The sun was fully beginning to set by the time they left the dirt training field behind, casting long, fading orange shadows across the campus stones.
They walked back toward the second-year dormitories together. The halls were completely empty.
Without the immediate threat of Panda popping out from behind a corner or Satoru Gojo teleporting into their airspace, the rigid, professional distance Maki usually maintained naturally evaporated.
They walked side-by-side down the quiet corridor, moving so close that their shoulders practically brushed with every step. The heavy, calloused warmth of her hand occasionally bumped against his knuckles. She didn't pull away.
Ren was entirely focused on the comfortable silence, perfectly content to just match her steady pace. He was so distracted by the quiet intimacy of the moment that he didn't even notice the brass number plate on the door to his left.
He just kept walking.
Maki, however, stopped dead in her tracks. She let out a short, exasperated sigh, planting the base of her steel staff against the floorboards.
"Where exactly are you going?" Maki asked, her voice dry.
Ren paused, taking a half-step back and blinking at her. "What do you mean?"
Maki just raised an eyebrow, reaching out to tap the metal frame of the door he had just strolled past. "Your room. You just walked right past it."
Ren looked at the door, then back to Maki. The realization hit him, and that slow, notoriously dangerous smirk immediately crept back onto his face. "Ohh."
"Don't 'ohh' me," Maki grumbled, rolling her eyes, though a faint dusting of pink returned to her cheeks. "Go to sleep. You've got Satoru to deal with tomorrow, and I have to finish these stupid Goodwill logs."
"Right. Sleep," Ren agreed smoothly.
Instead of turning the doorknob, he stepped right back into her personal space. He leaned in close, his chest almost brushing hers. Maki's breath hitched, her amber eyes widening slightly behind her wire-rimmed glasses as she instinctively braced for a kiss.
Instead, Ren quickly shifted his weight. His hand dropped, delivering a swift, sharp, and entirely playful smack right to her rear.
Maki jumped, a startled, completely un-tactical squeak leaving her lips.
Before her combat reflexes could even begin to process the absolute audacity of the strike, Ren was already moving. Relying entirely on his Zen'in footwork, he spun on his heel, yanked his door open, and darted inside.
"Goodnight, boss!" he called out cheerfully.
Click. The deadbolt slid shut.
Out in the empty hallway, Maki stood completely frozen. The cool evening air of the dorms entirely failed to combat the violent, burning heat rapidly taking over her face.
She stared at the closed wooden door, her brain misfiring as the sheer embarrassment and shock caught up to her.
Slowly, she brought her free hand up, pressing her fingers hard against her forehead to stave off the incoming migraine.
"Idiot," Maki muttered to the empty corridor, her voice trembling slightly between absolute fury and undeniable affection.
Maki lowered her hand from her forehead, her amber eyes immediately darting up and down the length of the corridor.
There was no one. The hallway was completely dead and quiet.
She let out a shaky breath that was half-frustration and half-relief, her grip tightening around her steel training staff. The absolute audacity of that idiot.
She wanted to march right back to his door, kick it off its hinges, and run him through—but the stubborn, burning heat on her cheeks completely betrayed her lethal intentions.
"Unbelievable," Maki muttered to herself, shaking her head.
She turned on her heel and marched down the hall toward her own room. She didn't look back, pushing her door open and stepping inside before firmly clicking her own deadbolt shut to hide away from the rest of the world.
...
Next morning. Gojo returned from Kyoto with zero useful intel and three boxes of overpriced mochi. The campus instantly went back to its usual loud routine.
And from then three weeks passed. The Goodwill Event was just three days away.
Maki practically lived on the training field, running drills until the sun went down. To keep Ren out of her way and maintain his cover, Gojo threw him into low-level sweeps with the first-years.
Today, it was just him and Nobara.
Shinjuku. An empty, concrete parking garage.
Ren flicked his katana to the side. The dark blade shed a line of thick purple blood. The Grade 3 curse slumped against a concrete pillar and dissolved into ash. Ren sheathed Nightfall with a sharp click.
"Clear," Ren said, putting his phone in his pocket. "Let's head back."
Across the garage, Nobara pulled her hammer back. A cursed nail popped out of the wall and flew into her pouch. She didn't move toward the exit. She just stood there, staring hard at a crack in the concrete floor.
She kicked a loose piece of gravel. "I'm sorry."
Her voice was fast, mumbled, and aimed directly at her boots.
Ren stopped walking. He turned around. The quiet in the garage stretched out. A car honked down on the street below.
"What?" Ren asked. He legitimately thought he misheard her.
Her head snapped up. Her face was bright red, her eyes burning with defensive anger. "Don't make me repeat it! I said I'm sorry. For the store. And for hitting you in the back last month."
Ren just blinked. His brain completely stalled. He knew exactly who Nobara Kugisaki was. Her pride was massive. Apologizing was fundamentally against her nature.
"You're... actually apologizing to me," Ren said slowly.
"Yes!" she yelled, throwing her free hand up in frustration. "God, you're making this worse. Fushiguro told me I was acting like a brat. And maybe my pride got bruised about the boutique thing. Whatever! You pulled your weight today. You aren't completely useless."
She quickly snatched her nail pouch, aggressively adjusted her uniform jacket, and stomped past him toward the stairwell. She completely refused to make eye contact.
"We're even now!" she yelled over her shoulder, her boots echoing loudly down the concrete stairs. "If you tell anyone about this, I will literally fill your mattress with nails!"
Ren stood alone in the empty garage. A slow, genuinely shocked smile broke across his face.
He shook his head, adjusted his jacket, and followed her out.
Ren caught the heavy metal stairwell door right before it slammed shut. He jogged down a few steps, easily matching Nobara's aggressive, stomping pace.
"So," Ren said, keeping his tone completely casual. "Are we friends now?"
///
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