Chapter Text
Shimoda, August 7 2025
“Megumi, dude, wake up. We’re almost there.”
Waking up could’ve been somewhat peaceful if it hadn’t been for the engine veiling the sound of the sea.
Black faded into the color of the sunset as his lashes fluttered open, resisting the call of the day and Maki’s voice from the driver’s seat.
Slowly, he recognized the sting of the breeze on his skin, the awareness of his cheeks pressed on his forearm, and the familiarity of the tires sliding down the road.
The car hit a little bump and his body bounced forward, jolting his eyes fully open and pulling a groan out of his mouth.
In front of them, the sun brightened the surface of the sea like the dew in the first hours of a winter day.
“So much for the directions I was supposed to get,” Maki spoke, and Megumi turned to meet her eyes. She watched him for a few seconds, a playful grin tugging at her lips, before returning her focus on the street.
He blinked and looked up in the sky, and then back at her. “Uh… I’m sorry, I don't know why I fell asleep.” he said, rubbing his eye with a finger.
Behind him, something shuffled and he felt his backrest being pulled slightly in the opposite direction. Yuta’s head appeared in between the seats, gently tapping a hand on Megumi’s right shoulder. “Don’t worry, I got you. I was starting to get bored anyway.”
Megumi returned his gaze to the sea, and while the feeling of restlessness left him, the anticipation and excitement rose faster than he had thought. The plants grew thicker as the seconds passed, and Maki turned left, stopping in front of the metal gate.
Observing it, the contrast between how it appeared and what he expected to see surprised him. No one had been here for years, and although Gojo had come to check the house before their arrival, Megumi didn't think he would find the entrance intact, without a shadow of rust, without plants to be buried behind.
Immediately on the right, the other villa left rocks scattered on the sand shaping the path that led to the backdoor.
Maki leaned over, “Are you sure this is the correct address?”
“Yes, why?”
“Is it that one?” She asked, pointing a finger at the smaller house.
“Nope.”
Maki took a bit before answering.
“Megumi.”
“Hm?”
“You didn't say Gojo had a freaking mansion. In the middle of an oasis, plus,”
“Well, it is Gojo.” He shrugged.
“Alright, good point.” she chuckled, “You got the keys, right?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, getting out of the vehicle. The car roared behind him as he put the key in. The gears clicked, and the lock felt heavier in his palm.
When they resumed their way, he noticed every possible detail of the driveway. How the same palm leaf slammed against the car’s glass in the passage and the holes in the tree trunks (and the embarrassing names Tsumiki had given them when they were children).
Outside of the beach house, after Yuta had woken up Toge and all of them had their arms wrapped around their bags, Megumi felt the same heaviness once again. The door unlocked and if before he was expecting it to be worn out, marked by the weather and the salty sea breeze— different —as he stood on the doorway, he felt as if he could hear his sister and Gojo’s complaints after the trip, along with the sound of shoes being thrown right next to the door.
“This is huge, like— huge . How does one take care of this alone?” jabbered Yuta behind his shoulders.
Megumi focused on the familiar smell of home and the sea and he felt full again.
The house fixtures kept the same pen marks that Geto had drawn to mark their height each week, the wood of the kitchen table remained worn and stained, on the wall there was still hanging the mix of shells bound together with glue in some strange shape by Nanako and Mimiko, and the sun filtered from the window illuminating the same three faded photos held up by a pin on the bulletin board: his sisters and Gojo buried under a pile of sand. A selfie of Geto, Shoko and Utahime hugging each other with a drink in hand on the porch. Riko, Megumi, Nanami and Haibara cooking.
“He wasn’t alone.”
He dropped his backpack from his shoulder and went to the large window on the front of the house, sliding the glass open. The wind coming in from the sea waves moved the bamboo chimes hanging from the ceiling. The leaves danced on the patio and when the sand reached his face, Megumi moved his hand to cover himself.
It’s beautiful.
Turning, he saw Maki beam by his side, watching blue stretch for miles endlessly ahead of them. Her smile and her lip piercing both bathed in the shimmer of the sun.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“It is.”
𓇼
Megumi unpacked his things in his usual spots, leaving space as if Tsumiki was going to sleep in the same room. Like he always used to do.
When he spread out on the futon, looking at the same stain on the ceiling, he let out a long breath. Before he left Tokyo, he knew it was going to stir something—coming back to their holiday place after a long time. Even now, the house still felt like it lived in a totally different dimension, one which he had always shared with his family, but it was different. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, just new. Everything still sat where they left it, and each movement he made felt like a deja vu.
Right on time, Megumi received a call from his sister just ten minutes after their arrival.
“How did the journey go?”
“As always. The usual three hours, Tsumiki.”
“Yeah, but you had to drive this time. Your first time driving all the way to Shimoda!”
He smiled. “Maki was behind the wheel most of the time anyway, she said something about showing me how it was actually done. Whatever,”
Her laughter was covered by another noise very similar to a cackle in the background, “Dad made a bet you couldn’t go past Hadano without sore feet,”
Megumi rolled his eyes.
Especially after Gojo chimed in in the middle of their conversation and Tsumiki hung up, he found himself thinking how he would’ve wanted them to be there too.
“We will all get there by the end of august, Memi. You won’t stay without Nanami’s tonkatsu for long.”
Upstairs, he overheard Maki and Yuta fighting for the better bedroom, and when he reached the last stair, he turned to see Toge already sitting outside the balcony of his own room with sunglasses on. Unbothered.
Maki gently smashed the door in front of Yuta’s face, establishing the verdict for both of them. Okkotsu simply pursed his lips in resignation and settled in the smaller one.
Megumi explained to them where they could find anything they needed, and also what was broken, from one of the toilets upstairs, to the very annoying and time-wasting ways to make one of the four showers turn hot in case they needed it. He told them the spot where they left deckchairs in the back and where to find the various cleaning and kitchen items.
Given that they had arrived late that afternoon, they decided to take the rest of the day to just settle in and go through their plans once again during dinner later at night. Maki announced she was going to go for a walk, while Toge and Yuta agreed to take care of their last bags and the set-up of the gaming console.
The sun hadn’t set completely yet, but the colors became stronger, and from the chair in the veranda, the landscape seemed almost artificial. Megumi knew its outlines and details by heart.
Megumi looked up from his phone to take in his surroundings again. He had never been shaken by the thrill of change—on the contrary, he had always preferred to feel at home in the spaces in which he already found himself and the routines he’d already undertaken. Sitting here, watching the sun perform its familiar praxis for the thousandth time in years, he couldn’t think of something that would feel more right.
When Gojo, after his sisters video called him all together one more time, released a scream equal to that of a middle schooler attracting his attention, Megumi glanced down again.
“I don’t know why you’re still allowed in the kitchen,” he began, raising an eyebrow at the phone screen.
Another voice came in, “Right. Dad, every time you just even turn on the stoves is a fair insult to Haibara himself, and to all the other Michelin star chefs that came before him.” said Nanako.
“And that will probably come after.” continued Mimiko.
“That’s true,” She was out of the phone’s frame, but Shoko’s voice echoed through the kitchen walls.
“Nanami would agree.”
“Obviously I’d suck if you put me against Haibara. That’s just how it works. But if I—”
“Nah, you’re just a loser,” deadpanned Shoko.
Gojo stopped his movements and slightly lowered the pan to whirl and face his friend better, “And who invited you?”
Megumi huffed a laugh and moved on his seat to set his phone on the little table on his left. He opened his book and tried to focus.
After a few minutes, after Nanako started telling him about some girl and boy at her new university, with the voices of Okkotsu and Inumaki which he could still hear from the open window and the sound of waves crashing on the shore, he gave up on his read and threw his head backwards and against the deckchair.
He nodded, making his sister understand he was listening to what she was telling him, and as he was throwing a quick glance at the sea in front of him, he thought he heard a clatter coming from his right—where the other house sat beside theirs. Megumi fixed his gaze on the small porch, then let it drift to the open shutters on the upper floor. Behind each window, inside the house, there seemed to be white curtains. A gentle gust of wind stirred them, and at that very moment he thought he saw someone move from one side of the room to the other.
Someone rented it.
He narrowed his eyes, and the same sound came again; then, from the white, weathered door facing the beach, Megumi managed to see someone come out and start sprinting down the small steps toward the water. The distance between them wasn’t sufficient enough for the other person’s features to escape his notice. Actually, Megumi was so close that he was sure he could see a little charm hanging from the man’s neck.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it later!” he shouted at someone else while laughing, nearly making Megumi flinch in surprise.
“You damn—” the voice of the person inside the house was muffled by the door shutting close.
His pink locks looked wet, and Megumi wondered why he would be rushing to the sea while still being fresh from a shower. He ran, and after a few Ou— Shit— That’s hot as he jumped through the sand, he didn’t stop in front of the sea, instead immediately taking off his shirt, throwing it on the ground and remaining in his red swimsuit only.
Even if the man was almost entirely giving him his back, Megumi was still able to peek at the other’s small smirk before he disappeared between the waves.
He came out of the water with a quick wiggle of his head and then suddenly straightened, letting the water level get right above his hips. He lifted an arm to grab the chain hooked around his neck, and in that moment, Megumi made the mistake of shifting his gaze from his hand, down to his body. His tan was light despite the time of the year, and the same redness that kissed his shoulders extended all the way to his cheeks. Megumi thought he saw moles spread all over his skin, that along with the little droplets of water painted a picture that almost made him forget where they actually were. What the view looked like—the reason why tourists came here in the first place.
It felt like one of those cinematic and out of world experiences you can only come across if you did something uniquely great in your whole lives.
But it couldn’t be, right?
Megumi observed as the other creased his brows together, still checking for something wrong with his necklace. When his expression softened, revealing his face completely, Megumi couldn't do anything else but stare.
So much, that he didn’t even notice that the guy had unexpectedly lost his attention for what he had been doing and was now looking fully straight at him. Shouting and waving his arm around.
“Hey!”
Megumi, with his mouth agape like an idiot, fell into a sort of trance.
Nanako didn’t fail to notice.
“—Megumi, you there?”
In a heartbeat, he was back down. “Huh? Yeah. Yes, of course,”
“We lost you for a bit,” smirked Gojo.
Tsumiki leaned in on the screen, “What did you see?”
“Nothing. Just… the sea.” he answered, blinking. Megumi tried to ignore the faint blush that started to creep at his cheeks.
“You’re by the beach?—” questioned his sister.
“—Must’ve seen something enthralling, huh,” commented Nanako.
“—Or someone—” added Mimiko, letting out a few snickers.
“Mimiko, c’mon, you know how—” Tsumiki whipped her head around in a scolding manner but still smiling.
The twins chuckled, and Nanako spoke again, teasing him. “Megumi, did I just witness you falling in love at first sight?”
He scowled, looking in another direction, “Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no one here.”
“I’m pretty sure I heard someone yell, though,” insisted Mimiko.
“No, you didn’t.”
She made a face, “Oh, sure, no one my a—”
“Girls, behave,” said Gojo.
“Dad, I’m nineteen!” both groaned.
Megumi took the opportunity to collect his things and walk away from the beach, and despite feeling the other’s eyes on him, he didn’t look back even once.
Crossing the glass door, he found himself in front of Yuta completely bent against Toge’s shoulder as Maki pushed him further and further down, as she moved along with her controller.
“Move!” she groaned, grasping at her Mario Kart steering wheel.
“I’m afraid this is as far as we can get,” pointed out Okkotsu, struggling to even lift an arm.
“Ugh, I only made it to the second place,”
Toge put down his own joystick and signed, “ Mine and Yuta’s cars are still against the wall if that makes you feel better ,”
“No.”
Megumi put his things on the couch in front of the TV, where his friends sat cross legged on the floor. He listened to the end of Nanako’s story while throwing himself into the cushions.
After the end of the call and Yuta’s fourth time gaining his last place in the ranking, he stood up and walked to the fridge. Not that he expected to find anything in it anyway.
As he predicted, the only thing greeting him when he opened it were the flickers of the light on top of the ceiling, two bottles of Melon Soda and a sticky note.
Sry, ate everything. Ps pls water the plants. Pps there’s still food for Sumi in the pantry
He recognized Gojo’s handwriting and grimaced. Sighing, he whirled his head back and raised his voice to be heard from the living room. “Uh, you okay with ordering takeout?”
One hour later, they were all gathered around the low table on the veranda, eating Chinese noodles. The sun rays coming from the horizon weren’t enough to illuminate their spot, and the lights turned on around the outer walls of the house attracted the few mosquitoes that managed to resist the smell of the mosquito coil. The scent drifting in from every corner carried the kind of familiarity that only that house had.
Megumi stuck his chopsticks in his mouth, and Toge turned his phone around to show him a video. He laughed. On his right, with the volume up like a grandma hard of hearing in one ear, Yuta and Maki were talking with Miwa about how both of them were going to punch Todo for stealing their fencing stuff once they got back.
“Hey, before I forget,” Maki spoke, swallowing her food, “I think there’s gonna be a party by the beach later? Like there’s a small izakaya I saw earlier. They have music, I think live, and it looks cool, you wanna come?”
Yuta hummed, nodding in acknowledgment. “Mh, I think I know what you’re talking about. That one near the rocks, right? Saw it too from the glass of the car. Looked nice.”
“Okay, you're coming with me. What about you two?” she asked, pointing her chopsticks at them.
“I’m fine staying in tonight,” responded Megumi.
Toge shook his head, “ I’d like to go but I’m tired. Wanna sleep. ” He threw a piece of shrimp into the air to catch it with his mouth.
Yuta huffed a brief laugh, “You slept the entire ride from Tokyo and also took a nap before we played.”
Inumaki simply shrugged.
Maki slurped on the last piece of noodles, and after she finished chewing she slammed her hands on the table, standing up. “Alright, elders. I’ll see ya later. Let’s go, Yuta,”
Okkotsu tried to quickly fill all his remaining food in his mouth while balancing the bowl in his hands and getting up from his place.
“Sorry, Miwa. Oh, and don’t forget to tell that moron that—”
𓇼
The firefly circled the lamp at least twice before fluttering its wings one last time and finally settling on it. He watched the scene so intently that, as the seconds passed, he had to focus to distinguish the firefly’s body from the light of the bulb.
In these moments, despite always seeking them to escape the fuss of his own life, Megumi would still find himself thinking about the next thing he had to do on his checklist. And so, the lightness he felt while laying against the warm wood outside his room was so surprising that he felt the need to double check every passing minute.
He closed his eyes as music weakly flowed out of his headphones. This way he could still hear the crickets sing, reminding him that he could let everything else go—for the next month.
The harmony of the moment was broken when he heard a strange noise blend into the song he was listening to, making him crack one eye open. The silence stretched for a few more seconds, and just as he was about to relax again and let his shoulders drop, he heard it again. Megumi shifted, propping himself up on his palms and sliding one earphone to the side to hear better.
A moment later, without the soundproofing of the headphones, he could hear a window slam once more. He tried to follow the sound, the laughter of someone followed a sentence stifled by the distance. Megumi leaned up, trying to see beyond the hedge that separated their house from the other villa. The entrance door was open, leaving the light inside to illuminate the porch floor. Next to it, there seemed to be a man and a woman whom he didn’t recognize.
And then, the same guy he saw by sea a few hours earlier appeared on the threshold. He wore slightly baggy denim shorts and a button up with orange patterns open on top of a white shirt. The pendant still hanging from his neck and a smile still glued to his face, looking back at a girl behind him, walking out the door. Megumi almost thought he could smell his cologne from his own garden.
The group strolled down the stairs and made their way toward the other side of the beach, where Megumi could see the lights of the town mirroring on the sea surface.
A few minutes later, after he went back down on the wood and tried not to dwell on that afternoon encounter, repeating himself that it was too brief to even be thinking about it in the first place, Megumi felt soft taps on his ankle.
The fur slid all over his leg before getting in front of his face. Megumi felt her little snout run down his cheeks. He raised an arm to pet her and Sumi put her paw on his chest.
“Oh, hi. I was wondering when you were gonna come.”
She raised her head to allow him to stroke under her chin, and a little smile automatically tugged at his lips when he heard her purr.
The cat took another step and fully settled on top of his chest. “You’re full of sand.” he murmured, removing his headphones and moving both hands to pet her on the head. “Mh, you wanna eat?” Megumi gave her one last caress before getting up and taking Sumi between his arms.
As he opened her box of food, with the corner of his eye and with the light of the kitchen, he managed to glimpse at some white hair between the black.
When you look at your friends, your family—someone who you’re used to spend your everyday life with—it’s hard to notice the little wrinkles that a few years before weren't there, how their skin seems less glowy but still beautiful under the sun, or just the little expressions engraved on their features that would only come with a life spent properly. It’s always animals that make you feel the blow of time. Everything feels more real the moment you truly look at them after years spent together, and you remember that once, their eyes looked rounder, and the same energy you’ve been missing for years is now missing from them too.
When she was just a kitten, before Sumi became a constant and unique presence in the house, she was just a little black dot bouncing around every corner of the place. The few times she let Mimiko or Riko pet her, they’d always find her in the highest spot in the room, wondering how on earth she’d even discovered it.
The first time Megumi saw her was when Shiro dragged her home from the neighbor’s place, holding her by the scruff of her neck. Tsumiki immediately ran toward them, and when they both realized how absurd the scene was—Shiro looking like he was bringing back his own puppy—she burst out laughing. He stared at her for a few seconds, and she turned her head, curious.
Even though everyone in the house knew, before the owners passed away, that she didn’t really belong to them, they didn’t let that stop them from treating her as if she did. Every morning and every evening, she came back. Sometimes, she even slept with Tsumiki and Megumi in their room. Sometimes in their beds. Sometimes in their arms.
Toge had retreated to his room almost right after dinner, and Megumi spent the rest of the evening sprawled out on the couch, eating popcorn, with Sumi by his side trying every possible way to catch the fly that had gotten into the house, leaping on top of him right at the most crucial moments of the movie he was watching.
At the exact moment Megumi pressed the button on the remote to turn off the TV, the front door burst open, slamming against the coat rack beside it and making it tremble.
“Rejoice!” Maki announced, throwing her leather jacket on a counter nearby.
Yuta came following from behind her, dragging on his steps and leaving his mouth agape, panting.
“Are you good?” asked Megumi with a hint of a smile.
“She started running on the last bit, I tried catching up,” he answered, flashing his eyebrows and throwing himself on the couch after both of them had placed their shoes near the door.
Maki did the same, propping her arms backwards. She sat with a satisfied grin plastered on her face. “That was fun. Yuta, did you have fun? Yes, you did. And who’s this?” she bent down to pet the cat at her feet.
“Sumi. She lives around,” responded Megumi, observing the scene while Sumi mewed, almost as if she was agreeing with him.
“Her eyes are so yellow.” Yuta joined Maki scratching the same spot under the cat’s chin.
Without any real reason, Megumi’s thoughts drifted back to the group he’d seen leaving the beach earlier. He wondered how long they had been here, if they arrived well before them, or maybe even on the same day. He thought about the way the four of them seemed to have known each other for years, maybe even decades; the way the tallest guy held the girl close against him, and how the boy he’d seen dive into the sea ran with the other girl riding on his shoulders as she appeared to be shouting at him and pointing toward something far off down the beach. He remembered how one corner of his mouth had lifted slightly while he watched them, before their figures faded into the distance, becoming just another grain of sand on the shore. How they seemed to be fulfilled simply by being there, together.
He also found himself thinking about how he wanted to know more.
“So?” said Maki on his side, not looking him in the eyes and still petting Sumi.
“Huh?” mumbled Megumi.
“Were you listening to me?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, slowly regaining consciousness of what he had said.
“So what’s your answer? Are you okay with going, yes or no?”
He looked at her, opening his mouth. Megumi had never been the type to lie, especially in occasions like these, when the choice was just between telling the truth and making Maki a little irritated for having to repeat herself or telling a lie and risk ending up rushing into unwanted plans. So when his lips moved and answered, “Uh… yes?” he almost winced at his stupidity, but the words had already escaped his mouth. He could only hope his answer wouldn’t alter his world.
Maki stared at him for a few seconds, so intensely that he thought she had figured out the truth. But before he could take his words back, her expression suddenly changed, softening her features. “Perfect, I just gotta ask Toge then but I’m pretty sure he’s down with everything.” She stood up and walked toward the kitchen.
Yuta made his way to the stairs instead, “She said it was gonna be the day after tomorrow anyway.”
She. Megumi frowned.
“Mhm,” hummed Maki while drinking a glass of water, “I’m probably gonna pass out if I don’t go to sleep now so… goodnight, and don’t wrack your brains too much there, Megumi!”
He looked at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and sighed.
𓇼
The next morning, he woke up to the smell of the sea slipping in through the drafts beneath his window. If he focused just a little more, he was sure he could hear the clatter in the kitchen and smell the incense Tsumiki lit every night still lingering in the air, the same sound and the same scent he used to wake up to every morning.
That day, the sea was rougher. Megumi could see the foam of the waves crashing into one another in the distance.
The wind and the warmth of the sun above his head created the perfect environment.
He woke up before everyone else so he could go to the shop near the house and buy some groceries for breakfast. After storing everything in its place, he made sure to make enough tea for the four of them and then collected his food to eat outside, in front of the beach.
Giving the last bite to his omelet, he let his head rest on the deckchair.
And then, just like it had happened the day before, his attention was caught by the sound of footsteps on the sand and the gentle lapping of the waves. This time, though, Megumi only saw him after the pink appeared between the blue.
He quickly looked away, determined not to let the same completely embarrassing situation as yesterday happen again. He grabbed his tea and downed the last drops trying to ignore the other man’s presence. He took his book from the side table and opened it, rereading the same sentences four times pretending to understand—forcing himself to. What was worse was that he didn’t even know why he was reacting like this.
Megumi was frantically tapping his pen on the page when he saw a shadow approaching his seat. He told himself it was a palm tree, even if palm trees were literally standing next to him in the opposite direction. He started bouncing the pen faster.
He smelled the salty scent before he could raise his head.
“Hi, sorry,”
Megumi met the person’s eyes and felt his heart leap in his throat.
The sun heat. Right.
He knew what the guy looked like, or at the very least, Megumi felt like he’d already seen everything there was to notice about the guy, but from this close he was able to see the little scars placed right under his left eye and under his lower lip, his slightly crooked and sharp canines, the light freckles scattered on his nose and in some part of his neck, melting with the moles. More than anything, he noticed the color of his eyes—a warm, welcoming brown, the color of fall. The sunlight gave them a different glow. Honey.
When he saw him better, the man blinked, looking almost dazed as he beamed, “Oh, wow— Hello. Am I bothering you?” Megumi carefully raised his hand to his cheeks to check if he had something on his face. “Do you live here?” the other blurted.
He blinked in return, and he must’ve thought he made Megumi uncomfortable, because he shook his head and, “Sorry, that was— Uh—”
“It’s okay,” said Megumi, relaxing his shoulders and giving him a faint smile. He wondered if it was weird that his slight panic made him less flustered.
“I’m Itadori,” he bowed, “Itadori Yuuji, yeah.”
Megumi still sat on the deckchair. “Fushiguro Megumi. I live here during the summer season,”
Itadori’s grin widened, and he seemed to ease off, “That’s so cool, the house looks so cool. My friends and I rented the one next to you for a month.”
“I thought I heard someone,”
“Maki’s here too, right? She told us about the house, about you,”
He creased his eyebrows together, surprised. “How do you know Maki?” Megumi was still trying to ignore the beat of his own heart.
“We met at Narasaya yesterday. You know the little izakaya in the corner at the end of the beach? That one. Man, her and that Okkotsu guy are so funny. Nobara was literally head over heels for Maki, couldn’t stop talking about her after we went back home, I thought my ears were gonna come off,” Itadori huffed a laugh, “I’m glad they can have more time tomorrow, though,”
“Tomorrow?”
He seemed to hesitate, slightly frowning but still keeping the smile on his lips. “Yeah, you’re— We’re all going to the aquarium tomorrow. You’re not coming? Maki said she was gonna ask all of you.”
Ah. That.
Megumi quickly glanced at a point behind him, “I didn’t—”
“Good morning to you too,” Maki suddenly appeared next to them, and Megumi started skipping his eyes between her and the man in front of him like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing, or private. He thought he should’ve felt better now that he had Maki by his side, saving him from an awkward conversation with a stranger , but the feeling was the complete opposite.
“Oh, hi, guys,” greeted Itadori, turning to face Maki.
“Hello,” Megumi picked at his lower lip and closed his fingers on the towel beneath him.
He recognized the girl on Maki’s side from her short hair. The same one that Itadori was waiting for on the porch yesterday.
He didn’t even need to look at her for long to know she’d always be the one with a quick answer, always one step ahead of you. She had that kind of confidence; it was almost intimidating. Just like Maki.
“You must be Megumi,” she said, smirking and shifting her gaze up and down on him.
“Fushiguro. And I assume you’re… Nobara?”
Nobara's smile grew, “Kugisaki. I see my fame precedes me,”
“More like your fruity attitude,” added Itadori, looking in another direction.
She whipped her head around and while scowling, she elbowed him in the ribs. “Easy there, dumbass. I know you don’t want me to embarrass you in front of him right now.”
Itadori rolled his eyes.
Megumi faced Maki, “You had breakfast together? I didn’t see you this morning,”
“Yup, in a little cafe near the market,” she nodded, turning to the girl beside her with a satisfied smile.
Kugisaki looked down, noticing the plate of food on the little table, “Oh my god, bread and jam. Can I have a piece?” she asked Megumi, nearly sounding excited.
“Uh,” he turned to look at the tray, “Sure, go ahead,”
“You want a bite?” After taking a step forward to grab the food, she leaned slightly toward Maki.
Maki shrugged and accepted, before speaking up again between bites. “So, at least now you know Kugisaki and Itadori. There’s only Hakari and Kirara, but you’ll be fine.”
Megumi looked at Itadori, still standing there looking the happiest he could ever be.
Not that he would know.
“He— Told— Reminded me about the aquarium tomorrow,”
Itadori shook his head, agreeing.
Maki swallowed, passing the wrist over her lips, “Ah, yeah, since we planned to go one of these days anyway I thought of going all together, why not? The Jeep can handle all of us,”
Megumi blinked, unimpressed, “Hm, why not…” he trailed off.
Itadori almost inflated , focusing on their conversation. “You guys have a Jeep?—”
Kugisaki chuckled, “—Ooh, Hakari’s gonna blow up,”
“It’s not really mine,” his hand raised to his neck.
Maki scoffed. “That was literally your gift from Gojo when you turned eighteen. Yes, it is.”
“Geto and Riko use it more than me. I never do in Tokyo.”
“Whatever.”
Megumi listened as the three of them began listing every single place they wanted to visit in the city, shops Maki and Nobara had passed by, and the hidden beaches Itadori had found on the phone’s map with Kirara. He responded with the occasional nod or shake of the head, only chiming in when necessary and chuckling whenever Kugisaki teased Itadori.
In the moments he knew he wouldn’t be noticed, his gaze flicked to Itadori on and off. To the way tiny grains of sand clung to his skin, and the way the triquetra around his neck caught the light. Three small triangles interwoven. Itadori touched it with his fingers now and then, adjusting and repositioning it even when it wasn’t needed, after having already done it three times—always trying to feel its weight against his skin.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Itadori said while walking backwards toward his house.
Kugisaki was already ahead of him, glancing back and forth between him and Megumi, smiling from a distance.
Megumi focused on the warmth of the sand beneath his feet and the texture of the deckchair.
His voice came out almost like a sigh, but he was sure the other had heard it, because in response, Itadori’s smile grew wider, and his steps turned quicker, more impatient.
“Yeah, tomorrow.”
Megumi had completely forgotten his breakfast behind him.
𓇼
After spending the day before watching Maki throw sandballs at Yuta and holding his ground while the two of them, along with Toge, tried to drag him into the water, practically grabbing a limb each, Megumi now felt the faint sting of sunburn under his black tank top as he slammed the front door shut behind him.
He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t spent at least a good part of the night overthinking how that day would go. It wasn’t so much about meeting new people, but being told things on such short notice always threw him off. He needed time to get used to the idea.
Maki immediately took the driver’s seat when they reached the pickup, with Megumi beside her and Toge and Yuta climbing onto the cargo bed in the back. She said the two empty seats behind them were reserved for Kugisaki and Kirara.
Outside the other house, Maki honked the horn so loudly that Megumi saw the birds fly from the trees at lightning speed.
The way everyone greeted each other like old friends left him staring at the scene for a second too long.
After introducing himself to the people he didn’t know, Hakari clapped Yuta on the back so hard that it nearly left a bruise. He saw Itadori light up when Toge signed to him briefly, trying to talk using the few signs he knew.
Kirara didn’t waste time in presentations, instead propping her arms on the armrest and staring at Megumi’s face as if he was a canvas to paint on.
“I love the transverse lobe and the orbital. When did you get them?” She gasped, “I love the charms too. God, your face would look amazing with a double lip or an eyebrow. Have you ever thought about it? I swear. Just tell me and I’ll do it.”
She moved her hand as if she was going to touch him but retreated before she could. “Kinji, look at this orbital. I told you it was super cool. I should’ve gotten that before the industrial.”
When Kirara exhaled, a lock of pink hair moved in the air.
“You’re beautiful, honey,” she finished, giving him a sweet smile as she hopped on the backseat.
Megumi blinked, slightly embarrassed. “Thank you.”
“Oh, I’m Kirara, by the way.”
“Megumi. Fushiguro.”
“Your genes are crazy, Maki,” Kirara exclaimed.
Maki turned the key and started the car. “Zenin genes, baby. Despite it all.”
At that, Megumi heard a chuckle coming from the truck bed, one he was beginning to recognize.
Before heading to the aquarium, they decided to tour the city and do all those things you usually save for a few days in or the day before the last day of vacation. Like shopping.
On the way there, Nobara had leaned forward between Megumi and Maki’s seats and plugged her phone into the car’s aux cable, putting music on.
The only thing Megumi could see through the small window separating the seats from the cargo bed was the top of Itadori’s head bobbing as he talked while he looked through the rearview mirror. At one point, he’d even seen him burst out laughing at something Toge had done.
He didn’t have the kind of laugh that made you want to keep staring at his face—his features twisted, and his nose scrunched up too much. But it didn’t matter. Megumi figured most people would’ve probably found it funny rather than attractive .
The music stopped for a moment, then restarted with the strum of Island In The Sun . He began tapping his fingers to the beat against the armrest while he focused on the sea outside the window.
Kugisaki noticed it. “You like this song?” she asked him.
Maki smiled knowingly, “He loves this song,”
Nobara suddenly looked more curious. “That’s funny, ‘cause—”
“Oh, I love this song!” spoke up Itadori between the sound of the base and the wind.
“That was fast. He usually never picks up songs before the first thirty seconds,”
“I heard you, that’s not—” he tried to defend himself, approaching the small window.
She leaned on the volume again, turning it up more, “What? Huh? Can't hear you!”
Megumi scoffed, and Kugisaki rolled her eyes, laughing with him.
He couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact moment he’d made the decision and ended up alone with Nobara in a costume shop. With her, who, out of curiosity, decided to try on a shark costume in the fitting rooms. The kind you usually see at amusement parks near food trucks to attract customers.
She spun around, satisfied with herself. “This is surprisingly comfortable. Also fits the theme of the day.”
“The theme of the day,” repeated Megumi.
“Yeah, aquarium and stuff.”
“You wanna buy that?” he asked, pointing at her costume.
Kugisaki smirked, “I could be tempted. I could prank Hakari. He’d faint on the spot if I do this while he’s swimming,”
“The costume’s not realistic enough.”
“Doesn’t matter, trust me.” She spun one more time before turning to look at him again.
“He’s scared of sharks?”
“Plenty. He acts so tough but I’m pretty sure he pissed himself once when he thought he saw one in Okinawa two years ago.” Kugisaki shook her head, laughing to herself at the memory, “I should call Yuuji and tell him to buy one so he can make the joke with me,” She grabbed her purse and rummaged inside of it with her hand, “You can play the sea urchin.”
Megumi frowned, confused by her comment.
She changed, and while they were taking one last look around the shop, Nobara placed an extremely and unnecessarily exaggerated straw hat on his head.
“Makes your spikiness disappear. Wait, you actually look cool, this is funny. Buy it,” she chuckled.
“I’m not.”
She pushed the hat further down on his hair. “Oh, come on,”
“I’m not going around with this,”
“You scared you’re gonna look like an old local fisherman?”
He didn’t, in fact, end up buying it. She did for him, saying she was going to borrow it once in a while.
As they were leaving, Itadori appeared on the threshold of the shop with an all-teeth smile and his hair disheveled, going everywhere. The sun heat made his cheeks look fuller and more flushed.
“Guys. I found the most delicious smoothie I’ve ever tasted. You need to give it a try. Now,” he declared in between pants.
“Only if you buy me one,” answered Kugisaki.
Itadori scowled and whipped his body around to make them follow him, “I’m not your butler.”
“Really? You could’ve fooled me. Take these, help Fushiguro.” She took four of the six bags Megumi was carrying to pass them to Itadori.
Itadori gave her a pointed look and sighed, accepting his fate, balancing the smoothie while holding the bags.
He offered to take all of them but Megumi refused.
She clapped her hands together, “Aren’t you the most handsome and dumb gentleman? Now tell me where those smoothies are.”
The walk from the shop to the booth seemed a lot longer than the two minutes it actually took.
The three of them were standing in front of the little booth, and Megumi watched the drops of water fall down the paper milk container. The fruit in the little fridge behind the front table was vibrant.
He looked at the old lady taking their orders and the familiarity of her face hit him only after a few minutes.
He had thought someone else had taken over it.
“Can’t believe I didn’t trust you on the word. This is awesome,” said Nobara as she chewed on her straw. “Actually, no I can. Your taste sucks.”
Itadori ignored her and glanced at him, asking, expectantly, “Do you like it?” He was still finishing his own drink.
Megumi mouthed his straw, “Mhm, yes. It’s good.”
“What did you get?”
“Soy milk and berries.”
Itadori opened his mouth to respond, but the woman behind the cashier leaned over the little sink catching their attention.
Her eyes looked softer than he recalled, “Oh, you’re— Geto? The little boy who always came with Geto and his sisters. Oh, boy, how much you’ve grown. I remember you always waited for the smoothie on that bench right there, pouting for the temperature, now look at you. I haven’t seen you all come in a while now,” She beamed, the wrinkles on the sides of her eyes multiplied, and his memories immediately flew to the taste of strawberry on his tongue, the sticky hands of his sisters after drinking, and Nanako sitting on Suguru’s shoulders on the way back home.
“You handsome boy, how old are you? How time flies,”
He bowed in front of her. “Yotao-san.”
Out of all things she could’ve remembered, she remembered the one he had forgotten.
Megumi hated standing in the middle of the city center, under the sun and at the mercy of summer’s heat. He was always one of the first to insist on getting a smoothie, and even though he rarely openly admitted it, except maybe to Tsumiki when no one else could hear, or if someone asked directly, it was almost impossible not to drag him from the house to the kiosk. Once there, he’d sit on the bench under the tree near the fountain, arms crossed, waiting for his turn there instead of standing in line with the rest of his family. Any spot of shade away from vitamin D.
He liked to think he had gotten better at handling the blistering heat now that he was older and had survived the exam summer’s sessions running from one Tokyo subway to another, with the concrete practically trying to swallow anything that touched it.
An hour later, the car, despite all the space, was so full of shopping bags that Kugisaki and Kirara could barely sit. In the truck bed behind them, Hakari was still trying to deflate the giant inflatable unicorn his girlfriend had bought.
Megumi was dying of thirst after the smoothie, and the only one who seemed to look perfectly fine was Maki, blasting her favorite song through the speakers with the AC hitting her full force.
When they finally pulled up to the building, Hakari was almost tempted to walk in with the inflatable still around his waist if it meant not having to endure one more second in the sun, especially after the last fifteen minutes spent trying to find a shaded parking spot (unobtainable).
The vending machine by the ticket booth looked like a mirage in the middle of the desert.
Itadori pressed the waterbottle against his forehead before cracking it open and downing it in eight seconds flat. “I need another one,” he breathed out.
Kirara walked over slowly to the bench where he was sitting, taking the last sip from her own bottle, then flicking it forward, spraying water all over Itadori’s face.
Megumi’s eyes widened and he paused mid sip. When his gaze landed on Kugisaki, cackling next to Itadori, he had to press his lips into a thin line to keep from laughing himself.
“Better?” asked Kirara.
Itadori flashed his eyebrows and made a face, slightly taken aback, and yet, he still smiled as he blinked his eyes open.
“What the hell, Kirara?” his tone was on the verge of being both amused and utterly done.
“Just ‘thank you’ is okay, y’know.”
𓇼
The inside of the aquarium was quiet. Somewhere in the other rooms, Megumi could hear the gasps of children pressed up against the glass and the low murmur of conversations by the informational panels. Walking in had felt like shutting the bathroom door behind you at a party—as if stepping into another reality.
Just like earlier, the group slowly split up, crossing paths here and there without even bothering to follow the suggested route. Megumi was pretty sure he heard Kugisaki trying to drag Hakari toward the shark exhibit, saying, “ You need to overcome your fears or you’ll cry even when you hear Baby Shark.”
The blue glow of the tanks, wrapped in the black of the surrounding walls, made time slip by easily, and he had no idea how long it had been when he finally ended up under the panoramic tank.
He lowered his instant camera and paused to watch. The same camera he’d used yesterday to take a picture of Maki carrying Toge bridal style.
A stingray passed above him, its shadow casting a momentary darkness. He watched two tangs fight over the same scrap of food. A pumpkinseed darted away when its tail brushed a triggerfish.
As a group of angelfish swam past, Megumi raised his camera again.
He tracked the fish carefully, adjusting the lens to take the shot, when someone cleared their throat next to him.
“You taking good pics there?”
Megumi glanced to his left, finding Itadori standing beside the tank.
His breathing had evened out now, and in this light, his freckles looked more numerous—like they were eager to be noticed. His eyes caught the light from above, glowing where the water’s diffraction hit.
Megumi huffed a laugh, “I'm only taking them for myself anyway. They don't really need to be perfect.” He released his breath.
“Oh, like you hang them in your room or something?” questioned Itadori, fluttering his lashes the same way one does when they’re genuinely trying to understand and notice something more.
The image of the little box hidden in some corner of his closet flashed in Megumi’s mind.
He looked up and nodded, “Sorta.”
Itadori shook his head too, glancing up at the fishes again. Megum felt like he could see the thoughts spin inside his head.
“Can I— Can I see?” he said, uncertain.
“Mhm,”
Itadori got closer, and Megumi could smell the scent of his shampoo and feel his breath on his hand.
“Can I also— You go to uni, right? What's your major?”
“Veterinary Sciences.”
“Yup, then I guess I need to shut up,”
Megumi lifted an eyebrow. “About?”
Itadori averted his eyes, chewing at the inside of his cheek and grinning, “I was gonna say something about starfishes. Maybe something cool about octopuses too. Sharks. Jellyfishes.”
He didn’t think Itadori was going to say those things with some kind of intention . Absolutely not.
He couldn’t hold back a smile. “That starfish regenerate? Yes, I already know that. Even if marine biology isn’t my area I know some things.”
“I’m pretty sure, yeah,”
“How do you know that, though?”
Itadori looked on his side, as if remembering something far away. “I watched a looot of TV when I was a kid. Maybe too much. Yes, definitely too much.”
“Yeah?” Tell me more.
Itadori hummed, “My brother and his girlfriend raised me alone after grandpa. While being in their twenties. It wasn’t as if they cared about TV time or stuff like that. They stayed with me watching fish shit and reproduce ‘til two AM. It was dope, I’m not gonna lie,” he snickered.
“Two AM? You seemed to wake up pretty early. I mean— The other day on the beach,”
“I do. I don’t like to sleep that much. I feel like I'm missing something, you know. I weirdly have a lot of energy despite that, though. It also helped me somehow.”
“Mh, I guess I like waking up early too most of the time, but that’s just to have more time for myself. I also go to bed pretty early.” Megumi suddenly frowned, “Wait… I sound like I’m ninety-four. Never mind.”
“No,” Itadori chuckled, leaning in more, “It's fine, I get what you mean. I feel the same. I just feel like if I don’t use all the time I have I'm gonna explode or something.”
Megumi chuckled. “Fish watching sounds like a pretty exciting adventure to you?”
“Yeah, why not. I'm with my friends. I'm having fun. I'm talking to you. The animals are beautiful. My stomach is full. I'm good. More than good. It’s enough, isn’t it?” he said, and he was looking at him straight in the eyes, with honesty pouring from his irises and his mouth.
All at once, Megumi felt something settle in the epicenter of his ribcage that he couldn’t quite place. Something spreading from the root and traveling to his arms, his hands. The inside of his stomach.
He let his gaze settle on Itadori for a moment before smiling. Sincere.
“Oh, that... you see that fish over there? Right under the water?”
“Mhm,”
“It’s an archerfish. They usually jet water out of their opening aiming at bugs outside. Like little frogs but not quite.”
“Really? That’s so cool. What else?”
They ended up seeing the remaining rooms together—Itadori pointing at penguins and fishes asking him any kind of questions. His enthusiasm was contagious, and Megumi realized that it was hard not to let his lips move out of control in his presence.
When he didn’t know what to say when they passed by a tank of neritina, Itadori told him it was fine and that they could make up their own facts about them, and that nobody would’ve ever found out.