Hi guys, author here! Please share your thoughts in the comments and reviews. And if you like it, don't forget to drop some stones — they're a great motivator!
-----
Naoya and the girls enjoyed their lunch; only Utahime was a bit malfunctioning.
Her movements were glitching, and from time to time, she glanced at Naoya. Every time their gazes met, she would look away violently with a blush on her face.
Enjoying these reactions, Naoya kept on making eye contact with her, but he spared her after a while. He didn't want to annoy her too much.
Maki and Mai looked at the two of them with confusion, while the store owner snorted at the scene.
'...I should get something for her when I go home.' thought the shop owner as he looked at the younglings in his shop.
Once lunch was over, which took quite a while since Utahime was lost in her thoughts most of the time.
She was so distracted that the twins took their chance to put their veggies in her plate.
Too bad for them, Naoya saw that and swiftly placed everything back before the two could even see anything happen.
"Thanks for the food."
"Come back soon....Good Luck," said the shopkeeper.
Naoya smiled at the man and gave a curt bow to him.
After lunch was over, as he had promised the kids, he took them to a cake shop.
The moment Maki and Mai entered, they sprinted towards the display section.
"Senpai, you want something?" asked Naoya.
"...H-Huh? What?"
"Want something?"
"Ah? Yes, I will check them out. I promised to buy something for Maki and Mai anyway," said Utahime and joined Maki and Mai.
Naoya looked at her, trying her best to move away from him, and honestly, he was kinda amused.
'...No time to be amused, though.' thought Naoya and joined the twins who seemingly wanted to get a lot of cake and put a stop to their schemes, limiting it to one cake for each of them.
The lady behind the counter was thoroughly amused by how the twins tried to negotiate with Naoya, only for him to thoroughly shut them down.
After they got their cake, the twins demanded to eat it right then and there and immediately rushed towards a table.
Naoya and Utahime joined them, but because of the seating arrangement, Naoya and Utahime had to sit beside each other, which made things quite awkward for Utahime.
"...Senpai."
"Y-Yes!"
"I didn't say that back at the shop to make things awkward. You don't have to be so on edge near me."
Utahime's eyes widened in surprise.
'Was I acting so obviously?' thought Utahime
"Yes, you were," replied Naoya.
"Eh? Did I say that out loud?!"
"No, I just guessed. Sometimes it's very easy to read your expressions."
"No, it's not."
"It is. I have observed you for quite some time, I can guess the common expressions now," replied Naoya, and swatted Mai's hand that was trying to sneak in a bit of his cake.
"Ow!"
"Bad Mai," chided Naoya.
"I was just making sure that your cake didn't fall! I wasn't trying to steal a bite!" complained Mai.
"I never said that you were trying to steal a bite."
Mai's eyes widened in shock. She got caught by her own words.
Naoya sighed, seeing the awe-struck Mai and cut some of his cake and placed a part of it in front of Maki and Mai.
"There. No more extra cake, okay?"
"Okay! Love you nii-nii!" cheered the twins and happily ate the piece that Naoya gave them, before he changed his mind.
Naoya snorted at their cheap 'Love You' but still smiled.
Meanwhile, Utahime's brain was short-circuiting once again.
'He observes me a lot? Why?! Does he-' thought Utahime.
After they finished their dessert, the four of them left the shop.
The sun was starting to set, and it was about time for them to get back.
"It's about time we head back. What about you, senpai? Heading back to the dorm?" asked Naoya.
"Yes, I should get going too," replied Utahime, looking down.
An awkward silence fell upon them, both of them unable to think what to say now.
"Well, bye-bye Maki-chan, Mai-chan, Naoya. See you all later," said Utahime and walked away.
As she kept getting further away, Naoya stopped looking at her and then looked towards the twins.
"Let's get going," said Naoya and offered his hands to the twins.
Maki and Mai happily held him, and the three started their walk home.
On their way, Mai suddenly asked.
"Nii-Nii?"
"Hm?"
"Did you and Iori nee-chan become good friends?"
"Hm? What's that about? We have always been good friends?" muttered Naoya, but suddenly a bad thought surfaced in his mind.
"W-Why? Did senpai say something about me?" asked Naoya a bit nervously.
"No," replied Mai and shook her head.
Naoya unconsciously sighed.
"Nee-chan used to call you Zenin, but now she says your name," stated Mai.
"True! Satoru told us that people who are close calls other by their first names! Everyone calls him Gojo, but we call him Sato...ru..... Wait! We are close to Satoru?!" said Maki with panic.
Mai's face turned to panic as well. They simply called him what Naoya calls the white-haired evil boy, but, going by their logic about names, then they were close to him.
"...We will call him Gojo now!" declared Maki.
"Okay!" agreed Mai.
"Don't do that. It's rude, and it will make him sad. He bought you cotton candy at the amusement park, remember? You two might not like him because he teases you, but that does not mean that you all aren't close. He was very worried that you two looked sad at the park and asked me why you were like that," said Naoya with a helpless smile.
Maki and Mai looked at Naoya with surprise and then thought for a while. He even bought them a souvenir at the gift shop at the park.
"...Okay, we will call him Satoru....but that doesn't mean we like him!" declared Mai.
"Yes!" joined Maki.
"Yes-yes, you two don't need to like any boy aside from Nii-Nii, understood."
"Umu! We won't like any boys!"
"Only Nii-Nii!"
Naoya smiled at the innocent kids, but after a while thought about what Mai and Maki told him earlier.
They continued to walk for a while, but suddenly Naoya stopped.
Maki and Mai looked at him with confusion.
"Maki, Mai, I just remembered that I have something important to talk to senpai. Would it be fine if you went back with Zankyo and Sparkles?" asked Naoya.
"Shenron!" negotiated the twins.
Naoya sighed, but still agreed with their wish. He was short on time after all.
[Zankyo] [Rainbow Dragon]
The shikigami emerged from his shadow and greeted Naoya.
Naoya gave the instructions to the shikigami and formed a veil barrier around the shikigami so that they wouldn't be seen while flying around.
Once they were gone, Naoya himself took off to the skies by partially summoning [Nue], while also speeding himself with [Projection Sorcery].
He flew over the town and scanned the roads below him. After flying for a few minutes, he spotted Utahime and landed in a nearby alley to avoid being caught.
He then sprinted towards her and, without saying anything, started walking beside her.
Surprised seeing someone suddenly starting to walk beside her, Utahime flinched and looked at the person, only to see a familiar face.
"Naoya?"
"Hm? Senpai? Fancy seeing you here?.... Are you following me?" asked Naoya.
"Huh? Me following you? This is the way to school. If anything, you are the one who followed me!" said Utahime and pointed at Naoya.
Naoya looked at her, his expression shocked.
"You're blaming me for following me when I am innocently going on my way? How could you, senpai?"
"Hmph, those fake tears won't work on me. I know you far too well now," replied Utahime smugly.
Naoya peeped at her through his fingers, and seeing that smug smile, he lowered his hands and snorted.
'At least she is not avoiding my gaze now,' thought Naoya.
The two continued walking while Naoya kept messing with her, making the trip back to school not feel long.
"So? Why did you come all this way?" asked Utahime as they arrived at the school staircase.
"I just felt that it was rude not to escort you back home. It wasn't okay for a gentleman like me," said Naoya.
Utahime gave him a 'Seriously?' look. Though Naoya's face was too thick to crack at that expression.
"*Sigh*Thank you, Mr Gentleman," said Utahime.
"No need to thank me, that's what gentlemen do," replied Naoya and gave a mock bow.
Uthaime chuckled, seeing him act like that.
Seeing her laugh at him, Naoya pouted, though on the inside, he too felt happy.
Their eyes met, and after a while, silence fell upon them once again, and things became awkward.
"W-Well, I-I should get going. Thank you for coming all the way here."
Utahime gave a curt bow and started her climb to her dorms.
Naoya saw her walk away, and after going over some thoughts in his head, landed on a conclusion,
'F*ck it...' thought Naoya.
"Senpai!!!" shouted Naoya out of nowhere, making Utahime flinch.
"Huh? Yeah? Why are you shouting?" asked Utahime, and looked at Naoya.
Naoya looked at her and realised that he had just yelled.
"Ah...umm....you see..." stammered Naoya.
Utahime narrowed her eyes.
For the time she had known the Special Grade sorcerer in front of her, she had never seen him stammer.....it was almost as if he was nervous.
She looked closely at him.
Unfocused eyes, a strange reddening around his ears like he was blushing, and difficulty in expressing thoughts.
HE IS NERVOUS!
Seeing him acting nervously, even Utahime started feeling conscious and got nervous herself.
Naoya's mind was racing rapidly, various scenarios going through his head. And it was because of all these possibilities that made him nervous.
It was only now that he was realising that he might not be as calm-headed as he thought himself to be.
"Agh....dammit!" yelled Naoya, once again making Utahime flinch once again and wonder if Naoya's head got even more messed up.
After deliberating for a while, Naoya decided to rip the band-aid and took a deep breath.
"Senp-...No, Utahime-san!"
"Y-Yesh?!"
"I-I-If you don't have any plans for tomorrow, which is a weekend, would you be available to spend some time with me?!" asked Naoya in an overly formal and convoluted way.
Silence fell once again.
Naoya's words echoed in both his and Utahime's minds.
'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! WHY DID I MESS UP THIS BAD?!?!?' thought Naoya as he mentally screamed at himself.
"W-Wait a minute, let me fix myself.....*Sigh* Uthaime-san, if you are free tomorrow, would you be willing to go out with me?" asked Naoya and looked at her with a nervous look on his face.
"Eh....Umm.....Ah! I get it! Go out with you, Maki-chan, and Mai-chan rig-" started Utahime, trying to reel in the situation a bit.
"JUST THE TWO OF US!" declared Naoya.
Utahime stopped speaking.
'HE SAID IT!!!!' mentally screamed Utahime.
She looked at Naoya, wondering if he was messing around like usual, but one look at his face told her that it wasn't the case.
Now she started to blush harder.
"Y-You m-mean like a d-d-date?"
Utahime looked at Naoya, who nodded vigorously.
Both of them got even more conscious, and it seemed like steam was slowly starting to form over them.
"Ah...umm....well...." Utahime started looking for words, trying to buy some time to think things through.
Though to Naoya, the longer she took, the deeper his heart sank. Rejection from Ruriko wasn't that deep since he somewhat knew that route was almost impossible.
But right now, everything down to his core was being subjected to unbearable pressure.
"....okay."
The soft voice came, which snapped Naoya out of his trance.
Naoya looked at her, hoping that he had heard that correctly.
"S-S-Seeyoutomorrowsendthedetailsonthephonebyebyetakecaregoodnight!!!!"
Utahime spoke as fast as she could and then ran up the stairs at a pace she only uses while running away from strong opponents.
Naoya, who was still at the base of the staircase, remained motionless for a while before he suddenly jumped up.
"HELL F*CKING YEAH!!!!!!!" yelled Naoya!
-----
At the Jujutsu Division HQ:
A man who just finished his job for the day and was about to clock out suddenly felt that something was off.
'...What is this feeling? I feel like I missed something important,' thought the man and started looking around trying to find the answers, but didn't find anything.
This man was the same guy who drove Naoya and Utahime to their missions on multiple occasions, and in the future, he was going to curse his luck for missing a very important event