"Wait," Maki choked out, taking a step back and pointing an accusing, trembling finger at him. "You said this started yesterday morning. Right after... right after we..."
Ren blinked, tilting his head with innocence. "Right after we slept together?"
"Keep your voice down!" she hissed frantically, even though they were the only two people in the apartment. She covered her burning face with both hands, groaning into her palms. "Oh my god. I mutated my boyfriend. I actually gave you my heavenly restriction like an STD."
Maki completely froze, the frantic energy draining out of her in an instant as her amber eyes locked onto his. For a long, agonizing moment, Maki just stared at him.
She bit the inside of her cheek, a fierce internal war raging behind her eyes. Finally, her shoulders slumped, and the heavy, unyielding posture of the Zen'in clan's rebellious daughter melted away.
Maki let out a long, defeated sigh. She reached out, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. With a gentle but firm tug, she pulled him away from the kitchen counter and dragged him toward the living room.
She dropped heavily onto the low green sofa, pulling Ren down so he was sitting right next to her. She didn't let go of his shirt immediately, her knuckles resting against his chest as she stared down at the floorboards, taking a deep, steadying breath before she finally started to speak.
...
"Wow..."
Ren leaned back against the sofa cushions, letting out a slow, heavy exhale as the sheer magnitude of what she had just explained settled over the room.
Maki sat rigidly beside him, her jaw tightened defensively as she braced herself for him to call her crazy, or worse, to look at her like she was a monster.
Instead, a slow, incredibly warm smile started to spread across Ren's face. He tilted his head, his dark eyes lighting up with a sudden, fond realization.
"Wait a second," Ren murmured, shifting his weight to turn fully toward her. "All those times you pulled away... all the times you made up excuses about being too tired from track practice. Were you not trying to be intimate with me because you were terrified your super-cool super-strength would accidentally crush me?"
Maki's breath hitched. The blood immediately rushed to her face, painting her cheeks and ears a brilliant, violent crimson.
"I—what? No! That's not—" she sputtered, her tough, uncompromising sorcerer persona completely short-circuiting at being called out so accurately. "Don't call it 'super-cool'! And I wasn't terrified, you idiot, I was just—"
"Maki," Ren interrupted softly, his voice thick with genuine affection. "How sweet."
"Shut up! I will actually punch you—"
Ren didn't give her a chance to finish the threat. He reached out, his hand gently cupping the side of her blazing red face, and pulled her in. He captured her lips in a deep, genuine kiss that instantly silenced her protests.
Maki gasped softly against his mouth, her hands instinctively flying up to grip his shoulders. For a second, her brain tried to resist, but the absolute warmth and acceptance in his kiss completely overwhelmed her.
Her tense shoulders melted, and she let out a quiet, defeated sigh, her fingers curling into his shirt as she kissed him back.
When the kiss finally broke, neither of them pulled away completely.
Ren shifted his weight, letting his head drop sideways to rest comfortably against her shoulder.
He let out a quiet, contented exhale, his arms loosely wrapping around her waist as if having his entire reality shattered was just a minor bump in their evening.
"So," Ren murmured, his voice rumbling softly against her collarbone. "What exactly do we do now? Do I need to buy a cool, oversized weapon case like yours, or do we just hope I don't accidentally break the door or somthing??"
Maki let out a long, heavy sigh. Her hand naturally came up to rest at the back of his neck, her fingers absentmindedly playing with the short, dark hair at his nape.
The teasing was nice, and the warmth of his acceptance felt like a massive weight lifting off her chest, but her mind was already rapidly calculating the grim reality of their situation.
The protective, civilian bubble she had kept him in for a year was permanently popped.
He possessed a Heavenly Restriction now. Even if he couldn't see curses, his sheer physical density and the kinetic force he could generate would eventually draw the wrong kind of attention.
Trouble would find him. And worse, if the conservative higher-ups of the Jujutsu world—or her own wretched family, the Zen'in clan—found out that a random civilian had somehow contracted an impossible, superhuman anomaly, they would treat him like a lab rat. dissect him just to see how it worked.
She couldn't protect him twenty-four hours a day. Not while balancing missions and the impending Goodwill Event.
There was only one place in all of Japan where he would be absolutely, completely untouchable.
Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Specifically, under the direct protection of Satoru Gojo. The higher-ups wouldn't dare touch a single hair on Ren's head if Gojo claimed him as a special ward or a prospective student.
The strongest sorcerer in the world was the ultimate deterrent.
Maki squeezed her eyes shut, a fresh wave of heat rising to her cheeks for an entirely different reason.
Taking him to the school meant exposing everything. Panda would never, ever let her live it down. Nobara would relentlessly interrogate him about their dating life.
She shook her head, burying the last remnants of her stubborn pride.
None of that mattered. A few months of Gojo's annoying teasing was a microscopic price to pay to ensure nobody laid a finger on Ren. Keeping him safe was the only thing that mattered now.
"I can't leave you out here by yourself anymore," Maki said quietly, her voice firming up with the unyielding resolve of a leader. "If you don't know how to control your output, you're going to accidentally hurt yourself, or someone else. And if the wrong people in my world find out about you before we establish a solid cover story... it's going to be bad."
Ren lifted his head from her shoulder, looking at her with wide, perfectly crafted apprehension. "So, what's the plan, boss?"
///
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