happened whenever his brother wasn’t around, but he never lost a fight against someone. The point was, Yuuji knew how to fight. Not as much as his brother did, but he had some skills.
So, when someone picked a fight with him during lunch on the rooftop, he didn’t turn and walk away. Especially not after what happened.
“This is our spot, y’know.” The group looming in front of him were taller and comprised of second or third years. Yuuji could tell that they were obviously looking for someone to bully, since he sat in this spot on the rooftop for the whole week and nothing had happened before today. There were barely any people around, even.
The boy in the front of the group, probably the leader of the group, who would have looked attractive if not for the twisted expression on his face, steps forward, almost invading Yuuji’s space, “Get out of here.”
Yuuji didn’t say anything as he looks at the boy for a moment before calmly gathering his things and standing up.
Then, he notices that one of them had a foot on top of his wallet.
Ah.
He remembers that he had taken it out of his pocket when he sat down for lunch because he didn’t like the way it dug into his leg, and pushed it aside to eat the food he bought from the school’s cafeteria peacefully.
“That’s my wallet,” he starts, pointing down the red canvas holding his money beneath the guy’s foot, “Can you please move your foot out of the way so I can get it?” he asks politely.
Hopefully, they would be generous with him and just let him take it at the sound of his amicable tone. He knows that people like them love it when you act a bit submissive in front of them.
His hopes were dashed within seconds.
“This is compensation for sitting in our spot,” one of them says, a nasty smirk on their face, “Just run along and we won’t beat your ass for asking for it.”
Yuuji would love to just leave. He didn’t want to deal with these assholes any more than they wanted to deal with him, but that wallet had his cards and ID. More important than that, he had a picture of his grandpa and Sukuna in there. A small one that he had forced them to take before his grandpa had gone to the hospital indefinitely. He can’t just leave without it.
“Please? I really need that wallet-!”
A dull pain blooms on his jaw and his head snaps to the side, the movement making him drop the food he had in his hands. In shock, he places a hand on his cheek and looks at the guy who punched him from the corner of his eye.
“We already told you to get out of here. Don’t get all fucking brave,” the guy glares at him with wide eyes, face as straight as he could manage to intimidate Yuuji as much as possible. Fleetingly, Yuuji thinks of the delinquents he’s seen in anime who used the exact same tactic to scare people off.
“Haha! Look at this!”
In the moment that Yuuji was hit, the one who had his foot on his wallet had picked it up and opened the contents. “How fucking adorable!”
Yuuji stiffens as his wallet was carelessly tossed to another guy - to the leader with the attractive face. The guy smirks at what he sees. “Awww, is that a picture of you and your grandpa? How cute.”
“Don’t touch that-!” Yuuji winces as the one who punched him now kicks him in the leg, hard.
“Are you deaf or something? I said don’t get fucking brave.”
“Oh, wait, let me guess,” the leader continues, entirely mocking, “The old man in this photo croaked and this is one of the only things you have left of him.”
Yuuji grits his teeth at the disrespect towards his grandpa but confirms the words with his unintentional silence.
The leader scoffs, “Fucking predictable.”
And then, in an action that Yuuji would replay over and over again in his mind, the leader takes out the image from his wallet and rips it in half without hesitation.
A horrible gasp wrenches out of Yuuji’s mouth and he flinches, static swirling through his head. It felt as though the whole world shifted underneath his feet, rendering him dizzy and unable to get a full grasp of his emotions.
He watches silently as the two halves of the photo flutter to the floor.
He couldn’t hear anything and he stood still, unmoving, his eyes glued to the remnants of the photo he held so dear to him.
The group of thugs that surrounded him were laughing. Distantly, he could hear the awful sound echoing around him. The leader was saying something that Yuuji couldn’t make out. Not that it mattered what he was saying.
The utter shock and disbelief that had enveloped Yuuji when the photo was torn melted away and a burning rage began to trickle in to replace it. His fists tighten, an action that the guy who had kept hitting him notices.
“Oi! How many times do I-!”
Yuuji didn’t let him finish as he drives his fist right into the guy’s face, a loud crack echoing across the rooftop, sending him sprawling a few feet back. A few seconds pass by and the guy doesn’t move. He was knocked out cold.
There was a moment of stillness, as the group stares and struggles to comprehend what just happened. And then, a lackey opens his mouth and croaks out a weak, “What the fuck?”
The moment breaks and Yuuji doesn’t waste any more time. There were only four of them left standing. One hit was enough to send them to sleep.
It wasn’t until he got to the leader that he didn’t stop at one hit. Knocking him over with a punch to the face, he then sits on top of the guy's stomach, straddling his sides, and keeps on hitting – once, twice, one more time and another after that.
It took about five more hits before Yuuji stopped.
Breathing heavy, he gazes at the boy underneath him and takes note of the swollen eyes, cheeks, and lips. A couple of teeth were scattered on the concrete along with a significant amount of blood splatter by his head. The only sound he could hear besides his own breathing were the wheezes of the boy below him.
After what felt like hours, Yuuji slowly gets up from his position over the boy and inspects the floor of the rooftop. He spots the torn photo and bends down to pick up the halves of it, but not before wiping down his hands on his uniform pants, grateful that the cloth was a dark color.
Examining the pieces, he observes that it was a clean tear. Right down the middle in between Sukuna’s and his grandpa’s faces. Bringing the pieces together to align them, he feels tears prickle the back of his eyes to see that it was possible to tape the pieces back together and have the photo look as good as new.
A couple of tears leak out of the corners of his eyes and he wipes them down with the sleeve of his hoodie, grateful for this one kindness. He couldn’t imagine what he would have done if the tear had gone through his grandfather’s face.
He glances down and grimaces as he notices that there were now drops of blood on his favorite yellow hoodie. He’ll have to use soap and cold water on it when he gets home.
Taking off his sweater, he bunches it in a way that would hide the blood from prying eyes and begins to collect his stuff. He carefully puts the halves of the photo in their place in his wallet and stuffs it into his pants pocket.
He’ll probably need to spend lunch in his classroom from now on, he thinks to himself, slightly miffed at losing a good lunch spot because of a group of assholes. Then again, it wasn’t like they would be bothering him anytime soon.
Looking down on the bodies lying on the concrete, he hopes that what just happened wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass somehow.
He takes his food and casually leaves the rooftop, unaware of the lens that was on him earlier.
“Did you get into a fight at school today?” is the first thing Sukuna says to him when picks up the phone later that day. He was folding laundry, his one school uniform included in it plus his yellow hoodie, when his older brother called.
“No, why would you say that?” Yuuji lies, like a liar.
“If you didn’t get into a fight today, then why is there a video trending about a teenager wearing a yellow hoodie beating up a bunch of other teenagers on a school rooftop?” Sukuna drones.
There was a beat of silence.
“…Someone took a video?”
“Brat.” Yuuji winces at his tone. “What happened?”
A sigh escapes Yuuji’s mouth. “I didn’t start the fight.”
“I know that already. I’m asking what those shits did to get you to completely decimate them.”
And so Yuuji tells him about the group suddenly coming up to him during lunchtime and the whole exchange with the wallet and then the tearing of the photograph.
“I can fix the photo with a bit of tape. It’s still good,” Yuuji balances his phone between his ear and his shoulder, still folding his laundry.
“I would have sent all of them to the hospital. Or murdering them would be better,” Sukuna growls through the phone, a bit of static falling on Yuuji’s ear as he did so, “Did you catch their names?”
“I think I might have sent one of them to the hospital,” Yuuji hisses, remembering the state he left the last guy in and ignoring Sukuna’s “good” on the other side of the line, “And what are you going to do with their names? Hunt them down?”
“Actually, you don’t even have to tell me. Whoever uploaded the video gave out their names and social media accounts in the description. I honestly don’t even have to do anything. They’re getting completely shit on – and don’t feel bad about that. It’s what they deserve,” Sukuna explains, stopping any protest that might come out of Yuuji’s mouth.
“I really don’t feel bad about it,” Yuuji says, “But is my face out there for everyone to see? In the video?”
Yuuji bites his lip, worried that he was going to be in trouble with his school only one week into his enrollment. He doesn’t regret fighting back, but he couldn’t bear to face a suspension because of the incident. Or worse, being charged for it. So much for minding his own business.
“No, the person who uploaded had enough sense to blur your head out. I only figured out it was you just because you were wearing that ugly hoodie and those red shoes of yours,” Yuuji lets out a breath of relief, ignoring Sukuna’s insult of his fashion choices, “And you can barely tell your hair color too. So, you should be fine at school as long as you don’t wear those two things again.”
“That’s good,” Yuuji says quietly.
There was a brief pause on the other side of the line before Sukuna speaks up again. “Do you need me to come over?”
“No, no,” Yuuji protests and readjusts the phone on his shoulder, “I’m okay. You don’t need to come so soon yet.”
Sukuna scoffs disbelievingly.
“Really, I’m okay.” Yuuji smiles despite knowing that Sukuna couldn’t see him, but his brother seems to have sensed it anyway based on how he huffs soon after.
“Fine. We’ll meet on the day we scheduled,” Yuuji could feel Sukuna’s frown on the other end, “And if any other shits bother you, you tell me their names.”
“Haha, okay,” Yuuji grins wide, “Thank you, Suku-nii.”
Another huff, “Yeah, whatever.”
They say their goodbyes and Yuuji returns to folding his laundry.
Amid the scent of fresh detergent and the feel of warm clothes against his skin and through his lounge pants and short, he notices how quiet it was in the apartment.
He breathes out a sigh through his nose.
At least, for now, he has the weekend to himself. Hopefully, he’ll find a job during that time.
The next week at school began and Yuuji’s nerves were all over the place.
Yuuji, following his brother’s advice, opted to wear his uniform plain with only a pair of white sneakers on his feet, plus a bit of concealer where he was punched in the face. He couldn’t help but feel a bit naked without his hoodie on him, but it was small price to pay after seeing the lack of attention he was getting from his classmates.
Everyone was talking about that video.
Yuuji had seen it over the weekend after his curiosity got the better of him and found that the fight was recorded from the moment he was kicked in the leg. He winces when he sees the guy rip up his photo again, his gasp on the video ringing out on the empty rooftop. The person recording also let out a small gasp at that moment. It was a miracle that neither Yuuji nor the group had noticed them there.
The fight breaks out, looking more like a one-sided beatdown, and the video ends with Yuuji getting up from atop the guy he beat the crap out of.
Comments like “they had it coming” and “good on yellow hoodie guy” were thrown around online and in school.
From reading the video description, apparently the group of guys had a reputation in school for being the absolute worst, which Yuuji was not surprised to hear. They constantly harassed people, bullied people into doing things for them, and of course, resorted to physical violence whenever they could. They even sexually harassed others on occasion.
The only reason these guys are still in school is because the staff don’t do their jobs and neglect the needs of their students, the video description mentioned. Since the video was so popular, it got the attention of the school board and an investigation of the school would likely be brought up.
That had encouraged some people to anonymously post about their experiences being targeted by this group in the video’s comments. There were a decent number of victims and, to put it simply, a lot of people were celebrating the beatdown the group endured and the indefinite suspension they recieved afterwards. It was if an evil was defeated.
“Did you hear? Ito’s in the hospital,” a second-year cackles in the hallway, talking to a friend as Yuuji passes by.
The friend snickers. “About fucking time.”
Ito’s probably the one who ripped up the photo, Yuuji thinks as he continues to walk down the hallway. A tendril of dark satisfaction curls in his stomach.
Yeah, he didn’t regret fighting back at all.
The only downside to the situation was people trying to find out who “yellow hoodie guy” is. Anyone with a hoodie or red shoes was thrown glances in the halls and the people around him kept speculating if the guy with the yellow hoodie was a second or third year to be able to take on five people at once.
Yuuji figures that he just had to get through this week and then the hype around finding out who “yellow hoodie guy” was would settle down to nothing but a light buzz. He just had to keep his head down for a while.
The day continues as normal, aside from some of teachers and students acting from extremely guilty to extremely happy throughout the day. The same went for the rest of the week and by the time next Monday rolled around, true to his words, the commotion surrounding the video died down and so did the hunt for “yellow hoodie guy”.
Meanwhile, Yuuji continues his hunt for a job – already at the two-week mark of searching. How is it that the city was called a place of opportunity if he couldn’t find a job anywhere?
After searching online for almost a couple of hours straight, he decides to take a break. He needs to get out of his apartment, or he was going to go crazy.
Grabbing his phone, keys and wallet, he steps out of his apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him, and starts to walk towards a random destination once he walks out of his apartment building.
After walking a few blocks away, it suddenly hits him that he has no idea what he’s going to do. He hasn’t had the chance to really wander the area, only memorizing the path he took to and from school, and he doesn’t even know what’s around.
Picking his phone from his pocket, he begins to search for any places where he could hang out for a while in. Almost immediately after he did so, a place in the list of restaurants and shops stuck out to him.
It was a movie theater that showed old and obscure movies 24/7, including a bunch of old horror films that Yuuji has seen religiously before. Instantly, he begins to feel excited.
He loves watching movies and television, and he loves to watch the obscure ones even more. Watching them from his TV at home was okay, but in a movie theater? It was an experience that watching at home couldn’t compare to. So, seeing some of his favorite movies available for the big screen? He had to go and check it out.
Giddily, he sets the directions for the movie theater on his phone and begins to walk to the place, glad that he decided to go on a spontaneous outing today.
Once he reaches the movie theater and gets his own ticket to see a movie called “Audition”, he wasn’t that shocked to see that there was barely anyone around. He wonders if this movie theater ever gets busy considering the types of movies its shows, but he figures that if it was still standing, it must be more popular than he thinks.
He buys a small popcorn and soda from the lobby and gets to the theater. The room was dark, and the big screen was already playing some previews. He could see that there was only one other person there, sitting near back of the room.
He cheers under his breath at the almost empty theater and goes to sit in the middle, where the railings were. Once he sits down, he places his soda in the cup holder of his seat and props his legs up on the railing, getting into a comfortable position before the movie starts. A few minutes of ads pass by as he relaxes, taking little sips of his drink and munching on his popcorn.
He then hears a group come into the theater talking loudly. He pouts around the straw of his soda in annoyance.
“The bitch hasn’t texted me since last week,” one of them complains, loud in the unpopulated theater, “She has some nerve.”
Yuuji tilts his head ever so slightly. That voice sounds familiar.
“Whatever, man. She was just an attention-seeking whore anyway. And you were only into her because she had big tits,” another says, uncaring of their harsh word choice.
Yuuji cringes at the way they were talking about this random girl. Whoever they were talking about was right to ghost them if they acted like that whenever she wasn’t around.
A grumble. “Didn’t even let me hit it.”
“Shut up! You’re being fucking annoying.”
“Just fucking pick a seat! Jesus Christ…” the third one yells. They all quiet down for a moment.
Yuuji then hears footsteps coming toward him and his eyes bug out at the sentence that was directed towards him not even a second later.
“Fucking move. This is our spot.”
Now finally recognizing the voice, he sharply turns his head to the group standing next to him and sees the same guys from the week before, bruises still lingering on their faces from where he punched them.
Face twisting into a look of absolute disgust, he says roughly, “Are you kidding me?”
The group then recognizes him and their faces blanch in the dim light of the theater’s big screen. “What the fuck are you doing here?” one of them demands.
Yuuji doesn’t answer. Instead, he questions them, “Why do you keep pulling the same shit? You guys are already suspended for the stuff you did, and you still keep on messing with people? Are you really that stupid?”
“You ruined our fucking lives, you little shit!” one of them yells.
Yuuji drops his legs from the railing and stands from his seat, facing the group with anger licking at the bottom of his stomach. “And all the people whose lives you ruined? You were the ones who dug your own grave! Don’t get angry at me just because you guys finally fucked around with the wrong person and got caught!”
“Fuck you!” One of them swings a punch at him and he dodges, moving a step back in the narrow space between the theater seats and the railing.
He throws a punch back, successfully hitting his attacker in the nose and throwing his dead weight back into the other two, who, in turn, struggle to stay upright.
He reaches forward and grabs an outstretched arm, yanking another guy forward, tripping him up on his knocked-out friend. The guy’s torso bent towards the ground, lowering his head, and taking the opportunity, Yuuji knees him in the chin. He then fists a hand in the guy’s shirt and flips him over his head, throwing him roughly on the floor behind Yuuji and knocking him against the seats.
“Fuck this!” the third guy scrambles back wide-eyed after seeing his two friends taken out within seconds and turns to run out of the theater, “You fucking freak!”
“Coward!” Yuuji yells at the retreating figure. He hears groans coming from the two lying on the sticky theater floor and mourns at the sight of his popcorn scattered out on it.
The good mood he had when he entered the theater was gone and now he just feels tired. He lets out a deep sigh and carefully walks over the bodies on the floor to leave the room. He didn’t feel like watching the movie anymore.
Maybe he can get a refund for the ticket he bought, he wonders as he makes his way out of the movie theater but decides against it after seeing the woman at the front window wearing large headphones and reading a magazine. He didn’t want to waste his time trying to get her attention.
He begins to walk home instead. He only got about two blocks away before he heard frantic footsteps coming up from behind him and a voice calling out, “Wait!”
Yuuji whips around, tensing into a defensive stance, and sees a boy around his age running up to him. The boy screeches to a stop a few feet away from him and rests his hands on his knees, panting out, “Wait, for a sec.”
Frowning, Yuuji doesn’t drop his stance. “Are you part of that group or something? Don’t tell me-”
“No!” the boy protests vehemently, startling both himself and Yuuji, who stutters.
“What?”
The boy lifts his head and Yuuji examines the curtain of dark hair covering one eye, the other exposed and gazing up at him, big and shining.
“I would never be apart of that group. Ever. Not in a million years,” the boy scowls at the thought before he shakes his head and visibly steels himself before hesitantly saying, “You…you’re “yellow hoodie guy”, aren’t you?”
Oh crap, Yuuji thinks frantically.
Someone found him out. He has to backtrack somehow.
Play dumb!
“What’s a “yellow hoodie guy”?”
Not that dumb!
“You’re wearing the same red shoes from the video and… before, in the movie theater. You guys were talking as if you knew each other,” the boy straightens up and points to gestures towards Yuuji's shoes, looking him dead in the eyes, “And then you beat the shit out of them like you did in the video.”
He must have been the other guy who was in the theater before I got there, he thinks. He whines inwardly. Noticing the boy’s determined gaze, Yuuji knew that he couldn’t change his mind even if he tried.
He lets out a breath, defeated, and reluctantly confesses, voice small and pouting as he did so. “Yeah…I’m “yellow hoodie guy”.” He awkwardly scratches the back of his head.
The dark-haired boy in front of him huffs out a laugh and a small smile blooms on his face. Briefly, Yuuji thinks that it looks nice on him. “I knew it.”
Yuuji’s eyebrows crease and he fixes the boy with a somewhat tense look. “Listen, man, you can’t tell anybody. I really don’t want to get in trouble for what happened,” he starts to explain, but is interrupted by the boy shaking his head.
“I won’t! That’s not why I came up to you, really,” the boy timidly glances between the floor and Yuuji, hands grasping each other in a nervous gesture, “I just…wanted to say thank you, I guess?”
Yuuji blinks at him. “Thank me?”
“For taking them down,” the boy explains, voice a mixture of bitterness and gratitude as he adds, “They were bad people and they had it coming. For a while now.”
“Oh.” Suddenly he understood why this boy was thanking him. He was probably a victim.
The boy in front of him flusters but continues. “And what you said! In the theater, I mean!” There was a small blush on the boy’s face. “That was cool. Like an action movie. You were like the good guy.”
“Oh.” It was Yuuji’s turn to blush a little now. He scratches the back of his head again.
There was a stretch of silence between the two boys.
“Um,” Yuuji begins, catching the other boy’s attention, “What’s your name?”
“Oh!” the boy falters for a second, “It’s Yoshino. Yoshino Junpei.”
“Yoshino- “
“Junpei is fine- “
“Junpei then,” Yuuji briefly grins and his hand drops from his scalp, “My name’s Itadori Yuuji, but you can call me Yuuji.”
Junpei nods, a small smile on his face, and Yuuji shoots him another grin.
His smile then begins to melt away. “Junpei,” he starts, adopting a serious tone and prompting Junpei to give him his full attention.
He takes a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking. “I don’t know about being the good guy or not, but honestly? I think if they hadn’t talked to me on that rooftop that day, then they would probably still be free to walk around and do whatever they want.”
Junpei frowns at this, but Yuuji continues. “It was by chance. It’s not like I went out of my way to get them exposed or anything. If anything, you should give the person who recorded the video and uploaded it the credit. I’m just saying that if they hadn’t messed with me that day, then none of this would have happened, you get me?”
“I understand that, but still,” Junpei lightly protests, eyes still shining and ascertained, “I’m grateful that you did that, even if it was for selfish reasons at that time. Plus, you wouldn’t have said that stuff in the theater if you didn’t believe that all the shit they did before they ran into you was wrong. You were genuinely angry at them for those things too.”
Junpei then says, with certainty, “You honestly could have walked away this time around, but you didn’t. They swung first, sure, but you stayed and beat them up with all those things they did in mind.”
Yuuji stares at him in shock, in awe of the boy’s words, while Junpei grows pinker as the seconds pass by.
After a while, Yuuji huffs and gives Junpei a small but grateful smile. “Heh, I guess you’re right. I didn’t really think of it that way.”
“Of course!” Junpei exclaims and flushes a bright red immediately afterward. Yuuji giggles at his reaction.
“Sorry about the movie, by the way.”
Junpei waves his hands around. “Not your fault! They were the ones who ruined everything, after all.”
“But still. I want to make it up to you!” Yuuji grins big at him. Junpei looks confused as Yuuji takes his phone out of his pocket and brings up his contact list. “Let’s exchange info and try to watch that movie another day!”
“Eh? Together?” Junpei gapes at Yuuji, who excitedly tells him to bring out his phone.
They exchange their contact information and Yuuji continues to smile at Junpei. “Is there anything you want to do right now? I’m assuming you probably wanted to spend your time watching movies, but I don’t know if those guys are still there if we go back now.”
“Uh, um,” Junpei struggles to think of anything to do.
“Are you hungry?” Yuuji asks.
There was a moment’s hesitation, and then Junpei gives him a small nod. “I could eat.”
“Let’s walk around and see what we find!”
Yuuji and Junpei ended up eating at a fast-food restaurant, since that was the first thing they found after walking around the area for a while.
It turns out that the both of them were huge movie nerds and they had the same taste in horror and obscure films.
“Most films nowadays are all jump scares. There are a few exceptions, but most don’t give the same feeling as the older ones that use suspense to unsettle you,” Junpei says around his cheeseburger while Yuuji nods, stuffing his mouth with fries.
“But you know Ari Aster though, right?” Yuuji mumbles, mouth full.
Junpei gives him a look. “Who doesn’t. Midsommar is underrated.”
Yuuji nods again in agreement.
They managed to talk about other things once their frenzy about their movie interests died down.
Junpei was a fan of aquariums. Yuuji liked to cook. Junpei is really close with his mom while Yuuji is the same with his brother. Yuuji found out that Junpei was actually in his third year, despite being smaller in stature than Yuuji was, and Junpei found out that Yuuji had only transferred to his school two weeks ago and was a first year.
They trade fun facts about each other and eventually get into the topic of Yuuji trying to find a job.
“I’ve been looking for a couple of weeks and nothing has come up,” Yuuji moans, sipping from his coke.
Junpei hums, leaning back into the booth, clearly thinking about something.
Yuuji looks at him. “What’s up?” he asks.
“I think I can help you with that,” Junpei says.
Junpei then describes a shopping center that took a twenty-minute train trip to get to from their school.
“There’s always shops opening and closing over there, and some are always looking for people to hire. I don’t think they’ll be picky about whoever’s applying as long as they can work,” he explains briefly.
Yuuji hums in consideration. “Twenty-minutes away doesn’t sound bad. And most places close by ten over there right?”
“From what I experienced, yeah,” Junpei nods.
“That’s awesome!” Yuuji tells him, and smiles, “Thanks for the advice!”
Junpei reddens a bit and tilts his head away. “No problem.” He takes a bite of his burger.
They spend the rest of their time in the restaurant talking and they make plans to watch a movie the coming weekend together before they decide to go home.
“My mom’s waiting for me with dinner probably,” Junpei says as they say their goodbyes.
“Well, don’t keep her waiting! I’ll see you around,” Yuuji tells him, waving as they both start to walk towards the directions of their homes.
“Yeah!” Junpei gives him a beautiful smile, visible eye forming a crescent, before he turns his back and walks off.
Yuuji also turns and hums as he continues home.
After strolling for a few minutes, he smiles to himself.
He couldn’t wait to tell his brother about the new friend he made today.