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He appears like the spring breeze, a respite to increasingly warmer days. He doesn't age now, a living painting of their youthful days. The full moon shines behind him.
His face, hidden in shadow, looks like the grim reaper, but death has been her oldest friend, so she welcomes him.
He appears without warning, but Nobara is used to it. She'd rather not have 'company' when he comes. In fact, she's gotten good at predicting when he will appear again in their-- hers. Her private villa. Or as much private as the sorcery ministry is allowed to give a 82 year old woman
"It's not a sorcery ministry, it's the--"
"I don't care. Ministry, minstrel, call yourselves whatever you want"
By now, a bunch of alarms must've lighted up like a Christmas tree. But they won't move now.
They know better than get in the way of this.
He finally takes off his hood. His face, of course, has not changed since 60 years ago.
Yuji looks just about ready to cry, now.
Unfortunately, Nobara didn't change much either, so she doesn't mince up words. "Hey dumbass, you're late."
By three months, in fact. Three months after Megumi's body decided it was over.
The asshole, what right did he have to go out first.
He sits down besides her. And damn her old bones, they can't stop her softer heart from reaching out to him. It beats with each wreaked sob that escapes him.
So she holds him until his tears run out.
She envies him for it, sometimes. That he can be soft, when all she knows is how to be sharp and jagged at the edges. It's a miracle, really, when she spared a single tear for Megumi, even while her heart was breaking.
Later, when his breath evens out, he tries, but the words keep chocking him out, "Did he...?"
There's a million questions, all struggling to get out first. And Nobara knows all the answers.
"Yes."
Yes, he went out quietly.
Yes, she was there with him.
Yes, he was smiling.
Yes, he knew he was loved. That they loved him.
Yuji struggles not to break down again.
He notices her bandaged hand, missing her middle finger. Gently, he reaches for it. "What happened?"
Nobara chuckles, and presents him the box she prepared just today. "It's a gift, to you."
Inside is her missing finger, one of Megumi's, and her hammer. They're cursed, you see? They carry every bit of Love they could pour into it, and yet would never be enough to hold it all.
"I don't think I have much left here, either," she continues. "I done pretty much everything I ever wanted to do."
He looks so heartbroken all over again, but he still tries not to be sappy in front of her, he knows how much she hates it. Dumbass.
"Is this... The last?"
"Who knows. Maybe, maybe not." It most likely is, but she'll try to hold on. Just enough so he can hold her hand in her deathbed.
"Yuji, listen to me." she grabs his nape and presses his forehead to hers.
This will be a curse, from her to him, the wretched one who dreamed of a proper death and now will never get it.
"People will look up to you like a savior, like the strongest weapon to use when they can't tolerate what they don't understand. They'll call you a hero and then dispose of you when they don't need you anymore, because you'll scare them with the same strength they wanted you for.
"But you were never strong, hell, I could beat you right now with just my pinky. You, are a soft hearted crybaby that could never look away from the ugliness of the world.
"You were never the Strongest, but you were the Best of us.
"So keep going. Fall in love a hundred times, a thousand times. That, is your true strength."
He will keep going. Yuji Itadori will never stop, but this love will accompany him until his lasts days.
Nobara felt the faintest pressure on her lips. Damn him, even at her age he could make her heart skip a beat. She had enough to deal with hypertension.
"Hag lover," she teases to hide her embarrassment, "cougar hunter. You should star wearing a shirt that says I <3 GILFS"
She choked laugh she gets from him sounds like both a sob and a prayer.
They stay together like that in comfortable silence for a long time. Then, she feels someone enter the barrier around her state, and Yuji dissappears like was never there, just like a spring breeze. A momentary respite, short and missed in its absence. The only evidence was the missing box.
Sighing, she gets up to bully whatever clerk the ministry threw at her into an early retirement.