you transferred from the kyoto school quietly, without much ceremony. rumors followed you there, sure, but none of them mattered enough to repeat. whatever had happened before was exactly why you left—and you were determined to start over somewhere smaller, quieter. well, as quiet as it could get in tokyo.

you weren’t worried, though. not really. you already knew someone.

megumi.

you’d met him months ago at a joint school event, one of those awkward academic things no one actually wanted to attend. somehow, the two of you ended up sitting next to each other, exchanging dry comments under your breath until it turned into real conversation. he thought you were cool. you thought he was cool. boom. friends. simple.

what you didn’t know was that the moment megumi introduced you to his friends back then, you caught someone else’s attention immediately.

yuji itadori.

pink hair, bright eyes, too much energy for one human being. he’d only seen you for a few minutes, but that was apparently all it took. after that, megumi’s life became hell.

“megumi, come on,” yuji would whine, flopping dramatically onto the couch. “just one hangout. i swear i’ll be normal.”

“you don’t know how to be normal,” megumi replied flatly.

“i’ll treat her good!” yuji insisted. “i’ll be polite. respectful. i won’t even say anything weird.”

nobara snorted from across the room. “that’s a lie.”

weeks passed like this. begging. bargaining. dramatic vows of good behavior. until finally—finally—megumi caved.

one hangout. that was it. yuji, megumi, you, and nobara. no expectations. no pressure.

you only found out two days before.

“arcade,” megumi said over the phone. “you in?”

you laughed. “yeah. sounds fun.”

meanwhile, yuji was losing his mind.

the day of, he showed up early—way too early—hands shoved into his pockets, bouncing on the balls of his feet. he kept reminding himself to breathe. to not be weird. to not say something stupid. when you walked in, smiling like this was just any normal day, his brain completely short-circuited.

“h-hi,” he said, way too fast. “uh—megumi talks about you. like. normally. in a good way.”

nobara raised a brow. megumi sighed.

yuji flushed instantly but grinned anyway, rubbing the back of his neck. awkward, sincere, a little too loud—but unmistakably genuine.

a day at the arcade. weeks of planning. one nervous boy trying his best not to mess it up.

what could go wrong?