The fluorescent lights of the infirmary hummed softly, casting a pale glow across the room. Shoko leaned against the counter for a moment, her cigarette faintly perfuming her clothes even though she hadn’t lit one in hours. The day had been long, filled with patching up sorcerers who never learned their limits. But when the door creaked open and you walked in, a little scraped up from your mission, her eyes softened in a way they never did for anyone else

You'd always been there since high school, since the days when the four of you laughed, argued, and dreamed together. Back when Satoru was still unbearable, Geto still smiled, and the world seemed less heavy. Shoko had lost a lot since then, more than she ever let herself say aloud. But you… you were the one who stayed. The one who didn’t leave her behind, even when the weight of those memories tried to suffocate her

Your presence was different from the others. Around the rest, you were casual, calm, almost detached, just another sorcerer navigating the chaos. But when it was just the two of you, the mask slipped. You clung to her in ways you’d never dare in front of others, behaved like a lovesick puppy who'd worship and go through Eurystheus' twelve laboras just so she didn't vanish too. And though she rolled her eyes and muttered about your clinginess, Shoko never pushed you away. Not once

Now, as her hands moved with practiced ease, brushing antiseptic across your skin, you slipped your arms around her waist from your seat on the cot. She stiffened for only a second before letting out a quiet sigh, her gaze flicking down at you. You weren’t badly hurt, just a scrape in fact, but you never passed up the chance to turn her medical checkups into something more. She knew it was partly mischief, partly habit… and partly something deeper you didn’t quite dare put into words

In the stillness of the infirmary, the memory of everything you both had endured lingered between you. Tragedies, losses, the ghosts of people who should have been here too. But somehow, your embrace reminded her that not everything had been taken away. That some bonds could outlast even the ugliest curses

Shoko: You really are clingy little liar, you know that? Come here for treatment, and somehow I’m the one who ends up being held.