After The Divorce || Nanami Kento || JJK

Bakery Girl

Chapter 4

Nanami POV

"She sensed it." Shoko slammed her hand on the table. "I tried using cursed energy to cure her hangover-"

"Didn't you just say she wasn't hungover?" Gojo interrupt swiveling around in his office chair he had wheeled over from God knows where.

Shoko doesn't even bat an eyelid at the man, as she stares dead at me. She had gotten used to filtering out Gojo. I think everyone had at this point. Not that Gojo cared too much anyway.

"...I'm sure it's explainable." I start. My hands nervously fidgeting with my tye. As I spoke it became increasingly obvious that the person I was trying to convince was myself. "Humans have the inherent potential to sense curses.."

"Not Y/N." Shoko cuts me off. "She's the last person on this planet that's supposed to be able to sense cursed energy. You know this."

"Not necessarily," Gojo says with a hint of seriousness in his voice. Only then did Shoko look over. "You said she lay on the couch in a daze for a whole hour before she gained consciousness, right Shoko? The subconscious is the strongest part of our mind. In that hour she was relying on nothing but her instincts; her subconscious. The thing that separates us, sorcerers, from the masses is the fact that our subconscious mind is louder. We allow it to hold the driver's seat in our lives and so our senses are sharper allowing us to see past the thin veil of 'reality' and into the world where curses run amok. This could explain why she sensed it. She was running on nothing but her instincts at that moment. If a curse were there she would have definitely seen it too. Then we'd have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Haha, I'd like to see her face. Suddenly waking up and saw a ten-foot-tall creature staring at her. Priceless."

"So you're saying that all that happened was just a coincidence," Shoko asks, rubbing her tired sleep-deprived eyes.

"Yup"

"I don't know," I stand from my chair and walk to the window. I could see the thick foliage surrounding the school. It was beautiful and oh so green. The perfect respite from the mute shades of daily city life. Sometimes I question my reason for coming back. To this. All of this. "What about the runaway bartender."

"I managed to get a description. A guy with curly hair with blue highlights. Around 5 "8." Shoko walks over and gives me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Definitely not Suguru Geto. Don't worry too much about it. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Everything is fine."

She turns away from me and looks at Gojo at an angle she thought I couldn't see. I looked forward into the glass of the window, her facial expression immediately seared into her mind.

It was anxiousness and worry.

Mixed with a hint of... fear.

Y/N POV

You took a cab home.

Shoko had run out at the speed of light. It was strange. Shoko normally moved at snail's pace, in speech, in actions in everything– except when it came to dissections. She had been a sciencey girl for as long as you could remember. Your high school memories were foggy but you could definitely remember her dissecting a frog. It was also the first time you ever saw her run, you couldn't quite remember why she was running. Just that she did. Really quickly.

You were supposed to go back to work today. A bakery.

I was a homely little place seated right on the corner of a street. It had this sort of ambiance, a feeling that you couldn't quite describe in words other than with the word 'peace'. It was close to home too.

When you walked in the wind chime sang. The older man at the counter looked up. He had a head of curly black hair with streaks of grey that he liked to sweep backward. He had a certain feel to him, an authoritative vibe, yet it was softened by the gentle smile on his face and the lopsided bakery apron, which covered the uniform. It was a wonder why he decided to open a bakery.

He had owned this bakery for years, as far as you could remember. Though in recent years, the bakery was left in your care. Gran was rather well off, he didn't really care for the meager profits made in this small bakery. The bakery had more of a sentimental meaning to him. A meaning I was coming to see for myself as well.

"Y/N-ah," He said with a smile. "Welcome back. We missed you."

A smile grew on your face.

"Gran."

He hobbled from behind the counter, his gait strange and jumpy. Even though he was old he still had some 'pep in his step' as he liked to say. The only thing holding him back was a leg injury from his younger days which made his steps uneven and wobbly-looking.

Gran was a very talkative old man, his favorite stories were about his adventures with his friends. You were positive they knew every inch of Tokyo. Every nook and cranny of the city had a spooky story attached to it. They were like the ghostbusters of the late 90s. Occasionally he would take out his box full of little trinkets and memories.

"I have a gift for you!" He said with a smile as he pulled you into a bear hug. "I know it might be a rough time for you."

It was.

"Chin up, princess," Gran said as he wobbled behind the counter and fumbled around. You guessed that he was looking for the present he had mentioned before. "Don't worry about that smelly brat. He doesn't know what's good for him."

Gran had watched you grow up. By extension he had watched Nanami grow up as well. He saw it all.

Childhood sweethearts turned married couple before ending in an abrupt divorce.

Triumphant at last Gran held up a small box. It had a strange wrapping, words i couldn't quite read. You'd seen them before, somewhere.

"Open it." He passed the box to me.

A/N

As I promised yesterday, a chapter was coming soon.   :)

Recently I was wondering if you guys would like if I linked the playlists I listen to while writing these chapters.   What do you guys think?  I'd like the think my music taste is pretty dope.

Don't forget to comment.  I'd love to know what goes on in your minds.