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She hasn’t seen Nobara in months. They had been glued at the hip the last time they had a mission together. Granted, Jujutsu society hadn’t been thrown into an all-out war.
Technically…technically, she did see Nobara once. But the girl wasn’t awake; she hadn’t been for weeks. She looked so different, her body too pale, her face lacking its usual spark, not to mention all the bandages. One visit was enough—Saki was determined Nobara would wake back up, and she’d see that spark once again. But she couldn’t bear to see her like that, not when she should be partaking in the culling games.
“Yo!”
Saki’s ears perk up at the sound of her familiar voice. She heads in the direction of the ginger, unable to stop herself from wrapping her arms around her.
“Bara!” Saki whines out, squeezing Nobara. The other girl hugs her back, but not nearly as tightly.
“Yeah, yeah, I missed you too,” Nobara sighs into the hug. Saki pulls back, looking her over. It’s only been about three or four months since they last saw each other, but Nobara’s hair has gotten longer, her roots just a bit darker than what Saki is used to seeing. It seems the other girl hasn’t bothered with dyeing her hair since waking up. Her left eye is covered by a maroon eyepatch. Saki can’t help but stare.
So much happened to her when Saki wasn’t there to protect her.
“Hey,” Nobara interrupts her thoughts. “You wanna head in? It’s freezing out here.”
“Yes!” Saki follows the shorter girl into the building, already missing the warmth of their hug.
She’s like a dog when it comes to Nobara. She can’t help but want to follow her around, wanting to beg for her attention.
“I’m just glad parts of Tokyo are still open to the public!” Nobara exclaims as she laces up her skates. “Still, even this beats that backwater village.”
Saki hums, watching her with interest. “I haven’t been ‘round here in a minute.”
“Yeah, Shoko mentioned you visited me while I was ‘snoozing’,” Nobara smirks.
“Of course!” Saki says it louder than she intends; she shrinks back slightly. “It felt weird seeing you so still,” she mumbles, heat rising to her cheeks. “Tokyo’s not as fun without you.”
Nobara grins. “I knew you’d say that,” she stands up, all laced up. “Ready to hit the ice?”
Saki follows after her, as if an invisible leash tugs on her neck. Nobara just has that effect on her. They both wobble, slightly unsteady as they make their way to the rink.
“So now that you are in Tokyo,” Nobara drawls. “Are you going to stay? Last I heard, the Fukuoka Branch got dissolved.”
Nobara is surprisingly good at walking with the skates on; still Saki feels her body hyperaware in case she slips. Saki will catch her.
“It’s either here or Kyoto. I wanna go to school with you—I don’t care that Kyoto’s closer!”
Nobara lets out a playful sigh, “I had a feeling you’d say something like that.”
“I would have transferred sooner, but then Shibuya happened, and we were all sent on culling game duty.”
Saki’s light brown eyes connect with Nobara’s eyepatch again. She wishes she could have been in Shibuya. She could have protected her. Why was Nobara alone in Shibuya to begin with? She was supposed to be with the Zenin team. The clan head and her senpai couldn’t protect her? She frowns to herself. “Bara, why were you alone when it happened?”
“‘Cuz I’m an idiot,” she replies back swiftly, “I bit off more than I can chew.”
“Yeah, but wasn’t Maki or the Zenin—“
“Not like they fared much better. If I stayed with them, I would have gotten all burnt up too.”
“Oh… it’s just—if I had been there, I could have helped… That patch-face curse would have been exorcised!”
Nobara bursts into a laugh, a hint of bitterness in it. “Rindou, you would have just gotten caught up in it too. Nanami-san died too; Itadori only managed because he was a vessel.”
Saki pouts. She knows what Nobara is saying is true—but there’s something else. Can’t she use her first name when addressing her? She’s seen her call other girls by their first name. Are they not as close as she thought? Saki uses a whole nickname for Nobara.
“Anyway—Mahito got sucked up by that guy that was body swapping, you know, the one Okkotsu killed? So no need for you to go find revenge or whatever it is that’s going on in your head.”
Saki lets out a sigh, and her shoulders drop. She’s feeling a little less tense now. Still, is it bad she wants to see what’s underneath the eyepatch?
The two hit the ice. Nobara glides smoothly on it, while Saki takes her time adjusting. She’s only done this once before, but Nobara seemed ecstatic at the idea. She has that sort of effect on Saki, and from what she’s noticed, it works on other people too. The handful of times she went shopping with Nobara and the rest of the Tokyo students, she’s seen her get Yuuji to carry her bags and have Megumi look up various facts for her. And the one time Tokyo’s second years came to assist the Fukuoka school, Nobara managed to convince Maki to go to the hot springs with them, and she didn’t seem like the type to fold easily.
Saki stays close to the wall, trying to adjust to the slippery transition. She’s no quitter though, and Nobara doesn’t take off on the ice, sliding gently next to her.
“You don’t have much ice skating experience, do you?” She asks with a cheeky smile.
“I’ll figure it out,” Saki insists, but before she knows it, Nobara takes her hand into her own. Her hands are soft and warm, and any negative feelings Saki had about not knowing how to skate quickly vanish. “Your hands are warm…”
Nobara grins, her cheeks slightly pink. “Are they? Well, just hold on; you’ll get the hang of it soon.”
Nobara’s not wrong; the momentum she provides helps Saki get started, and before she knows it, they’ve made their first lap around the rink. It feels like she’s gliding on the ice. Much to her disappointment, Nobara lets go of her hand once she improves. She skates ahead of Saki, waving at her to keep up. That only pushes Saki to take bigger strides, gliding after her.
Nobara feels like a pro compared to her—she turns around, somehow managing to skate backwards so she can keep facing Saki, before finally doing a little spin. Saki’s not sure she can trust her body to pull off a move like that on the ice.
“You’re good at this,” Saki says as she finally catches up to her, snagging Nobara’s hand into her own. The other girl just squeezes her hand, making no move to pull away.
“Thanks, you know I used to skate a lot back home.”
“Really?” She’s surprised to hear that, given how much Nobara’s talked about hating her hometown.
“Mhm,” Nobara nods, “We had a lake, and it’d get so cold every year it would ice over. My friend Fumi and I would go skating, nothing flashy like this though,” she adds. “We’d just grab our skates and pray the ice wasn’t too thin.”
“Bara…you’re making it sound like you’ve fallen in before,” Saki huffs out, and the sly smile Nobara offers her gives Saki her answer. Nobara breaks out into a laugh, and Saki can’t help but smile at the sound.
“I was too busy with my gang to go ice skating,” Saki says, running a hand through her hair. “There was a rink… but I was learning how to drive a motorcycle.”
“Motorcycle?!” Nobara exclaims. Saki grins and laughs.
“Yeah, I had a forged license back then, but I have a real one now since I’m old enough.”
“I guess that isn’t too surprising coming from you,” Nobara sighs softly.
It’s a few more rounds of skating, watching Nobara do tricks. Saki’s improved significantly since she started; her muscles burn from all the activity. It’s a good burn—she enjoys training her body, so Saki welcomes the sensation. Finally Nobara waves her over, skating back to the entrance.
“So, did you have fun, Rindou?” Nobara asks as they step off the ice. Back on a non-slippery surface, Saki’s back to her waddle-walk.
“I did, but…” Saki bites her lip as the two of them navigate towards a bench. Nobara nearly trips, and Saki grabs her wrist, holding her upright.
“Thanks—anyway, what were you saying?” Nobara asks as she sits down, leaning down to unlace the skates. Saki stays up.
“How come you still call me by my last name?”
Nobara’s eye widens for a brief second before looking up at her. “Oh… I-I dunno…” she trails off, her cheeks getting just a bit more pink. “Do you want me to call you Saki from now on?”
“Well, yeah! I’ve been calling you Bara since I met you.”
“W-well, I call all the first years by their last names.” Nobara awkwardly clears her throat. Saki narrows her eyes—she’s not sure she can believe that.
“You’ll use mine though, right?”
Nobara smiles and sighs. “Saki, yeah, I’ll call you that from now on.”
Saki grins brightly. “Good!”
Her eyes drift back to Nobara’s eyepatch, but this time, they descend to her lips. Nobara’s lips are now reddened from how much the other girl has been worrying them from the weather. Even inside the building where the rink is hosted, it’s still quite chilly to keep the ice from melting.
Once they’re both out of their skates, Nobara makes a motion with her hand, and Saki takes it into her own. They walk out of the building and along the street; it’s less crowded, giving them ample privacy.
“Saki.”
Her heart pounds hearing the sound of her name out of Nobara’s lips.
“Hm? What is it, Bara?”
“You know… I couldn’t help but notice you staring at my eyepatch earlier.”
“O-oh…” She stutters out. It wasn’t just the eyepatch, but she’s not sure if she should say anything.
“Well, you wanna see?”
Saki makes a noise of affirmation. She’s wanted to see, and now Nobara is offering it up to her. The shorter girl halts her movement, letting go of Saki. They’re in front of a random storefront, decorated for the holidays. Nobara starts to peel the eyepatch off. Her eye is gone what remains is the wrinkled and gnarled flesh of her drooping eyelid.
“So, what do you think?” Nobara asks, her voice more timid than Saki’s ever heard. The blond reaches out, cupping Nobara’s left cheek and trailing her thumb down the grooves of the scar.
“I think you still look cute,” the words leave her mouth before Saki can stop herself. She can feel in the palm of her hand Nobara’s skin turning hot. Nobara looks up above them, and Saki follows her gaze, landing on a plant hanging above them.
“Hey, you know what mistletoe means in the West, right?”
Saki’s attention is drawn back to Nobara—she blinks and shakes her head, waiting for an answer.
“If you find yourself underneath one with someone, you’re supposed to share a kiss.”
Saki’s eyes widen, not just from the information, but also from the fact Nobara is now winding her arms around Saki’s neck. She wasn’t expecting her night to go like this at all, but she can’t imagine it going any other way either. Saki leans down and captures Nobara’s lips with her own.