𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 → jjk x m! reader

19. | paranoia.

— 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆 taken from: heartsteel

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Something doesn't seem right. There is a knot stuck in his stomach and it keeps tightening, refusing to dissipate, and he has yet to make sense of why.

He doubts it's a stomach problem. His eating schedule has been fixed ever since he quietly left his godforsaken house for high school, and today, he wasn't even late to eat lunch. Hell, he's eating right now, and yet the persistent tightness lingers, defying his comprehension.

This suffocating feeling inside his chest remains, even as he looks upon the smiling faces of everyone around him. They chatter away about another stupid joke Gojo made as he quietly eats at the edge of the table, picking away the vegetables on his plate with both brows pinched together.

Something doesn't seem right.

"You're not eating your vegetables?" Suguru asks, and his hand comes to a stop from picking away another green item on his plate. His gaze locks on the other sorcerer.

Suguru gives him a knowing smile.

He blinks, then twists his expression into an unamused smile. "No. Do you want it?" he asks back, offering the vegetable hanging on his chopstick, ready to throw it on the other's plate.

Suguru sighs, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. "That's not what I meant. You're just much more of a picky eater than I initially thought."

"Heh." Amanai suddenly cuts in, laughing as she says, "And you say I'm the childish one, [Y/n]. Look at you, can't even finish your own food because you hate vegetables!"

"..."

Two hours since her bounty's been lifted and she's already acting like this. It's a wonder he's stayed this long on this stupid babysitting mission.

Personally, he can't wait to be rid of everyone here and get some good rest after all this is over. He's been surrounded by far too many idiots—Amanai and Gojo, maybe even Suguru for agreeing to make this mission longer than it should—that he's scared of becoming one himself soon enough.

He offers Amanai a forced smile that should be loosely interpreted as you're not getting away with that kind of comment, before quickly throwing the piece of vegetable to her respective face.

It lands magnificently right on her forehead with a small thunk.

Gojo immediately explodes with laughter, reaching out to him to give him a pat on the back as he points gleefully at Amanai's frustrated expression. "Great job there, [Y/n]! Your senpai thinks you should aim for her nose next time though."

"Noted, Gojo-senpai."

As the table is filled once again with more and more boisterous and loud chatter, his mind drifts away, thinking once more of the strange text he received yesterday. Strange text...

Wait, that's it!

His eyes widen at the realization, and his hand quickly navigates his pocket to swiftly find and fiddle open his phone. He kind of forgot about it due to yesterday's tiring schedule of fun with the others.

He scans the messages sent by the unknown person and sighs.

So he's right, this is the thing that's been bothering him since he woke up drooling on Gojo's shoulder. That last part can be ignored, thank you very much, he doesn't want to think about that again. He's been trying his best to erase it from his mind.

"Hmm." His thumb hovers over the messages, silently reading back each and every message with his eyes wide open. He notices how the way the unknown person texts reminds him of a certain way someone talks to him.