I almost died today.
And in that last second—when my cursed energy ran dry and the dark finally closed in—it wasn't my family, my sensei, or my own life flashing before my eyes.
It was him. His profile under the vending machine light. His voice saying something I can't even remember the words to, just the warmth of it.
Hasaba Nale is a first-year jujutsu sorcerer who survives his first brush with a special-grade curse by inches, and comes back changed in a way he doesn't have a name for yet.
I Was Smiling Right Beside You - It's okay, I'll wait.
The pain in his side had already faded.
But Fushiguro didn't move. He remained perched on the edge of the bed, gazing out the window. Morning light fell quietly against the white walls of the medical wing.
A knock sounded at the door, and Hasaba Nale entered.
Black short hair. Sleepy eyes. The same face as always. And yet there was something different about him today—something subtle. His eyes held a calmness they hadn't possessed yesterday.
"……You came,"
"Visiting. I came properly,"
Nale stood beside the bed and glanced briefly at Fushiguro's side. White bandages wrapped around it. A wound from yesterday's battle in the mountain forest—feedback from his shikigami.
"……Thanks. For yesterday,"
Fushiguro remained facing the window, motionless.
"I told you to move,"
"Because you protected me,"
"……What good does it do you to be protected,"
His tone was without barbs. Not accusatory. Just the weight of the words themselves, hanging there. Nale received them and fell silent.
He looked at Fushiguro's profile for a moment.
He still hadn't asked what Fushiguro meant yesterday when he said "I understand." But that wasn't why he'd come today.
Nale turned toward the exit. The moment his hand touched the door—
"……Don't run away anymore,"
The words reached his back.
Nale didn't turn around.
"I won't,"
With only that answer, he stepped into the hallway.
---
The cafeteria was still sparse at this hour before noon. Nale stood in line at the counter with a tray. Today was Wednesday. The smell of curry drifted from the kitchen. The kind Itadori liked.
*(This evening, I'll tell him.)*
He repeated the words he'd decided on in his head. Fushiguro's "don't run away anymore" still echoed in his ears.
"Nale!"
He turned. Teal hair swayed. Hinata Rina came hurrying over with her tray, her odd-colored eyes bright and smiling.
"Let's eat together, okay?"
He couldn't refuse. Nale nodded and sat down beside her by the window.
Rina mixed her curry with a spoon while speaking to him casually.
"You're always with Yuji, aren't you? You two are close,"
Something tightened in his chest.
But there was no malice in Rina's voice. No calculation. Just that straightforward honesty of hers—saying exactly what she thought.
*(I can't hate this girl. That's what makes it hardest.)*
"Well, we're the same year,"
"That's nice. I wanted something like that too, since I just transferred,"
Rina laughed. Behind that smile, Nale knew, lay the fact that she was still waiting for Itadori's answer. But Rina didn't show it. She just kept being bright.
And somehow—that made it a little painful for Nale.
"How long are you gonna stare at that curry,"
Before he knew it, Kugisaki Nobara was sitting across from him. Her dark brown bob swayed at her shoulders. Sharp, reddish eyes looked straight at Nale.
"I'm eating,"
"You're obviously not,"
Rina stood up saying "I'll get some water!" and walked away. Once her back was out of sight, Kugisaki leaned in close to Nale.
Her eyes were different from her usual sharp tongue. Serious.
"Move today. If you keep dragging your feet, it's just gonna get messier,"
"……Got it,"
"Not 'got it'—do it,"
Kugisaki said nothing more and started eating her curry. Rina came back, and the three of them ate for a while. Rina asked "Is curry Monday or Wednesday?" and Kugisaki answered "Wednesday," and Rina continued "Then what's Monday?" When Kugisaki said "Grilled fish," Rina made a face and said "Ugh, I hate that."
Trivial conversation.
But the whole time, Nale's smartphone screen had a message draft open.
---
A little past 2 PM, Nale sat at his desk in his room, unable to move while holding his phone.
On the screen was a message to Itadori.
"Can you come to the roof this evening?"
His finger hovered over the send button.
*(If I send this, there's no going back.)*
He knew that. But he'd said he wouldn't run away—he'd said it in the hallway just moments ago. Fushiguro's "don't run away anymore" echoed in his head again. If you want to change things, move—yesterday's words came with it.
He pressed it.
The message was read in less than ten seconds.
"Sure!"
A single exclamation mark. Those three characters alone struck something in Nale's chest.
Itadori was always like this. That's how he responded. Without overthinking, lightly, but decisively. With a lightness that Nale could never possess, no matter how many years passed.
Nale set his phone on the desk. His palm was slightly damp with sweat.
*(How do I say it?)*
He didn't need to say it well. Just say the truth.
Why was something so simple so impossibly difficult?
He went out to the back mountain. Walked the hiking trail alone. Fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet. Afternoon light filtered through the trees. The quiet southern path, unlike the northern route trampled in yesterday's battle.
He walked in circles for thirty minutes.
In his head, he assembled words, broke them apart, assembled them again. The real reason he'd yelled "don't protect me." The real reason he'd run when he heard Rina's confession. The real reason he'd always wanted to be beside Itadori on the roof.
All of it—because I liked you. That was all. Just that.
When the evening sky began to turn orange.
Nale returned to the main building and started climbing the stairs to the roof.
He passed that landing from EP5, where he'd sat crying with his knees drawn up. Back then, he'd been hugging his knees. Now his legs were shaking, but they moved forward. That alone felt like something had changed.
---
He pushed open the door, and the sunset flooded his vision.
Orange light stained the concrete. Two vending machines hummed low at the edge.
Itadori was there.
Standing in front of a vending machine, holding two cans of juice. When he saw Nale, he smiled like he was about to say "you came, you came." That smile had no preparation behind it. No wariness, no tension. Just the face of someone happy that he'd shown up.
"Here, this one,"
He held out a can of juice. Corn potage flavor.
Same as EP3. Same vending machine, same can of juice, same two people. But today was different.
Nale took the can and stood near the fence.
The sunset illuminated the distant Tama mountains. Each time the wind blew, his bangs swayed. The small piercing in his right ear caught the sunset light and glimmered faintly.
Nale took a deep breath.
"Itadori,"
"Hm?"
"……I called you here because I have something to say,"
"I know,"
Itadori opened his can of juice and stood beside Nale. He placed his hand on the fence the same way, looked in the same direction. He didn't rush. He was just there.
The trembling came. Not in his voice—from deep in his core.
"……In EP2, in that abandoned building. After you protected me, I yelled at you never to protect me again,"
"I remember,"
"The reason I yelled like that was,"
Nale continued, keeping his gaze on the vending machine. If he looked at Itadori, he felt like he wouldn't be able to say it.
"Because I didn't want you to get hurt. Because I hated seeing you in pain,"
Itadori listened quietly.
"When I overheard Rina's confession behind the training building and ran away,"
His voice trembled slightly.
"It was because I was scared. Scared that you might choose Rina,"
Still holding the can with both hands, Nale kept his eyes on the vending machine.
"Wanting to always be beside you on the roof, wanting to drink juice together like this, not wanting to be anywhere but next to you,"
He said it all.
"It was all because I liked you,"
Silence came.
A long silence.
The vending machine hummed. Wind blew. The sunset's color deepened gradually.
Nale couldn't bring himself to look at Itadori. He traced his finger along the can's surface and simply waited.
Itadori opened his mouth.
"……You know,"
His tone was different. The usual lightness was gone.
"When Rina confessed to me, I kinda reflexively looked back at you,"
Nale's finger stopped.
"I didn't even understand why I looked back. But I think the reason I put it on hold was because you kept getting stuck in my head,"
Itadori continued slowly, searching for words. Not his usual "no way" or "that's cool"—an awkward way of speaking.
"But……I still don't really understand my own feelings. Sorry,"
Nale finally looked at Itadori.
Itadori was looking back at him with a troubled expression, but a serious one. He wasn't lying. He wasn't dodging. He was just being honest—saying he didn't understand.
Nale felt like he might cry.
But he laughed.
"That's okay. I'll wait,"
Itadori looked a little surprised.
"I'm good at waiting,"
That was the truth. He'd been beside him all this time without saying it. He'd always put his feelings second. But today, he'd said it. Even without an answer—he'd said it.
Something in his chest felt lighter.
The vending machine hummed again. The sunset stretched their shadows long across the fence.
---
In the shadows of the stairwell landing.
Kugisaki Nobara stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall.
She'd heard everything. When Nale said "it was all because I liked you." When Itadori said "I still don't really understand my own feelings." When Nale laughed and said "that's okay, I'll wait."
Kugisaki's eyes drifted slightly upward, and she let out a small breath.
"……Finally said it, you idiot,"
In a place no one could see, her mouth softened into a smile.
---
From the window of the medical wing, the sunset was visible.
Fushiguro remained sitting on the edge of the bed, watching its color. Orange deepened, and the edges began to shift slightly purple.
He wasn't thinking about anything.
Or rather—he was thinking. But he didn't put it into words.
Something flickered across his profile for just a moment. Something that couldn't be put into words. Close to sadness, but quieter than that. It vanished quickly, leaving only the sunset beyond the window.
Itadori's answer to Rina's confession was still on hold. Rina's confession itself still hung in the air. The quadrilateral remained unsolved.
But for Nale, something had certainly changed on this night.
---
Late that night.
In room 105, with the lights still on, Nale lay on his bed, replaying the roof scene over and over. He'd said it. He'd really said it. Said it all the way through. That lightness in his chest from the moment he finished speaking—it still lingered in his body.
His phone vibrated.
The screen showed a message from Assistant Supervisor Ijichi.
"Notice from the Jujutsu Society's upper echelon. Regarding the cursed spirit incident involving Hasaba Nale, new evidence materials have been discovered. Explanation will be given in the principal's office tomorrow."
Nale stared at the screen without moving.
A cursed spirit incident—his family. That night when his parents and younger brother all disappeared in a single evening. Since coming to the high school, he'd never told anyone. Fushiguro didn't know. Itadori didn't know. Kugisaki didn't know. No one knew.
So why was it being dug up now?
What were these new evidence materials?
Something ran through his chest—different from what he'd felt moments ago. Something close to fear. But not just fear. Something more complex. Something that had been locked away deep inside, beginning to crack open.
Nale placed his phone on his chest.
He looked up at the ceiling.
The night continued quietly.
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