Chapter Text
This story is also uploaded on Wattpad, under the same title.
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29th December, 2017
Yuji Itadori was a very normal middle school student... If you simply close your eyes and ignore it whenever he casually does superhuman stuff. But otherwise? Completely average, and soon to graduate from middle school and move on to Sugisawa High.
The school was over. He stepped through the school gates, afternoon light stretching long shadows across the pavement, when hurried footsteps started following him. "Itadori-kun—!" He turned to look who the voice belonged to, backpack slung loose over one shoulder. He saw a girl, shorter and more chubby than him. [A/N: I'm not body-shaming anyone, I'm just trying to describe old Ozawa. Let adjectives be adjectives damn it] "Oh. Ozawa, right?" She skidded to a stop like she'd misjudged gravity. The fact that he remembered her name landed like a quad effective crit.
"Y-Yeah! I mean— yeah." She smoothed her skirt, inhaled, then immediately forgot what breathing was supposed to do. "Um. Are you... busy on New Year's?" Yuji blinked and thought about it. "New Year's... oh. Yeah. Probably hanging out with my grandpa."
"O-Oh. S-Sorry, I shouldn't have— I mean, forget I asked." She turned so fast it was a miracle, a bone didn't crack.
"Wait."
Ozawa froze mid-step, like a paused game character.
Yuji scratched the back of his head. "Actually... he'd totally yell at me for that."
She turned back slowly. "Your grandpa...? For what?"
"For not doing normal teenage stuff." He nodded, completely serious. "Last year, he said I was wasting my youth because I went to bed at nine."
Her brain hard-crashed. "...S-So?"
"So yeah," Yuji said, smiling like the sun had personally sponsored him. "I'm free. We can hang out."
"You're... free?" she echoed.
"Yep."
"You will go with... me?"
Yuji smiled brightly, "Yep~." He then glanced around the school gate, full of kids trying to run as fast as they could to their homes. "Unless you meant a different Yuji Itadori. That'd be kinda wild."
Her face detonated. "N-No! I mean— yes! I mean— I meant you!"
He nodded, accepting this as a perfectly normal exchange. "Cool."
Silence settled between them.
She tugged at her sleeves. "So, um... what do people even do on New Year's together?"
Yuji perked up instantly, like someone had unlocked a hidden dialogue option. "Night festival."
"That was fast."
"I heard there's a stall near the river with insane takoyaki." His eyes lit up, pure side-quest energy. "Like, legendary."
She laughed before she could stop herself. "You're inviting me out just for takoyaki?"
"Hey," he said, pointing a finger like this was sacred law(same Yuji same). "Food is serious. Also, festivals are fun."
"I... I like food," she said quickly, nodding like this was an important credential. "A lot."
"See? Perfect plan."
Her heart tried to escape her ribcage. "So this is, like... a thing we're doing together?"
Yuji grinned. "Yeah. New Year's takoyaki run."
"...Just that?" She didn't even know what she was hoping for.
"Unless you wanna try the goldfish scooping game." He paused. "I'm kinda terrible at it, though."
"That's fine," she said softly. "I'm bad at it too."
He gave her his signature golden retriever smile. "Nice. We can both lose."
"Then... I'll see you on New Year's, Itadori."
"Yep!" He waved. "Text me the time."
She blinked. "...You want my number?"
"Well, yeah," he said, genuinely confused. "That's usually how that works."
She nearly combusted, hands shaking as she handed him her phone. And very obviously, Yuji was absolutely oblivious as he typed his contact in, gave it back, and smiled with the full, devastating force of golden retriever energy.
"I'll text you," Ozawa said, barely holding herself together. "We can... discuss details."
"Sure. Bye~."
She stood there waving as he walked off, already planning outfits, hairstyles, contingency outfits for the contingency outfits.
Yuji kept walking, hands in his pockets, thoughts blissfully simple. That takoyaki better live up to the hype.
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31st December, 2017, 10ish PM
They walked side by side beneath strings of lanterns and fairy lights, the street glowing like it was trying to end the year gently.
[I've never seen a Japanese night festival, so I just took reference from the summer festival Rintaro and Kaoruka went to from The Frangrant Flower blooms with dignity.]
Yuji bit into a takoyaki.
Instant regret.
"Hot— hot— hot— why is it always lava—"
He hissed, hopping once, eyes watering as if betrayed by the concept of food itself.
Ozawa laughed, holding her own skewer at arm's length like it had committed a crime. "You didn't even blow on it."
"Confidence matters," Yuji said through pain, chewing anyway because surrender was not an option. "So does pain tolerance."
"That's not how—"
They passed the bus station, gravel crunching under their shoes. Ozawa's steps slowed as she noticed it.
"...Itadori-kun."
"Hm?" Yuji looked up, still chewing, cheeks puffed.
She nodded toward the bus stop sign.
Two figures stood there, rigid. A girl clutching a notebook like a shield. A guy hovering half a step behind her, glancing between the bus schedule and the street like he was calculating escape routes. Both wore the same uniform.
"Isn't that," Ozawa said carefully, "the uniform of the high school you're going to?"
Yuji squinted. "Oh yeah. Sugisawa." He watched them whisper furiously at each other, hands flailing, shoulders tense. "...They look stressed."
Ozawa tilted her head. "Maybe they're lost."
Yuji nodded once, solemn. "We should help."
She hesitated for half a second. This could be the last time they meet after all. It was already a surprise she had managed to ask him without combusting actively.
But then she smiled. "Right."
They approached.
"Uh... hey," Yuji said, lifting a hand in a friendly wave.
The reaction was immediate and catastrophic.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"DON'T POSSESS US!"
Yuji jumped back. "Whoa! We're alive! I think!"
Ozawa bowed so fast it was a blur. "S-Sorry! We didn't mean to scare you!"
The girl peeked out from behind her notebook, eyes wide. "...You're not... ghosts?"
Yuji looked down at himself, checking his hands like he might find something new. "Pretty sure not."
The guy exhaled like he'd been holding that breath since birth. "Oh, thank god."
Yuji smiled, warm and uncomplicated. "You both looked nervous. Need help with something?"
The two exchanged a glance which screamed, do we say it, followed immediately by a look which said, we're saying it.
"...I'm Sasaki," the girl said.
"Iguchi," he echoed, nodding too hard.
"I'm Ozawa," she said. "And this is Itadori."
"Yo~."
Sasaki took a breath, like ripping off a bandage. "We're first-years at Sugisawa Municipal High. We're in the Occult Research Club."
Yuji's eyes lit up instantly. "That's sick."
Ozawa blinked. "Occult Club?"
"Urban legends, folklore, haunted locations," Sasaki said, adjusting her glasses. "Research-based. Mostly."
Iguchi nodded. "Mostly."
Sasaki pushed on, momentum carrying her. "There's a shrine on the outskirts of town. The legend says that if you go there at night, you hear a distorted whisper. People come back feeling... off."
Ozawa's fingers tightened around her skewer. "That's scary."
"It is scary," Iguchi said immediately. "Which is why we're..."
"...trying to go," Sasaki finished, voice wobbling. "But also very much not."
Iguchi glared at the bus schedule. "We want to investigate. For the club. But we also don't want to die."
Yuji chewed thoughtfully. "...So you're stuck."
"Yes," they said together.
Yuji's face brightened like a solution had just dropped from the sky. "We can come with you." He turned to Ozawa. "If you're okay with that."
Ozawa froze.
Sasaki blinked. "You... what?"
"More people means less scary," Yuji said, pointing at himself with the skewer. "That's facts."
Iguchi stared. "You don't even know us."
Yuji shrugged. "Eh, sounds fun."
Ozawa looked at him. Then at them. Her brain screamed this is how horror movies start, but her heart was already ready, and her mouth said, "I don't mind."
Yuji grinned. "Group decision."
Sasaki's eyes sparkled, fear and excitement tangling together. "R-Really? You'd come?"
"Sure," Yuji said easily. "I'm curious."
Iguchi bowed so hard he nearly folded. "Thank you! Seriously!"
Ozawa laughed softly. "You're welcome."
They waited for the bus to come, and when it did, they boarded it before anyone could rethink anything.