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Love you

The Anchor and the Storm

The training grounds of Jujutsu High were usually filled with the rhythmic sounds of clashing wood and heavy breathing, but for Maki Zenin, the atmosphere had become suffocatingly quiet. She stood by the weapon rack, her fingers tracing the cold steel of a naginata, but her eyes were fixed on the far side of the courtyard.

There, under the shade of a ginkgo tree, Yuta Okkotsu was sitting on a stone bench. Yumi was practically draped over him, her long black hair spilling over his shoulder as she leaned in to show him something on her phone. She looked like a delicate porcelain doll in her short skirt, her bandaged knees a glaring reminder of their confrontation days prior. To anyone else, it was a sweet scene of childhood friends. To Maki, it was an irritant that rubbed her the wrong way like salt in a fresh wound.

Maki couldn't understand it. She had worked her entire life to be strong, to break the chains of the Zenin clan through sheer force of will and physical prowess. She had expected Yuta—a boy with the power to reshape the world—to value that strength. Instead, the moment Yumi had shed a few tears and ran away, Yuta had abandoned everything to chase after her. He hadn't just comforted her; he had chosen her.

"She’s winning just by being weak," Maki muttered to herself, her grip tightening on the polearm until her knuckles turned white. "It’s pathetic."

In Maki’s world, weakness was a sin. It was something to be purged or hidden. Yet Yumi wore her vulnerability like a badge of honor, using it to tether a Special Grade sorcerer to her side. It seemed wildly unfair. Since that night in the dorms, the two had been inseparable. They ate every meal together, their knees touching under the table. In the common area, Yumi was always there, her hand tucked into the crook of Yuta's arm or her head resting on his lap while he read.

And then there was the "open secret." Everyone in the second-year dorms knew that the floorboards groaned late at night as Yumi slipped into Yuta’s room, and no one ever saw her leave until the sun was up. It wasn't just attention anymore; it was a total eclipse.

"Hey, Maki! You look like you’re trying to set that rack on fire with your mind."

Maki blinked, snapping out of her reverie. Yuji Itadori was standing there, a bright, oblivious grin on his face. Beside him, Yumi was adjusting her bag, looking uncharacteristically cheerful.

"I’m going to the convenience store with Itadori-kun," Yumi announced, her voice pitching up slightly as she looked toward Yuta. "Do you want anything, Yuta-kun?"

Yuta looked up from the bench, his expression instantly melting into that soft, doting look that made Maki’s stomach flip. "Just that peach soda I like, if they have it. Be careful, okay?"

"I'll protect her, don't worry!" Yuji chirped, giving a thumbs-up.

Yumi giggled, waving a small hand as she followed Yuji toward the main gates. "We won’t be long!"

Maki watched them go, waiting until the sound of their footsteps faded into the distance. This was her chance. With Yumi gone, the air felt clearer, less cluttered by the cloying scent of the girl’s perfume and her constant, needy presence.

Yuta remained on the bench, looking at the gate even after they had disappeared. He seemed lost in thought, a small smile lingering on his lips. Maki leaned her naginata against the rack and walked over, her heavy boots thudding purposefully against the dirt.

"You’re going to rot your brain if you keep staring after her like a lost puppy," Maki said, her tone sharp as she came to a halt in front of him.

Yuta blinked, looking up in surprise. "Oh, Maki. I didn't see you there. I was just... thinking."

"Clearly." Maki crossed her arms, leaning against the tree trunk. "Don't you think it's a bit much, Yuta? You’re a Special Grade. You have more potential than almost anyone in this school, yet you spend half your day being a babysitter."

Yuta’s smile didn't falter, but his eyes sharpened slightly. "I don't mind it."

"You should mind it," Maki countered, her frustration finally bubbling over. "She’s holding you back. Every time we’re supposed to be training or discussing missions, you’re looking at your watch to see when you can go back to her. It’s unfair to you, and honestly, it’s unfair to the rest of us. You’re meant for bigger things than playing house with a girl who can’t even handle a training session without crying."

She took a step closer, her voice dropping, losing some of its edge and replacing it with a rare, raw honesty. "Some of us actually respect your strength, Yuta. Some of us see you as a peer, an equal. You don't need someone to cling to you because they’re afraid of the dark. You need someone who can stand beside you in it."

The implication was heavy in the air. Maki wasn't just talking about training; she was talking about herself. She was offering him a partnership of power, a bond forged in the fire of their shared status as outcasts and warriors.

Yuta was silent for a long moment. He looked down at his hands, then back at the empty space on the bench where Yumi usually sat.

"I know how it looks to you, Maki," Yuta said softly. "You see her as weak because she doesn't have your cursed tools or your physical prowess. You see her as a distraction."

"Because she is," Maki snapped.

"She isn't," Yuta disagreed, his voice firm but devoid of malice. "Let me tell you something about how we grew up. When I was a kid, after the accident with Rika... I was a monster. I was a curse waiting to happen. I was terrified of my own shadow, and I wanted to disappear. The world was a cold, terrifying place where I didn't belong."

He looked up at the sky, the leaves of the ginkgo tree casting dancing shadows across his face.

"Yumi was the only one who didn't care about the shadows. She would come over every day, even when I told her to stay away. She’d bring me snacks, tell me stupid jokes, and force me to play games with her. She treated me like Yuta, not like a vessel or a problem to be solved. She’s been my strength for years, Maki. Not the kind of strength that kills curses, but the kind that makes me want to stay human."

Maki felt a pang of something she couldn't name—a mixture of jealousy and a strange, hollow realization. "So what? You’re saying you need her to keep you sane? That sounds like a crutch."

"Maybe it is," Yuta admitted, standing up. He was taller than Maki now, and the aura of the Special Grade sorcerer settled around him, quiet but absolute. "But it’s a choice. I protect Yumi because I want her to stay exactly as she is. I want her to be able to worry about miniskirts and peach soda and silly movies. In this world, where everything is blood and exorcism, she is the only thing that’s normal. She keeps me grounded. When I’m with her, I’m not just a weapon for the higher-ups. I’m just a guy who loves a girl."

He looked Maki directly in the eyes, his expression full of a quiet, unshakable resolve.

"I don't want someone to stand beside me in the dark, Maki. I want to be the one who keeps the dark away from her. And if she wants to cling to me? I want her to. I want to feel her there every second, reminding me what I’m fighting for. She isn't my babysitting duty. She’s my heart."

Maki felt the words hit her like a physical blow. All her arguments about strength and utility felt suddenly shallow. She had been judging Yumi by the standards of a sorcerer, but Yuta was judging her by the standards of a man who had been lonely for a very long time.

The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the sound of distant laughter.

"We’re back!"

Yuji’s voice rang out across the grounds. He and Yumi were jogging toward them, Yuji carrying a bag of convenience store snacks and Yumi clutching two cold bottles of soda.

Maki quickly reached into her pocket, pulling out a small paperback book she had been carrying. She flipped it open to a random page and leaned back against the tree, pretending to be deeply engrossed in the text. Her heart was still racing, her face feeling uncharacteristically warm.

"Yuta-kun! Look, they had the peach one!" Yumi ran the last few steps, her face flushed from the walk. She ignored Maki entirely, her focus narrowing down to Yuta as if he were the only person in the world.

She pressed the cold bottle against Yuta’s cheek, making him flinch and laugh. "Here! It’s still ice cold."

"Thanks, Yumi," Yuta said, taking the bottle. He reached out with his free hand, tucking a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. The tenderness in the gesture was so natural, so ingrained, that it made Maki’s chest ache.

"It was so crowded," Yumi complained, naturally stepping into Yuta’s space. She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest. "Itadori-kun kept trying to buy every weird flavor of chips he saw. I thought we’d be there all day."

"Hey, the wasabi-chocolate ones were a limited edition!" Yuji defended himself, already tearing into a bag of something that smelled strongly of shrimp. He looked over at Maki. "Yo, Maki-san! Want a snack? We got extra."

Maki didn't look up from her book, though she hadn't read a single word on the page. "No. I’m busy."

"Suit yourself," Yuji shrugged, hopping up onto the stone bench and swinging his legs.

Yuta looked down at Yumi, who was looking up at him with those big, adoring eyes. She looked small against him, her hands clutching the fabric of his uniform.

"Are you tired?" Yuta asked her, his voice dropping to that private, intimate murmur that Maki now understood was reserved only for her.

"A little," Yumi admitted, her voice sweet and clingy. "The walk was long. Can we go back to the dorms soon? I want to watch that movie we started."

"Yeah," Yuta said, his arm sliding around her shoulders to pull her closer. "We can go now. I’m done for the day anyway."

He looked over at Maki, a silent acknowledgement in his eyes. There was no pity there, just a calm clarity. He had made his position clear.

"See you later, Maki. Good luck with the training," Yuta called out as he began to lead Yumi away.

Yumi didn't look back. She was too busy telling Yuta about a cat she had seen near the store, her voice animated and bright. Yuta listened to every word as if it were the most important information he had ever received, his head tilted toward her, his thumb rubbing small circles on her shoulder.

Maki stayed leaning against the tree long after they had gone. She finally closed her book, the silence of the training grounds feeling heavier than it had before.

"Man, those two are really in their own world, huh?" Yuji said, his mouth full of shrimp chips.

Maki sighed, pushing off the tree and picking up her naginata. She looked at the path where Yuta and Yumi had disappeared, the sun setting behind the school buildings and casting long, golden shadows across the dirt.

"Yeah," Maki said, her voice unusually quiet. "A world the rest of us don't get to live in."

She turned back to the training dummies, her movements sharp and aggressive as she began her drills again. She would keep getting stronger, and she would keep fighting the curses that plagued their world. That was her path. But as she swung her blade, she couldn't help but think about Yuta’s words.

He didn't want a warrior to stand beside him. He wanted a home to return to.

And as much as it stung her pride to admit it, Maki knew that no matter how hard she trained or how many curses she killed, she could never be that for him. Yumi, with her bandaged knees and her peach soda and her unapologetic neediness, had built a fortress around Yuta’s heart that no sorcerer could ever breach.

In the quiet of the evening, Maki Zenin finally accepted that some battles weren't meant to be won with a blade. Some were won simply by being the person who refused to let go.