.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ surround yourself with people who care about you, not just those who say it, but those who show it ❞

[ I have never watched a single baseball game in my life. That was one of the few sports I never bothered to even try to enjoy ]

┏━━━°⌜ 憑拠 ⌟°━━━┓
CHAPTER 26
Baseball

"When did you start getting along with that gorilla?" Kugisaki asks Itadori, the two along with Y/N and Fushiguro eating pizza as the three sit around Fushiguro's hospital bed. Well, two were sat, Y/N was floating midair in a sitting position due to there being only two chairs in the room.

After everything that happened at the Exchange Event, they had been sent to recover from everything they endured that day, some worse than others.

"Well, we got along, but like... I remember what happened but I wasn't exactly myself then..." Itadori explains sheepishly.

"Were you drunk? Wait— isn't it illegal to drink if you're not thirty in this era?" Y/N wonders with a hand held to her chin in thought.

"Twenty. Also, no, I wasn't. Do you think I could've been drinking liquor in that situation?" Itadori asks, deadpanning at Y/N.

"I still think that's dumb..." Y/N mumbles with a frown.

"But I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt, Fushiguro." Itadori turns towards Fushiguro with a grin, "You're able to eat pizza, now, too!" Itadori says before taking a bite out of his slice of pizza.

"Come on, bring me something easier to digest." Fushiguro sighs exasperatedly.

"No complaining." Kugisaki lightly scolds Fushiguro before also taking a bite of her pizza.

"Apparently, I got off easier because my cursed energy was all dried up. Ieiri was still able to fix me up as soon as the roots were removed." Fushiguro explains.

"Huh, so that's a thing that can happen?" Itadori wonders to himself before taking another bite of the pizza.

"...Itadori." Fushiguro turns towards the boy, making Itadori pause as he looks at Fushiguro confused, "You've grown stronger."

"Back then, we both said our convictions were proper ones. I still thinks that's true. Or, put another way, we're both wrong." Fushiguro says with conviction, looking back up at the three.

"Huh?" Itadori blinks in surprise, lowering his piece of pizza back into the box.

"Some questions don't have answers, you know." Fushiguro points out, eyes narrowed, "You're thinking too hard. You'll go bald."

"That's right. There is no answer. It's just whether or not you can accept it." Fushiguro looks down at his lap with an unreadable expression as he speaks, "But there's no accepting anything if you can't have it your way. Weak sorcerers can't do that. So I'm going to become strong, too."

Fushiguro's eyes lift to meet Itadori's, burning with determination, "I'll surpass you in no time."

Itadori stares at him silently for a moment before laughing, smiling at Megumi. "You never change."

"Don't just move the conversations forward without me." Kugisaki huffs, rolling her eyes.

Y/N only smiles at the three fondly, raising a hand to cover her quiet laughter.

"That's my brother's friends for you!" A familiar voice exclaims, startling the four as they turn to see Todo was standing at the bottom of Fushiguro's bed, leaning against the wooden frame.

Nothing happened for a solid before before Itadori breaks out in a run, pushing the window open and jumping out before Todo quickly goes to chase after him.

Y/N blinks owlishly at the open window, lips parted in disbelief.

"Where are you going, brother?!"

"I'm grateful to you, but give me a break! I wasn't thinking straight then!"

"What're you saying?! We've been so close since middle school, brother!"

"I didn't go to your middle school!"

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

"So anyway, a lot happened and some people died, but how about it? Want to continue the exchange event?" Gojo asks the two infront of him, various other students lingering around them.

"Uh..." Y/N frowns pensively, unsure of what to answer.

"I don't know what to say about it..." Itadori mumbles, crossing his arms as he looks at the ground in thought.

"Obviously." Todo answers, causing the two to turn to look at him, "We're continuing it, of course."

Todo! Itadori recognizes, inching closer to Y/N and away from Todo.

Y/N sweatdrops, glancing back at Itadori who had essentially used her as a shield despite him being the taller of the two.

"Your reasons?" Gojo inquires.

"First, only those with a connection to the dead have a right to mourn them. It's not our place to butt in there. And second, if people have died, that's all the more reason we need to become stronger. Acquired strength comes from the accumulation of results. Tasting defeat and savoring victory is what leads us to grow. The most important part is for those results to exist." Todo explains wisely.

The rest of the students— from both Tokyo and Kyoto —watch as he continues his reasoning, all equally surprised by his uncharacteristically wise words.

"Third, when a student feels like they weren't able to bring out their best, it hangs over them until they die." Todo finishes, closing his eyes with a grin.

"I'm fine with that." Fushiguro nods shortly.

"We'll win anyway." Kugisaki shrugs.

"It sounds stupid, but he had a point." Kamo admits, tilting his head towards the ground with his eyes closed.

"Why don't you rest, Kamo-kun?" Nishimiya suggests with a deadpan at the bandaged boy.

"No objections here." Panda smiles brightly, nodding along.

"Salmon." Inumaki agrees.

"Will we draw lots for the individual battle pair-ups?" Maki asks, raising an eyebrow at Gojo.

"Huh?" Gojo turns towards Maki before answering, "There are no individual battles this year."

"...?"

Every student regards Gojo with confusion, the attention turned solely to him.

"I hate routines, you know." Gojo tells them instead of answering the unasked question hovering in the room.

"Every year, we put the competition methods in this box and open it on the day of." Gojo explains, tossing the box towards Y/N as she scrambles to catch it.

Y/N looks down at the box confused, glancing inside it as she vaguely notes how it was around the size of her head.

Gojo nods to Y/N as she blinks in surprise before putting her hand in the opening at the top of the box, feeling around the inside to find something.

"Principal Gakuganji's previous visit was to discuss what items might be needed on the day of the event." Gojo explains just as Y/N finally finds the paper, lifting it up to reveal...

"Base...ball?" Y/N mumbles in confusion before adding on with a mumble to her herself, "Humans come up with the dumbest names..."

"Huh?!"

"Baseball?!"

Two voices from either side of her shout as Y/N yelps, instinctively dropping the box and teleporting herself to the other side of the room.

Y/N looks up to see Gakuganji and Yaga, the two uncaring about her abrupt disappearance as Yaga picks the paper off the floor where it had fallen.

"What's going on here, Yaga?!" Gakuganji demands.

"No, I know I put individual battles in—" Yaga cuts himself off, glancing up to notice how Gojo had left the room before shouting—

"Get back here, Satoru!"

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

Y/N sits on the benches with a pout, knees brought to her chest with her arms crossed over them, resting her head atop them as she watches the students play.

Because, apparently, the number of players would be off.

"Mh, so stupid..." Y/N mumbles bitterly but continues to watch the humans play, even if she doesn't completely understand what's going on.

Maki throws the ball, it flying through the air towards Miwa, who manages to hit it.

"Fly ball!" Utahime shouts, standing up from her spot on the benches. "Nishimiya, don't run yet!"

Nishimiya didn't seem to hear her, running towards the next base anyway, managing to get a bit further than halfway before Panda shouts, "Out!"

"Huh?" Nishimiya pauses in her running, turning to face Panda with confusion, "Why?"

"If you don't know the rules then say so!" Utahime snaps, causing Nishimiya to swivel towards her angrily.

"I know them! When the ball's hit, I run!" Nishimiya scowls at her teacher fiercely.

Kamo grabs a bat, walking to where Itadori and Gojo stood, a casual silence resting over them for a moment before Kamo starts to speak. "I heard you fended off a Special-Grade."

"Huh?" Itadori looks up at Kamo surprised momentarily before looking forward again, "Oh, yeah... thanks to Y/N, Todo, and Gojo-sensei."

"Don't you need a helmet?" Itadori asks, glancing up towards Kamo, who only had a few bandages covering his face; offering no real protection.

"Itadori, why are you a jujutsu sorcerer?" Kamo asks instead, ignoring Itadori's question.

"At first, it just kinda happened. But I'm a lonely guy. I want to save lots of people and have lots of them watching over me when I die." Itadori answers with a bright smile.

Kamo stays silent for a moment before— "I see. That's a good reason."

Maki throws the ball, Itadori catching it due to Kamo not even swinging, staring off at sky absentmindedly.

"Strike!" Gojo poses dramatically as he announces it, grinning widely. "Batter out! Change up!"

The schools swap out, roles in the game changing as Panda, Fushiguro, Inumaki, and Itadori sit on the bench. Yuuji was next to Y/N, who was playing with a floating star she summoned, controlling it with a wave of her finger as it circles around her as though it were a planet circling the sun.

"They call me the Mah-kun of Tohoku." Kugisaki grins menacingly, holding the bat out.

"No, Mah-kun is the Mah-kun of Tohoku." Fushiguro refutes, unamused.

"Mah-kun's a pitcher, you know!" Itadori calls out.

"Bonito flakes." Inumaki leans back in his seat.

"...Humans." Y/N mumbles with a snicker, raising a hand to cover her amused grin.

Kugisaki's eye twitches in annoyance before hearing the sound of something getting dragged against the ground, looking over with a confused 'huh?'

Mai finishes pushing the machine that had the label 'Mechamaru' on it as she stands next to it casually.

"Hold on!" Kugisaki shouts abruptly, throwing the bat and her helmet on the ground as she marches towards Mai.

"Kugisaki's snapped! It's a free-for-all!" Itadori announces, prompting the students to rush towards Kugisaki and Mai.

Panda quickly holds Kugisaki back, stopping her from attacking Mai— well, physically attacking her, the restraint does nothing to stop her verbal attacks.

"That's obviously a pitching machine!" Kugisaki shouts at Mai.

"What are you talking about?" Mai tilts her head, a look of faux innocence on her face. "It's a spare. A spare Mechamaru. We don't have a choice, since your panda broke him the other day."

"Pitching machine?" Mai frowns in false confusion, a hand held to her chin, "I don't understand. You know a lot about machines. Are you an otaku?"

Kugisaki irks, eyes narrowing in annoyance, "It's just one thing after another with you! And yet somehow you're still a Jujutsu High student!"

"It's alright, Kugisaki." Y/N smiles nervously at the girl, "There's not much we can do about it anyway, just do your best!"

"...Fine, I'll do this!" Kugisaki declares with an sudden surge of determination, marching back towards homebase to stand as she grabs the bat, glaring daggers at the machine.

The machine fires a ball, Kugisaki hitting it as it goes flying, Kugisaki immediately dropping the bat and running towards the first base.

"Oh, she got on base." Itadori blinks in surprise.

"She's desperate." Fushiguro responds.

"Don't be so mean." Y/N huffs, pointing towards them as the star bonks both of them on the head lightly.

━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
SISTER SCHOOL EXCHANGE EVENT
Second Day's Baseball Competition

2 — 0
Tokyo — Kyoto

30TH ANNUAL EXCHANGE EVENT
WINNER: TOKYO

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖. 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄. 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❞