Chapter Text
Yuuji thought the hardest part was behind him. He thought all the paperwork, the constant back to back meetings and video calls and last minute phone calls and emails Sukuna had to constantly proof read for him because he was afraid of sounding unprofessional and leaving a bad impression on their benefactors, had been the hardest part of the move.
It is not. Sukuna is a perfectionist by nature and Yuuta is patient and understanding so the hypothetical errors and mistakes that had been Yuuji’s main source of stress throughout the process never happens.
The real chaos comes after that. On the train ride from Sendai to their new home in Tokyo, Yuuji faces his biggest hurdle of the whole process:
His customers.
The morning starts normally enough, if not busy. They’re taking an early train into Tokyo, and because Yuuji wanted to use up all the leftovers in the fridge since they wouldn’t be coming back, had made an excessive amount of food for the train. He’s fretting about all the onigiri he’s made for breakfast, worrying that they won’t be able to finish all of them and if he can give some to Yuuta.
“We’re meeting Okkotsu-senpai at the station, right? You think he’d be okay with some leftover onigiri? Or maybe that’d be too rude? I mean, he’s basically our benefactor.”
Sukuna rolls his eyes. “We’ll just finish it on our own. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“But there’s so many!” Yuuji helplessly counts the number of onigiri in the two near-to-bursting containers in his bag for the third time that morning. “And we still have to make room for lunch and dinner. Okkotsu-senpai’s treating us to kaiseki tonight!”
Sukuna glowers at the reminder. “He’s trying to win us over with elaborate feasts.”
“He’s just being nice,” Yuuji insists. “You’re always so suspicious of him. Why is that?”
Sukuna glares. “It’s the Gojo clan. Nice isn’t part of their vocabulary.”
“Well Okkotsu-senpai’s only the temporary head, so maybe he’s the exception.” Yuuji gets the vague feeling they’ve had this same argument before.
Sukuna is about ready to open his mouth and tell Yuuji exactly why Yuuta is not an exception and is – in fact – a Gojo descendant through and through when the incredibly recognizable hair of the soon-to-be clan head emerges from behind Yuuji’s shoulder.
“Yuuji-san? Yuuji-san, is that you?”
Yuuji spins around, his face lighting up. “Gojo! And Geto,” he quickly adds, noticing Geto calmly walking over.
Geto offers him a half wave. “Hi Yuuji-san. Where are you off to this morning?”
“We’re heading to Tokyo!” Yuuji eagerly provides. “What about you two?”
Geto and Gojo’s smiles immediately widen at the same time. “What a coincidence,” Gojo sings, slinging an arm around Yuuji’s shoulder (Sukuna immediately begins glaring holes into said arm). “So are we.”
They end up sitting together on the train, because Gojo and Geto – in Sukuna’s eyes – devolved into leeches the moment they found any opening that allowed them to hog Yuuji’s free time. There’s a thirty second fight behind Yuuji’s back about who gets to sit in the seat next to Yuuji, which Sukuna quickly overpowers them both and smugly sinks down into the seat with the air of a king taking his rightful throne. Gojo and Geto then have an even quicker round of rock-paper-scissors to decide on who would get the seat across from Yuuji and Geto wins this one, smiling winningly even as he’s reminded of his bruised shoulder and wrist that is very likely sprained.
Yuuji, thinking that Gojo and Geto had taken a rough stumble when the train began moving, frets over Gojo’s bloody nose and Geto’s pained grimace as he casually holds his wrist. “Are you two alright? Are you in a lot of pain?”
“It’s nothing I haven’t experienced before,” Geto tries to assure Yuuji with a cheery, close-eyed smile.
Yuuji eyes the way Geto is holding his wrist with rising worry. “You must have bumped into the seats pretty hard. I don’t think you should hold anything in your hands for a bit.”
“It’s not that bad Yuuji-san,” Geto tries to assure him, putting on his best brave face even as Gojo rolls his eyes at his attempted bravado and Sukuna resolutely ignores them both.
Yuuji, unconvinced, pulls out one of the onigiri containers. “It’s not much, but maybe some food will help. If it hurts too much to use your wrist now, I can even feed you.”
Sukuna abruptly sits up. “You’re going to what.”
Gojo shoves himself into Geto’s space. “No, no Yuuji-san, there’s no need. Suguru’s nowhere near delicate enough that he can’t come back from a quick stumble on the train. Right, Suguru?”
“Actually,” Geto goes as he shoves Gojo right back. “It might be a worse than I thought.”
“You literally just shoved me Suguru, you can’t –“
“I might even be feeling a little dizzy,” Geto plows on, unrepentant and unashamedly putting on a more strained smile to emphasize just how unwell he was feeling at the moment. “We’ve been on our feet all morning, you see. Me more than Satoru because I always have to be the one to wake him up in the morning, or else we’d miss our train.”
Yuuji nods, empathetic. “I have to deal with Sukuna’s tantrums in the mornings too.”
“I do not throw tantrums,” Sukuna hisses, while Gojo squawks indignantly in the background.
Yuuji, ignoring him, opens the container of onigiri and holds one up to Geto. “Here you go, Geto. You don’t have any onigiri fillings you don’t like, do you?”
Geto beaming, takes a bit from the onigiri, ignoring the growing wave of bloodlust from the seats next to them. “Of course not. I love everything Yuuji-san makes.”
Gojo attempts to insert himself again. “Yuuji-san, I love everything you make too.”
Here he puts on his best puppy dog face, pushing his shades down so the Gojo clan’s bright blue eyes would be on full display. “Won’t you feed me as well, Yuuji-san?”
“Don’t be so shameless Satoru,” says Geto, the pot calling the kettle black. “Can’t you tell you’re making Yuuji-san uncomfortable?”
Sukuna abruptly stands up, the veins in his arms and forehead bulging, as he prepares for round two of Sukuna vs Gojo and Geto. “Maybe both of you should leave right now, while you can still walk.”
Before the tension can rise any higher and Yuuji has to start bodily holding Sukuna back, an obliviously cheerful Haibara comes barreling down the aisle with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder.
“It is you Gojo-san!” Haibara enthusiastically greets his upperclassman. “I thought I saw you from the train door but I wasn’t sure so I came to get a closer look and it really was you. Geto-san’s here too. And Itadori-san! Wait, why are there two Itadori-san’s?”
“That’s Sukuna, my twin,” Yuuji clarifies.
“I’m his older brother,” Sukuna automatically corrects.
“Nice to meet you, Itadori-niisan,” Haibara immediately goes, which pleases Sukuna immensely – he decides Haibara gets a pass immediately.
Yuuji scowls at the back of Sukuna’s head, but grudgingly lets it go because it was hard to be mad at Haibara. “Are you heading to Tokyo too?” he asks, instead.
“Wow, how did you know Itadori-san?” Haibara’s eyes begin to glow with admiration. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“This train is bound to Tokyo, Haibara,” a tired looking Nanami points out as he appears behind Haibara in the aisle, an overnight bag also slung over his shoulder. “And Gojo-san and Geto-san have likely already told Itadori-san all about the school branch in Tokyo, which is why Itadori-san knew we were going to be heading to Tokyo too.”
Yuuji tilts his head. “What school branch?”
“Oh,” Gojo suddenly seems to remember something. “We never did ask Yuuji-san: why are you heading to Tokyo today?”
If exasperated looks could cause people to wither away, Gojo would have become even more of a bean pole than he already was from Nanami’s glare but before Nanami can verbally tear into Gojo, Haibara’s stomach decides to emit a very loud, very pronounced growl.
“Whoops,” Haibara apologetically grins. “Sorry, sorry. We’ve been on our feet all morning and we were late to the station so we didn’t have time to buy a bento.”
Yuuji, beaming, holds up his onigiri box. “How about we eat together then?”
“So the school you guys were going go to in Sendai was originally meant to be in Tokyo?” Yuuji surmises, after Nanami’s finished explaining everything to him.
“Yeah, we had a lot of stuff to move which is why we stopped coming over for breakfast,” Haibara adds in, having just polished off his fifth onigiri. Yuuji indulgently hands him a sixth one, which earns him a beaming grin of gratitude from Haibara.
“Sorry we couldn’t tell you sooner Itadori-san,” Haibara adds, quickly tacking it on like he was afraid of being offensive.
“That’s alright.” Yuuji easily forgives them both. “I’ve been really busy too. We just finished closing up the store in Sendai and we’re planning on opening The Northern Forest in Tokyo.”
“No way!” Haibara leans forward, eyes gleaming with unfiltered child like happiness. “Does that mean we’ll get to eat at Itadori-san’s every day in Tokyo too?”
Nanami tugs Haibara back by his collar, but unlike Gojo and Geto with each other, he’s gentle when he pulls his friend back. “Not for breakfast Haibara. Itadori-san will be even busier than he ever will be in Tokyo, and we shouldn’t put him out like that.”
Yuuji flushes, pleased. “Aw geez Nanamin, you think The Northern Forest will be popular?”
“I know it will be,” Nanami says, with a gentle yet steadfast certainty that has Haibara nodding along.
“Of course it will be,” Sukuna adds in his two cents, saying it like it’s a fact of life, with all the confidence of a person who has never been wrong in their life.
And Yuuji can’t stop smiling, his cheeks aching from the strain, both of the overstuffed containers of onigiri empty.
Right now, he feels like he can do anything.
Yuuta looks mildly baffled at the much larger crowd of people he meets at the train station which was a rather fair expression to make, considering how he had only been expecting to pick Yuuji and Sukuna up this morning.
“Sorry Okkotsu-senpai,” Yuuji begins to apologize. “I was going to text you on the train but the time got away from us and by the time I remembered, we were already getting off the train and…”
Sukuna roughly ruffles the side of Yuuji’s hair. “Don’t apologize, brat. Besides, these clowns were just on their way out. They have school to attend.”
“Oh I’m sure we can skip a day of classes,” Gojo simpers, winningly smiling down at Yuuji as he casually slings an arm around Yuuji’s shoulder as he surreptitiously begins tugging Yuuji away from Sukuna. “I’m more worried about Yuuji-san. Tokyo is such a different place and Yuuji-san needs a guide, doesn’t he?”
Yuuta smiles, the very embodiment of saint like patience if one ignored the viper-quick way his arm shot out to grab Yuuji back before Gojo could get too far. “He does Satoru-kun, that’s why I’m here.”
Something decidedly dark and powerful rises in the air like foreboding thunderclouds as Sukuna glares down both the Gojo’s. “How about you both let go of my little brother before I make you?”
Haibara looks up from where he’s been checking his phone for instructions on how to get to the school. “Nanami, is it just me or is the air getting colder in here?”
Nanami doesn’t even bother looking up. “Ignore them, Haibara. Or you might get infected with the Gojo stupidity.”
Fortunately, Sukuna is a master of keeping an itinerary so ten minutes later, Yuuji, Yuuta and Sukuna are on their way to their next destination as planned. Yuuji, however, cannot stop fretting about Gojo even as the car pulls away from the curb.
“I still think we should have stayed with them,” Yuuji keeps saying, craning his neck back to try and look through the back window.
Sukuna grabs him by the end of his hoodie and drags him back into his seat without even looking up from his phone. “The brat will live. Gojos are made to be as sturdy as cockroaches.”
Yuuji gives his twin an unimpressed glare. “You threw him through the station’s front doors Sukuna.”
“And?” Sukuna goes. “Did he die?”
“You don’t have to worry Itadori-kun,” Yuuta assures with a beaming smile, as compassionate and benign as Buddha’s. “I’ll be sure to send a personal fruit basket to Satoru-kun’s hospital room to wish him a speedy recovery.”
“Um,” Yuuji says.
Much to Yuuji’s relief, Gojo is perfectly healthy and energy when he comes by to visit the restaurant several days later.
Sukuna is anything but pleased.
“How the hell did you find this place?” he demands, standing guard in front of the restaurant’s doors, effectively blocking Yuuji from Gojo’s view.
Gojo rolls his eyes. “Please. Like they could hide this information from the next clan head.”
“I was under the impression that Okkotsu would be more tight lipped than this.”
Gojo grins, showing teeth. “Oh Yuuta-san was very hush hush about it. The others though, were a bit more willing to talk.”
Sukuna’s glare worsens and he would have likely tried to throw Gojo into the next door building’s wall if Yuuji hadn’t managed to push himself past Sukuna.
“Gojo!” Yuuji beams. “Come in, come in. I was just about to start making lunch.”
“He’s not invited,” Sukuna starts trying to shoo Gojo away. “Get lost, vermin. You’ll dirty up the store.”
Yuuji shoves Sukuna to the side and opens the door wider, ushering Gojo in, ignoring Sukuna’s indignant shouting.
“Sorry about that, Sukuna’s just cranky since we’re eating lunch so late,” Yuuji tells Gojo as he offers him a seat the counter.
“I am not cranky,” Sukuna hisses, stomping back in. “Also you’re not even officially open yet. Why are you trying to feed this pest?”
“Well we can’t open until I’ve tested out the kitchen and made sure everything’s in working order,” Yuuji points out, tightening the apron around his waist to make sure it doesn’t slip. “So I might as well cook something for all of us to eat. Right, Gojo?”
Gojo, who had been unashamedly ogling Yuuji this whole time and drooling, immediately sits upright as he puts on his ‘I am the most innocent and naïve high school student in the world’ face. “Absolutely Yuuji-san. Since you’re the owner of The Northern Forest, it’s only right that you make the final decisions about it.”
Yuuji laughs. “Thanks Gojo. You sure are supportive, unlike a certain someone I know.”
“I’m right here, brat,” Sukuna grouses but seems to have given up on kicking Gojo out (there would be too much collateral damage and Yuuji would chew him out if he dented anything) as he takes a seat as far away from Gojo as he can at the counter.
“You’re leaving right after lunch,” Sukuna tells Gojo with a look that told Gojo this was non-negotiable.
Gojo smiles, with a look that said he was more than willing to “negotiate” with Sukuna on this. “I’ll think about it.”
Yuuji, oblivious, hums the tune of a recent idol song he heard on TV, as he turns on the stove.
Sukuna and Gojo do not end up brawling inside the yet-to-be-opened restaurant as Gojo does end up leaving right after lunch (yakisoba with extra pork for Sukuna and extra noodles for Gojo) after receiving a message that has him clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Yuuji has no idea what the cause was, but Sukuna looks grudgingly impressed, muttering how “Okkotsu sure works fast”.
Time passes quickly.
Yuuji blinks, and it’s already been a month since he moved to Tokyo with Sukuna and they’re deciding on an opening date for The Northern Forest.
When Yuuta offers to help with advertisement, Yuuji declines.
“It wouldn’t feel right if people only came by because of the Gojo name attached to it. So I want to try advertising on my own. Sorry for being selfish senpai,” Yuuji finishes with a sheepish smile.
Yuuta isn’t the least bit offended. “I’ll be sure to come by on opening day as a customer,” he promises, with his own smile.
Yuuji’s initial plan was to print out some flyers and do a quick run around Tokyo handing them out but Sukuna is one step ahead of him.
Yuuji is staring up at a literal stack of professionally designed flyers, complete with a glossy, laminated finish to ensure the flyers wouldn’t get wet if they got water on them.
“Do you want me to run across all of Tokyo handing these out?” he yells at Sukuna.
Sukuna rolls his eyes. “Of course not, brat. Just focus on preparing the kitchen and things will take care of themselves.”
Yuuji groans. “What does that even mean?”
Sukuna refuses to elaborate, despite how much Yuuji yells at him so he gives up, throwing his hands up in the air and heads into the kitchen anyways – he wanted to try making something in the wok that arrived yesterday.
He ends up making omurice but goes overboard and makes more than six extra servings.
Sukuna, who usually yelled at Yuuji for making too much even if it was for the sake of trying things out in the kitchen, looks completely unbothered today and cryptically tells Yuuji that there would be no need to worry as the problem would be taken care of soon enough.
“Although I would have preferred if we didn’t have to rely on those pests,” Sukuna mutters. “But even vermin have their uses, I suppose.”
“Pests?” Yuuji repeats. “What are you talking about?”
As if summoned, the doors to the yet to open restaurant is thrown open by an exuberantly excited Gojo.
“I’m back Yuuji-san!” Gojo bats his long, manicured eyelashes up at Yuuji. “Did you miss me?”
“Gojo!” Yuuji immediately takes notice of the three other students standing behind Gojo in the doorway. “And you brought everyone with you!”
Nanami sighs, as one does when in the insufferable presence of public enemy number one (Read: Gojo Satoru), but still offers a polite nod of greeting towards Yuuji.
“Good day, Itadori-san.”
Haibara enthusiastically waves his arm. “Hi Itadori-san, it’s been a while!”
“It really has,” Yuuji agrees, coming out from behind the counter. “Did you all come by for a meal? Ah, but we’re not open right now so I can only offer you some omurice I made too much of.”
Haibara perks up, like a puppy detecting his favorite treat. “I love omurice!”
Sukuna, not even looking up from his laptop, points at the pile of flyers standing in the center of the room. “Then you can hand those out as payment for the omurice you’re going to be eating today, punks.”
“Sukuna!” Yuuji is quick to scold his twin. “We can’t just ask customers to run errands for us.”
“They’re not customers, brat. How can they be if you’re not even open for business yet?”
“Oh, is that all?” Haibara quickly rushes in, grabbing as many flyers in his arms as he could hold. “Sure thing! You’re using these to advertise for the restaurant, right?”
“Haibara, you’re going to drop them like that,” Nanami gently scolds, taking several flyers from Haibara’s arms, before grabbing another handful from the pile for himself.
Geto follows suit, grabbing several handfuls worth of flyers in his own arms. “Come on Satoru, you help too.”
Gojo dramatically sighs but scoops up his own share of flyers. “I don’t like the thought of sharing Yuuji-san’s food with strangers but if it makes Yuuji-san happy, then I guess I can.”
“No, no, you guys shouldn’t have to do this. I just made too much omurice today and you’d all be doing me a favor by eating it.” Yuuji tries to take the flyers back from them but none of them budge.
“Even if it’s not for the omurice, I still wouldn’t mind helping out,” Haibara tells Yuuji, speaking for all of them. His grin is so honest that Yuuji can’t find it in himself to object. “This is thanks for all the delicious food you’ve fed us already Itadori-san. And for all the delicious meals in the future too!”
Yuuji sighs. “That’s unfair, Haibara.”
Haibiara grins, knowing he’s won.
“We’ll be back soon, Yuuji-san,” Geto tells Yuuji, offering a small wave as the four of them head out, their arms laden with flyers. “I look forward to the omurice.”
When they’ve left and closed the door behind them, Yuuji turns on his heel to glare accusingly at Sukuna.
“You planned this, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Sukuna says, without an ounce of guilt. “I texted Okkotsu this morning about the flyers and he must have told Gojo about it, so Gojo brought them along to help.”
“That’s cheating!”
Sukuna offers Yuuji an unamused side eye. “You only said you didn’t want to rely on the Gojo clan’s connections. You never said anything about not utilizing your own connections.”
Yuuji huffs, rubbing a hand over his face because arguing with Sukuna was a battle of futility. “Who else did you text about this?” he asks instead, because there was still half the pile of flyers left and Sukuna never did anything halfway.
“Fushiguro and those other friends of yours,” Sukuna answers. “And I have no doubt your friends will be informing other people they know as well.”
Yuuji lets out another sigh, but he can’t help the exasperated, fond smile that emerges. “You’re all ridiculous.”
“What?” Sukuna glances up. “If you have something to say, speak up.”
“Nothing,” Yuuji sings, turning around and heading back towards the kitchen, a feeling too big for words in his chest. It threatens to burst out of him, so he focuses on channeling it into his cooking today.
After all, he has a lot of food to make.
Geto, Gojo, Nanami and Haibara return after an hour, and the omurice is waiting for them, Yuuji having kept them warm in the kitchen’s oven.
Gojo tries to bat his long eyelashes to wheedle Yuuji into drawing something personal on his omurice with some ketchup but he’s forced to back down under the combined glares of Geto, Sukuna and Nanami.
Haibara asks for extra rice and Gojo pours on extra ketchup on his egg, much to Geto and Nanami’s disgust. The four of them sit in the unfinished interior of The Northern Forest, knees and elbows knocking together constantly at the counter because only a fourth of it is clean enough to be used as an eating space. Gojo splashes ketchup on everyone at least once, Sukuna yells at them at least four times for spilling rice on the floor and makes them clean it up before they leave and by the end of it, everyone has some sort of stain on their shirt, or pants or – in Geto’s case – hair.
Yet all of them are grinning ear-to-ear, thanking Yuuji for the meal as they head out, Haibara loudly promising for all of them that they’d be back when The Northern Forest was officially open for business.
Yuuji watches them go, a ballooning feeling of warmth in his chest that fills his whole lungs and heart and threatens to render him mute with such joy it almost scares him.
(He didn’t realize he could feel this happy.)
Sukuna, observant but also considerate, doesn’t say a word about the tears prickling Yuuji’s eyes and only just mentions that Fushiguro and his friends would be arriving around dinner time.
Come dinner time, it’s not just Fushiguro and Yuuji’s old high school friends who come by, but also Yuuta and several of his friends as well. When Yuuji accuses Yuuta of cheating, Yuuta only cheekily grins and points out that Yuuji only asked Yuuta not to use the Gojo clan connections – he never said anything about Yuuta’s own personal connections being off limits.
Yuuji, when he hears this, can only groan. “Are you and Sukuna on the same wavelength or something? How are you guys coming up with the exact same excuses?”
“I suppose it’s because we’re both natural businessmen,” Yuuta cheerily says, unashamedly seating himself at the counter seat closest to where Yuuji is standing.
Maki and Inumaki, the two friends Yuuta had invited, only roll their eyes and have to turn away before Yuuta’s flirting got too nauseating to watch.
“I’m not sitting anywhere near those two love birds,” Kugisaki vehemently goes.
Maki nods. “Agreed.”
“Salmon,” Inumaki adds.
“Then help us with setting up the table,” Fushiguro snaps. Junpei and him are holding up the only clean, full size table that’s currently available in the restaurant, trying to move it from where it was leaning on the wall to the floor it so there’ll be enough space for the chairs to be put down.
Kugisaki pats the stacked chairs next to her. “I already have all the chairs here,” she smugly points out.
Fushiguro would glare at her if he wasn’t struggling to hold the table up but Maki thankfully saves the day and lifts up the other corner of the table with ease. With all three of them working together, the table is set down at last and the chairs are arranged so everyone can sit comfortably without knees or elbows knocking.
Inumaki takes a selfie with the finished arrangement.
Maki, looking over his shoulder, nods approvingly. “That’s some good lighting.”
“It really is,” goes Kugisaki when Inumaki shows her the photo.
Fushiguro sighs. “Why are we friends again?”
Junpei offers him a consoling pat on the back.
“Dinner’s ready,” Yuuji chirps from the counter. “Oh, and you got the table ready too! But wait, why are we short two chairs?”
Everyone sans Yuuji and Yuuta share a look.
“We should tell him,” Kugisaki says.
“No,” Fushiguro and Junpei say at the same time.
“Thank god Sukuna isn’t here right now,” Maki mutters. “Or that Chousou guy. They’d kill Yuuta on the spot.”
“Seaweed,” Inumaki says, defending Yuuta.
“Don’t underestimate brocons Inumaki, they’re a different breed,” Maki points out.
Yuuji blinks, the epitome of oblivious. “What are you guys talking about?”
(No one tells Yuuji a thing and Yuuji spends the early part of dinner sulking, until Yuuta promises to treat him to sushi.
“Womanizer,” all their friends say in unison.
Yuuta, happily hoarding all of Yuuji’s time today since they’re sitting side by side at the counter for dinner, ignores them.)
As per Sukuna’s foresight, all the flyers are distributed by the next day. Unbeknownst to Yuuji, the flyers reach all corners of Tokyo – including the law office of one particular defense attorney.
Higuruma can already hear Takagi laughing at him as he disembarks the train. The flyer she had handed him clearly provided an opening date for The Northern Forest yet here he was, taking a day off to go visit the restaurant’s location weeks before it was supposed to be open for business.
He knows, logically, that he will only be disappointed when he arrives at the store front and he will have wasted a whole work day to travel across the city for a tiny sliver of an impossible hope.
Despite this, he keeps walking. His feet carry him to the former café before he can begin to have second thoughts.
He expects to see the closed store front when he arrives: the cafe sign removed, the interior dark and empty, a paper posted on the inside of the front door letting everyone know that the café has closed down.
The café signboard is indeed removed now, most of the furniture removed inside except –
The lights inside are on.
Higuruma pauses, wondering if his hunger from skipping lunch today, would make him delusional enough to start seeing lights where there were none. He rubs his eyes, squeezes them shut for a brief moment before opening them again.
The lights are still on. Not even something dim like several emergency lights but the working lights on the ceiling, illuminating the mostly bare inside of the former café. Most of the tables and booths Higuruma recognized have been removed and the kitchen that had once been hidden by a door is visible now. The open kitchen sits surrounded by a counter, so the cook could easily chat with his customers while he made their meals.
It was probably the construction team, or some members of the Gojo clan checking to make sure everything in the café was removed as per the contract. He shouldn’t get his hopes up, Higuruma keeps telling himself yet he desperately wants to knock on the door, and see – hoping beyond hope – a familiar pink haired cook appearing to greet him.
He shouldn’t knock.
He knocks.
Two clear raps with his knuckles and waits for the inevitable stranger in a suit to appear, informing him that the previous café was no longer in business and they were currently renovating the building so could he please vacate the premise? It would be very much appreciated.
Less than a minute after he knocks, someone does appear at the door but it is not a stranger in a suit. It is instead, a very familiar face who once made Higuruma the curry gratin he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about for the past six months.
“Sukuna! Did you get all the – “ Itadori Yuuji’s face quickly changes to surprise when he notices the unexpected guest at the door but it quickly transforms into a grin that could rival the afternoon sun.
“Higuruma-san! It’s been a while!”
“Hello, Itadori,” Higuruma greets back, somewhat stiffly. “I see you’ve arrived in Tokyo.”
Itadori beams. “Yeah! I really thought I would have more trouble adjusting to city life but it’s actually been really easy, even if I am a lot busier than I was before. It feels like I’m constantly doing ingredient runs, or at least until we’ve finished establishing the supply chain with all our vendors.”
Higuruma nods. “I understand. I apologize for coming by unannounced, and when you’re clearly busy. I was in the area so I was curious…”
It’s a flimsy lie even to Higuruma and he wonders when he became an impulsive enough man that he would trek halfway across the city in hopes of eating at a restaurant that wasn’t even open at the moment.
Itadori must understand Higuruma’s feelings better than himself, however, as he grins another sunshine bright grin and opens the door wider, inviting Higuruma in.
“The Northern Forest might not be open for business right now, but I’m always happy to make something for a friend,” he says.
Itadori serves him a cup of coffee and flan, initially apologizing for the lack of options as his twin brother, Sukuna, was currently buying ingredients for lunch at the moment and the only ingredients they had while they were waiting to finalize supply chain logistics were cabinet staples.
“The coffee is instant too,” Itadori sheepishly admits. “I’m not very good at brewing coffee since no one in my family drinks it, and we never served it in Sendai.”
“You have nothing to apologize for Itadori,” Higuruma quickly assures him. “If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I was the one who came by unannounced and when you’re still busy preparing. I’ll be more than happy to cover the cost of any ingredients that were used, as well as pay for both the coffee and the flan.”
Itadori flaps his hands. “No, no, it’s fine Higuruma-san, really! I’m glad to have the company and those eggs were due to expire soon, so I was planning on using them anyways. Sorry for the instant coffee though. I really don’t know the first thing about making it Oh, but I have been watching a lot of videos about baristas and pour over coffee recently and it looks really cool, so maybe I’ll try it out in Tokyo!”
Itadori continues to chatter as he flits about the stove and Higuruma nods along, listening as he takes steady bites of his flan and sips of his coffee. There is still an ever growing pile of cases waiting for Higuruma when he returns to work tomorrow but he can’t find it in himself to mind.
Sukuna looks to be trying to make Higuruma spontaneously combust with his glare alone.
“I wasn’t aware you’d be allowing pests into the restaurant today, brat.”
“Higuruma-san’s a customer!” Yuuji yells from the back of the kitchen.
Sukuna eyes Higuruma, dubious. He takes in the slightly rumpled business suit with several faint coffee and ink stains at the sleeves, the messy barely combed back hair and the empty plate of flan in front of him.
“You don’t look like a bum,” Sukuna grudgingly goes.
“Higuruma-san’s a lawyer,” Yuuji says, coming back towards the front with a tray of ingredients. He turns on one of the stoves, and places a wok on top to let it heat up while Sukuna decides that he’ll let Higuruma off the hook for now and seats himself at the other end of the counter.
Yuuji makes them mapo tofu with extra ground pork, along with a generous serving of rice and a fresh cucumber salad. Higuruma’s stomach rumbles angrily, reminding of his skipped meal and when he tries to apologize, Yuuji just waves him off.
“I guess it’s a good thing you came by, Higuruma-san. It’d give my restaurant a bad reputation if I let someone walk out of it hungry!”
“I’ll be sure to order something off the official menu the next time I come by,” Higuruma promises, before he digs in.
“You called it your restaurant,” Sukuna says after lunch, and Higuruma has left. The late afternoon sun is coming through the windows, as Yuuji wipes down the counters and Sukuna stacks the plates and bowls on the shelves.
“What are you talking about?”
“Earlier,” Sukuna goes. “When you were talking to that Higuruma. You called this place ‘my restaurant’. You never used to do that. It was always ‘grandpa’s store’ or just The Northern Forest.”
“Ah.” Yuuji stops wiping the counter, standing up so he can look around. The interior is still very bare, containing only the basic necessities needed to make a few simple meals. The work to renovate the place will be intensive, as well as running a restaurant in Tokyo – there will be more people coming in just because of how busy Tokyo is as a city and Yuuji knows he’s going to struggle adjusting to that fast paced life compared to the slower, sleepier time in Sendai.
But –
But this was his place now. The Northern Forest was now a place he could call his own, because it had been his decision to move it to Tokyo. Starting here, this would be The Northern Forest run by Itadori Yuuji.
“It really is mine now, isn’t it?”
Sukuna scoffs, but there’s no edge to it. “Brat. It’s always been yours from the moment the old man gave it to you. And it’ll be yours as long as you want it.”
Yuuji presses his trembling lips together, and pretends it’s the glare of the sun coming in from the windows that’s causing him to tear up.
“Look forward instead.”
I am Grandpa. I finally am.